This article is going to go over what is included in English Heritage Membership.
What is English Heritage
English Heritage used to be a department of the United Kingdom government. It can trace its roots back to 1983 when it was then called the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England. In 1999 is was merged with two other governmental departments, Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, National Monuments Record. Then in 2015 the department was split into two parts. Historic England is still a government department, it is responsible for the legal protection of the properties. English Heritage was created as a charity to look after and operate the properties.
English Heritage looks after around four hundred sites in England. Over half of the sites under English Heritage control are free to enter for everybody. These that are free to enter are mainly the ancient ruins or monuments, whereas the ones that require an entry fee are usually more complete with staff on site.
Types of membership
As it is with a National Trust membership English Heritage offers various levels of memberships. This allows you to pick the level that suits you needs better. The prices in the list below marked with a star are those memberships which are able to be paid with a direct debit, this lets you spread the cost of membership over a year.
- Individual adult, £66*
- Senior over 65 years old, £59*
- Young / Student under 25 or those with a NUS student card, £53*
- Joint adult, two adults, £115*
- Adult and Senior, one adult and one person over 65, £103*
- Joint senior, two people over the age of 65, £92*
- Family with one adult, one adult and six children, £66*
- Family with two adults and twelve children, £115*
- Lifetime adult, £1580
- Lifetime senior, £1240
- Lifetime joint adult, £2140
- Lifetime joint senior, £1590
You can sign up for English Heritage membership using this link which will take you to the English Heritage joining page.
What is included in English Heritage Membership
The first and most obvious inclusion of English Heritage membership is the free entry to all of the sites that they run. The cost of entry for the proprieties that charge one do vary quite a lot. Some of them are £5 to enter, however the larger more popular sites can cost over £25 to get inside.
A nice difference from National Trust membership is that the English Heritage membership allows you to bring six children in with each adult membership. This can work out to be a great saving over time if you are able to bring children and perhaps some of their friends along with you.
English Heritage do put on historical events at some of their properties. These range from Pirates at Pendennis Castle, to Cavendish’s horses the art of manege at Bolsover Castle. These are events are always fun and interesting to attend especially if you are taking children as there are shows and demonstrations and in some cases hands on activities which really immerse you in the history. You can see what upcoming events English Heritage has planned here.
English Heritage members get free parking at all of their sites. There are some sites that also charge a parking fee as long as an entrance fee for non members. This is not a lot of money usually around £3-£5 but every little bit of money saved makes the membership greater value for money.
As with the National Trust English Heritage has worked with companies to offer English Heritage members some discounts. There are a lot more companies in the English Heritage scheme compared to the one ran by the National Trust. These range from 5% off a Hurtigruten Expeditions, 15% of Runners Need, 20% off Iconic Lights.
There is an English Heritage magazine that is sent every other month to its members home address. It tends to have upcoming events, information of renovations and lots of other information.
Members also get the English Heritage members handbook. This is a big book that contains a full list of all of English Heritage locations along with a little bit of information on each of them. It does split them down into areas of England to make finding places to visit easier.
The last benefit that is included with a English Heritage membership is discounted entry to some other places in the United Kingdom that English Heritage has managed to get discounts on entry. There are some very big and popular attractions in this list such as Cutty Sark, Bletchly Park, Blenheim Palace, Warwick castle and many many more. You need to create an account on the English Heritage website to be able access and use the discounts.
