Heritage sites welcomed record visitors in 2022

A number of historic heritage sites across England saw record increases in visitor numbers in 2022, according to figures from English Heritage.

The charity said its historic sites had a “bumper year”, with nine having their best year on record, including Corbridge Roman Town in Northumberland, Okehampton Castle in Devon and Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire.

Other sites, including North Yorkshire’s Pickering Castle and Richmond Castle, and Aldborough Roman Site in York, had their best year for visitor numbers this century.

The charity says the positive numbers were driven by domestic tourism returning to “full strength” last year, despite the number of international visitors remaining at 70% of pre-pandemic levels.

Membership to English Heritage was also at its highest ever level in 2022, totalling 1.2m.

Chief Executive Kate Mavor said the findings are “a clear indication that homegrown tourism is flourishing once again.”

“We know that the public took advantage of the pandemic’s ‘stay at home’ mandate to rediscover the heritage on their doorstep and this newfound enthusiasm for history and culture has shown no sign of diminishing over the ensuing year,” Mavor added.