Management of the World Heritage Site

Ownership and WHS partners

The WHS, rich in prehistoric monuments, is also a farmed and living landscape. Altogether, the World Heritage Site covers 2,600 hectares (6,500 acres) of chalk download and arable fields, extending from Larkhill to Lake in the Woodford Valley and from Amesbury to Longbarrow Crossroads.

The ownership of the World Heritage Site is shared between English Heritage (Stonehenge and Woodhenge), the National Trust (most of the landscape surrounding the stone circle), the Ministry of Defence, farmers and householders.

Many other organisations and individuals are also actively involved in managing the Stonehenge landscape and work in partnership to achieve the objectives of the WHS Management Plan. They include the Highways Agency, Salisbury District Council, Wiltshire County Council, the parish councils, the Department of Culture Media and Sport, DEFRA and Natural England.

The World Heritage Site structure

The National Trust owns most of the land surrounding Stonehenge, including the Cursus, a mysterious prehistoric earthwork pre dating the stone circle. To facilitate and coordinate the implementation of the Management Plan, a World Heritage Site Coordinator was appointed in 2001. She is based in the English Heritage office in Salisbury and  works closely with the many partners involved at Stonehenge.

The WHS Coordinator reports quarterly to the Stonehenge WHS Committee, the executive recommended in the Management Plan. Composed of the key stakeholders, its role is to oversee the implementation of the WHS Management Plan and to take decisions on priorities, strategies and funding.

In 2001, the WHS Advisory Forum was set up to keep interested parties informed of progress and to provide an opportunity for consultation. This wider group, meeting once a year, is composed of all the organisations and individuals which were involved in the preparation of the Management Plan.

Woodhenge is another key prehistoric monument of the WHS Funding for the WHS structure and a handful of small-scale projects is provided by English Heritage, the National Trust and Salisbury District Council. Most of the WHS projects are funded through specific grants negotiated for each project, such as the DEFRA special countryside stewardship scheme.

Stonehenge and Avebury were inscribed in 1986 as a single World Heritage Site and they have many issues in common. But as the partners involved and the management framework are different, they both have their own WHS management plan.