Historic England in the context of "New West End Synagogue"

In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales, and the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. The classification schemes differ between England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (see sections below). The term has also been used in the Republic of Ireland, where buildings are protected under the Planning and Development Act 2000, although the statutory term in Ireland is "protected structure".

A listed building may not be demolished, extended, or altered without permission from the local planning authority, which typically consults the relevant central government agency. In England and Wales, a national amenity society must be notified of any work to be done on a listed building which involves any element of demolition.

Seven Dials is a road junction and neighbourhood in the St Giles district of the London Borough of Camden, within the greater Covent Garden area in the West End of London. Seven streets of the Seven Dials area converge at the roughly circular central roundabout, at the centre of which is a column bearing six sundials – with the column itself acting as the seventh sundial.

The Seven Dials Trust owns and maintains the column and the sundials and looks after the public realm in collaboration with the local authorities, major land-owners, Historic England and other stakeholders.

The Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England provides a listing and classification system for historic parks and gardens similar to that used for listed buildings. The register was set up by Historic England under the provisions of the National Heritage Act 1983. Over 1,600 sites are listed, ranging from the grounds of large stately homes to small domestic gardens, as well other designed landscapes such as town squares, public parks, and cemeteries. The register is published on the National Heritage List for England alongside other national heritage designations.

The Rose was an Elizabethan playhouse, built by theatre entrepreneur Philip Henslowe in 1587. It was the fifth public playhouse to be built in London, after the Red Lion in Whitechapel (1567), The Theatre (1576) and the Curtain (1577), both in Shoreditch, and the theatre at Newington Butts (c. 1580?) – and the first of several playhouses to be situated in Bankside, Southwark, in a liberty outside the jurisdiction of the City of London's civic authorities. Two of the earliest plays by William Shakespeare – Titus Andronicus and Henry VI, Part 1 – are recorded as having been performed there, as well as plays by dramatists such as Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Robert Greene, George Peele, Thomas Dekker, Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson and Thomas Heywood. The Rose's archaeological remains were rediscovered in 1989 during the redevelopment of the site to build an office block, and were partially excavated. After a public campaign to preserve the remains, they are now listed by Historic England as a Scheduled Monument at Risk. Subsequently the site has become an exhibition space and theatre venue, known as The Rose Playhouse, administered by The Rose Theatre Trust, a registered charity, which plans to first complete the excavation and preservation of the remains, and then to build a new visitor, education and arts centre there.

The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, and registered battlefields. The list is maintained by Historic England, a government body, and consolidates these different designations into a single resource, even though they vary in the type of legal protection they afford. Although World Heritage Sites are not designated by Historic England, they also appear on the NHLE. Conservation areas, however, do not appear, as they are designated by the relevant local planning authority.

The passage of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 established the first element of what is now the list, granting protection to 50 prehistoric monuments. Subsequent amendments to the act increased the level of protection and added more monuments. Beginning in 1948, the Town and Country Planning Acts introduced the concept of listed buildings and the process for adding properties to the list. As of 2024, more than 401,000 properties are individually listed. Each year, additional properties are added to the national list through the registers that comprise it.