The Most Beautiful Squares, Streets and Monuments in the United Kingdom
6 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful squares, streets and monuments in the United Kingdom are Albert Memorial, Scott Monument and Castlerigg Stone Circle. The list covers 6 squares, streets and monuments. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Few countries pack so many eras of public monument into so small a space. Neolithic farmers raised stone rings among the hills, medieval towns crowded timber houses along narrow lanes, and the Victorians, confident and wealthy, built towers to writers and to Parliament itself. Even a remote island in the South Atlantic carries a piece of this tradition of building in public view.
The Scott Monument in Edinburgh, a Gothic spire of blackened sandstone on Princes Street, is one of the largest monuments to a writer anywhere. Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick stands on a plateau ringed by the fells of the Lake District. Big Ben, the great bell in the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, has struck the hours over London since 1859. On Saint Helena, Jacob's Ladder climbs 699 steps straight up the valley side above Jamestown, and The Shambles in York leans its overhanging timber-framed upper storeys so close that neighbours could almost shake hands across the street.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Albert Memorial | Monument | |
| 2 | Scott Monument | Monument | |
| 3 | Castlerigg Stone Circle | Stone circle | |
| 4 | Big Ben | Clock tower | |
| 5 | Jacob's Ladder, Saint Helena | Stairs | |
| 6 | The Shambles, York | Pedestrian street |
01 Albert Memorial
United Kingdom · 4.1 km from London51.502° N 0.178° W
Image by ELG21 from Pixabay Scott's canopy is only the frame for a vast sculptural programme. Albert, gilded and robed as a Knight of the Garter, sits facing south with a catalogue of the Great Exhibition in his hand; the figure was begun by John Henry Foley and completed by Thomas Brock after Foley's death.
02 Scott Monument
United Kingdom · 1.7 km from Edinburgh55.952° N 3.193° W
Image by eduardovieiraphoto from Pixabay Its story belongs to its designer. After Scott's death in 1832 a competition was held for a memorial, and the winning entry, chosen in 1838, came from George Meikle Kemp, a self-taught joiner and draughtsman of forty-five who had submitted it under the pseudonym "John Morvo", borrowed from a medieval master mason of Melrose Abbey, for fear that his lack of training would count against him.
Did you know? Four more statues stand above the highest viewing gallery, so high that they can only be seen with a telephoto lens or from the gallery itself.
03 Castlerigg Stone Circle
Castlerigg stone circle
United Kingdom · 32.7 km from Carlisle54.603° N 3.098° W
Image by ebor from Pixabay The circle is usually dated to around 3200 BC, which would make it one of the earliest stone circles in Britain. 3 metres high. 3-metre gap on the north side that may have been the entrance. Inside, against the eastern side, a rectangle of ten more stones is almost unique among British circles, and nobody knows what it was for. The only known rock art is a single lozenge carved on one stone on the western edge.
Did you know? In 1913 Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley, a co-founder of the National Trust, helped raise a public subscription to buy the field and gave it to the Trust.
04 Big Ben
United Kingdom · 0.4 km from London51.501° N 0.125° W
Image by pemacallan from Pixabay The tower exists because the old Palace of Westminster burned down almost completely on 16 October 1834. Charles Barry won the resulting design competition — 97 architects entered — with a grand Gothic Revival scheme for the whole rebuilt palace, and his 96-metre clock tower needed detailing his own training hadn't prepared him for, so he brought in Augustus Pugin specifically to handle it.
Did you know? In August 1949 a flock of starlings settled on the minute hand and slowed the clock by four and a half minutes.
05 Jacob's Ladder, Saint Helena
Jacob's Ladder
United Kingdom15.926° S 5.719° W
Luke McKernan · CC BY-SA 2.0 The ladder did not begin as a staircase. It was built in 1829 by the Saint Helena Railway Company, to a design by the local engineer J. W. Hoar, as an inclined plane linking Jamestown with the fort on top of Ladder Hill. Two cars ran on rails up and down the slope, hauled by an iron chain and pulleys connected to a capstan at the top, which was turned by a team of three donkeys. The line carried cargo between the town and the fort.
Did you know? Lights were installed along the staircase in 2000, so after dark a glowing line climbs the hillside straight above Jamestown.
06 The Shambles, York
The Shambles
United Kingdom · 1.1 km from York53.959° N 1.080° W
Tilman2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0 It was a butchers' street for most of its history, and its shape follows the trade. The name comes from the Old English word for a bench or stall, the shelves on which meat was laid out for sale; the medieval street was known as the Great Flesh Shambles. A lane of this name is recorded as early as the Domesday Book of 1086. The overhanging houses kept the sun off the meat, and the slight slope helped wash the waste away down the gutters.
Did you know? The backs of the shops once served as slaughterhouses; most of these rear buildings were swept away during the 1950s rebuilding.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful squares, streets and monuments in the United Kingdom?
- On our list, Albert Memorial ranks first, followed by Scott Monument and Castlerigg Stone Circle.
- Is Big Ben the tower or the bell?
- Strictly, Big Ben is the nickname of the Great Bell. The tower that houses it was called the Clock Tower until 2012, when it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower.
- How many steps does Jacob's Ladder on Saint Helena have?
- It has 699 steps. It began in 1829 as an inclined railway for hauling goods up from Jamestown, and the steps remained after the railway was removed.
- Why is The Shambles in York called that?
- The name comes from an old word for the benches or stalls on which butchers displayed meat. The street was lined with butchers' shops in the Middle Ages.
- How many squares, streets and monuments are on this list in the United Kingdom?
- The list covers 6 squares, streets and monuments.