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Keep heritage alive with a legacy that lasts

It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to this guide – and to thank you for considering leaving a gift to English Heritage in your will.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll remember every English Heritage site you’ve visited. Whether it was a flying stop or a family day out, these are places that stay with you. Perhaps you remember the first time you climbed to the top of a castle keep as a child, or look back fondly on a game of chase in a castle moat. Perhaps you can picture tucking into a picnic in the dappled sunlight of a historic garden, or recall the sense of time standing still inside a prehistoric stone circle.

And maybe there’s one site in particular that you return to time and again. A place that means something special to you and your loved ones. A place where memories live.

At English Heritage, we’re proud to care for hundreds of sites that hold not just the stories of England, but the stories of the millions of people who have visited them. It’s a privilege. But it’s also a responsibility – and one we cannot shoulder alone.

Keeping these special places open, safe and welcoming takes enormous amounts of dedication, expertise and funding. We’re an independent charity and currently receive no additional financial support from government.

Wrest Park, Bedfordshire

But costs are rising, historic skills are disappearing, and climate change is putting new pressures on fragile sites. And we must do more to make sure everyone can enjoy these places, no matter their background or circumstances.

Supporters who understand just how precious, and how precarious, these places really are. Supporters whose own lives have been touched by them – and who want future generations to have the same opportunity.

A gift in your will is more than just a donation. It’s a continuation of your own story. It’s a personal, powerful way to protect the heritage you love, and to leave a legacy that lasts.

Thank you, sincerely, for considering such a remarkable gesture.

Ruth Blayze Membership and Commercial Director

North Yorkshire

Whitby Abbey,

Walmer Castle and Gardens, Kent

“English Heritage look after the buildings, landscapes and artefacts that tell us the story of our past, our history, our legacy. From the times of our ancestors and forebears directly to us. It is vital this process continues so that our descendants can know of and cherish their past.”

Rob & Mira – legacy pledgers, Cornwall

Keep our sites open for everybody

Over 300 historic places in our care are completely free to visit and it’s thanks to legacy gifts that we can keep them open. From the impressive ruins of Bayham Old Abbey in Kent, atmospheric prehistoric monuments like Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria, to the art-filled treasure trove of Kenwood House looking out over London’s Hampstead Heath. We protect these well-loved local landmarks, tell their tales and ensure that everyone can get closer to heritage.

Gainsborough Old Hall, Lincolnshire

Bayham Old Abbey, Kent

Kenwood, London

Stonehenge, Wiltshire

Thornborough, North Yorkshire

The Stonehenge of the North

Considered one of Britain’s most significant Neolithic monuments and often referred to as ‘The Stonehenge of the North’, a generous legacy gift enabled the purchase of Thornborough’s impressive Northern Henge reuniting all three Neolithic henges for the first time in over 1,500 years. This special and sacred site can now be enjoyed by everyone, free of charge.

Acqusition of the final henge was possible thanks to a breadth of generous funding from The National Heritage Memorial Fund, The SCS Trust, a private donor and, an incredible gift in will.

“We were hugging each other and jumping up and down shouting ‘we’ve got it!’ when we found out we had finally secured the Northern Henge. The sacred henges of Thornborough were once more reunited for us all to enjoy. We are so grateful to the legacy gift that helped make this acquisition possible!”

Christine Clarke, Lead Volunteer Thornborough, North Yorkshire

“We want our longstanding membership to have ongoing depth, and to know that when we are no longer able to enjoy visiting properties and gardens that have become almost personal friends over the years, our gift will help the vitally important conservation work undertaken by English Heritage to continue.”

Lin

& Martin –legacy pledgers, Kent

Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight

How to leave a gift in your will

Choose how you’d like to write it

Write a will for free online

Our free, solicitorchecked will writing service is ideal if your wishes are straightforward and your estate is below the inheritance tax threshold.

Use a solicitor

If your will is likely to be more complex, above the inheritance tax threshold or if you’d just prefer to speak to someone faceto-face, we’d recommend using a solicitor.

Visit our website to find out more about our partnerships with legal specialists so that you can make your will for free online or face-toface: www.englishheritage.org.uk/supportus/gifts-in-wills

Choose an executor

When you write your will, you’ll need to choose an executor. This is the person (or people) responsible for carrying out the instructions in your will and administering your estate.

Work out what you have to pass on

To work out an approximate value of your estate, make a list of what you own (your assets) and what you owe (your liabilities). Then subtract the total liabilities from your list of assets. A solicitor or financial advisor can also help you with this.

Think about the causes and people you’d like to benefit

After you’ve taken care of your loved ones, think about the causes you’d like to benefit from your will.

As a charity, any gift you leave to English Heritage is free from inheritance tax. Leaving money to charity may also reduce the overall rate of inheritance tax you pay. These rates are subject to change though, and it’s always advisable to speak to your solicitor, advisor or HMRC for advice and further information.

“Writing

our will online was a surprisingly simple process and we both appreciated how quick and easy it was to arrange our wills in this way. We would certainly recommend it to others. It was a straightforward and stress-free way to make a will from the comfort of our home.”

Mark & Joanna - legacy pledgers, Worcestershire

5 Decide

what kind of gift you’d like to leave

There are three main types of gift you can leave.

Residuary Gift

A percentage share of what’s left of your estate after all other gifts, debts, taxes and expenses have been paid. Because they reflect the value of your estate, they can be a good way to avoid the problems caused by inflation.

Suggested wording: ‘I give a [amount in words] per cent ([amount in numbers]%) of the residue of my estate’

Pecuniary Gift

A fixed amount of money that you choose to leave to a person, charity, or organisation. You can ‘index link’ the sum

so that it grows with inflation and reflects your wishes in the long term.

‘I give the sum of £… (insert amount in numbers and words) to The English Heritage Trust (Registered Charity No. 1140351) of 6th Floor, 100 Wood Street, London, EC2V 7AN for its general charitable purposes’

Specific Gift

A particular item you choose to leave in your will, including artworks, jewellery and property. Specific gifts are often left to charities on the understanding that they will be sold to raise funds. Occasionally, these gifts are kept and used by the charity.

Please contact the legacy team if you have an item you would like to leave to English Heritage.

6 Keep your will safe

Once you’ve written your will, it should be kept somewhere safe. Many solicitors offer to keep your original will as part of their will writing service. Keep a copy handy, let your executors know where the original document is stored, and remember to review it from time to time to make sure it’s up to date.

Framlingham Castle, Suffolk

Where to leave your gift

We are incredibly grateful for all types of gifts in wills left to English Heritage. Every legacy makes an impact and ensures that the special historic places in our care can be protected for generations to come.

Over the years, we have most commonly been left gifts without a restriction. This helps us direct funds to the most urgent conservation work and projects at sites with the greatest need.

If you would like to direct your gift to a specific site or an area of our work, please get in touch with our Legacy Team before finalising your will - it might be that you could include the gift as an ‘expression of wish’. Our friendly team will be happy to discuss this with you and can help offer suitable wording to take to your solicitor.

Updating your existing will

It’s straightforward to update your will to include a gift to English Heritage.

The best method is to use a legal document called a ‘codicil’. It must be signed in the presence of two witnesses and stored alongside your will.

We can send you a codicil form to fill out, but we’d recommend that you speak to your solicitor to make sure that it properly reflects your wishes and doesn’t conflict with anything else in your will.

Marble Hill, London