Natural England Environmental Guidance for Registered Battlefields

Managing Registered Battlefields is a new practical guide developed jointly by Natural England, Historic England, the Forestry Commission, and the Battlefields Trust. It is a companion to the Battlefields Trust's Managing Change on Historic Battlefields.

It’s designed to support all those interested in caring for these special places that help define our national story. From farmers and land managers, to ecologists, communities, heritage professionals, and local authorities. It brings together best-practice on how to understand, protect, and enhance England’s battlefields, based on experiences over the past 30 years since the first Registered Battlefields were designated back in 1995.

Registered Battlefields are historic landscapes that communities value, laden with meaning, and memory. They have the potential to connect people with nature and heritage, which can support health and wellbeing, as well as local pride in place. The history of these places can also inform and inspire their future management. Making it possible to safeguard fragile archaeological evidence, restore lost habitats, better manage woodland, and provide opportunities for farm businesses to diversify and grow the rural economy.

They have potential to deliver more for people, nature and heritage as we move towards increasingly multifunctional land use.

Managing Registered Battlefields