Image: Wikicommons by Sumit Surai
About This Quiz
The geography of the UK defined much of its history, determining economic hubs, the locations of ports, where manufacturing took place, ancient borders and even when invaders were or were not successful. Its natural beauty extends from the warmer south to the stark beauty of its northernmost islands. The UK contains natural resources from mineral deposits to hydropower to oil fields. Its geography is the reason it was so simple for early paleontologists to find dinosaur fossils. It is how ancient burials were preserved. Britain's geography is the reason its ancient people were able to mine, shape and transport the huge stone slabs that are Stonehenge.
The UK's stately homes are well known, but the natural beauty of the land is often overlooked in favor of the achievements of Britons in shaping the landscape with roads, rails and tunnels. Even ancient people made their marks on the look of the countryside, carving The White Horse of Uffington into the very earth. and the unforgettable if rather rude image of the Cerne Abbas Giant, similarly tattooed into the countryside.
Do you take the land around you for granted or are you as fascinated with its natural wonders as we are? It's time to test your knowledge of British geography!
Stump Cross Caverns
The Severn Bore
Salisbury Plain
The White Cliffs of Dover
Situated near Dover Castle, The White Cliffs of Dover are one of the most iconic images of Britain, appearing in paintings, photographs and films. They performed an important role in WW2, being topped with radar banks keeping a lookout for German aircraft.
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Wookey Hole
Beachy Head
The Wash
The Thames
With 45 navigational locks, the Thames remains important to maritime transport. Guarded by the Thames Barrier, a huge, mechanical wall, the Thames is protected from the storm surge of any potential storm in the North Sea that would otherwise flood London.
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Fingal's Cave
Looking like something out of a David Lynch film, Fingal's Cave sits on an uninhabited island in Scotland. Noted for its acoustics, it owes its unique appearance and shape to its composition: basalt rock.
Glyder Fawr
Pen y Fan
The New Forest
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Glyder Fawr
Pen y Fan
The Weald
Stump Cross Caverns
Discovered by lead miners two hundred years ago, Stump Cross Caverns are a natural cave system, not a mine. Over the years, cave explorers have found the remains of ancient animals, and even reindeer! Located in Yorkshire, it's not even very far away.
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The Lake District
Located in northwest England, The Lake District is a picturesque region of small mountains, deep lakes and spectacular views. Geologically similar to Scotland but populated with different flora, this area is a popular place for holidays for good reason.
South Downs
High Cliff
Stump Cross Caverns
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The Three Peaks
The Three Peaks are three mountains that form the basis of The Three Peaks Challenge. These mountains are Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Snowdon, the tallest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales, respectively.
Bodmin Moor
The Blackwater
Grisedale Tarn
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High Cliff
Fingal's Cave
Loch Ness
Loch Ness is one of many gorgeous lochs in Scotland, but it is one of the best known lakes in the world because of its most famous resident, the Loch Ness Monster, affectionately known as Nessie. Have you spotted her?
Stump Cross Caverns
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The White Cliffs of Dover
Loch Ness
The Lake District
The Pennine Way
One of the two longest trails in the UK, the creation of The Pennine Way was inspired by the Appalachian Trail in America. The Pennine Way is a difficult trail, but it both passes through some beautiful countryside and is full of friendly ramblers.
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South Downs
Pen y Fan
The Weald
Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain is anything but plain. It is bisected by a road that partially runs below the surface of the plain in order to keep the views pristine. The reason for this need is Salisbury Plain contains Stonehenge, the iconic Stone Age site.
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John o' Groats
The Thames Estuary
Sheltand
Land's End
Land's End is the bleak, granite coastal fringe of Cornwall, before reaching into the Atlantic Ocean. It is the most westerly point in England.
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Cheddar Gorge
Cheddar Gorge, so named because it is near the town of Cheddar, is the home of the original cheddar cheese. At the bottom of the deepest parts of the gorge is a small cave system, in which cheddar cheese is aged, and visitors can be given guided tours.
Malham Cove
The Wash
Ben Nevis
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The Fens
The Devil's Appendix
The Firth of Forth
Bodmin Moor
Bodmin Moor is a vast expanse in Cornwall, noted for its granite underpinnings and the highest point in Cornwall, the oddly named Brown Willie. Home to many old legends, the one concerning the Beast of Bodmin has, oddly, only been around since the 1970s.
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The Old Man of Storr
The Old Man of Storr is a rock formation on The Isle of Skye, in the furthest reaches of Scotland. Part of a much larger area of great natural beauty called The Sanctuary, it abuts The Storr, a mountain with a side of rock exposed due to landslip. The Old Man, however, stands alone.
South Downs
Fingal's Cave
High Cliff
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The Wash
When Lincolnshire and Norfolk meet and four rivers collide, it all comes out in The Wash. A huge estuary, The Wash spills into the North Sea.
Fingal's Cave
The Old Man of Storr
The Severn Bore
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Loch Ness
The White Cliffs of Dover
The Lake District
The Jurassic Coast
Were it not for Mary Anning and The Jurassic Coast, paleontology would not be what it is today. So called because of the tremendous exposed rock and fossils, The Jurassic Coast frequently gives up its secrets as it erodes, exposing the bones of prehistoric creatures, and giving up the secrets of how the land used to be.
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Arthur's Seat
The New Forest
The Forest of Dennis
Pen y Fan
Pen y Fan is the highest peak in South Wales, standing a full 2,907 feet at its highest elevation. Used for military training by the government, soldiers have died while attempting its conquest in their survival and navigation exercises.
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The Lake District
Loch Ness
The Old Man of Storr
Ben Nevis
The highest mountain in all of the British Isles, Ben Nevis was once a towering volcano, though those days are long in the past. The name is derived from the Gaelic for mountain, and a word of which no one can remember the meaning.
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Cautley Spout
Land's End
Pass of Killiecrankie
The Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the fjord into which the Forth River empties. This is the body famously crossed by The Forth Bridge, a structure so huge that the time it takes a crew to paint it is equal to the time it takes for the oldest parts of the paint to need repainting.
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The Weald
The Forest of Dennis
Glyder Fawr
High Cliff
Cornwall's High Cliff is one of the best-named places in the whole world! Rather than attempting poetry, whoever named it was quite literal: The cliff is the highest drop in Cornwall with a height of 732 feet!
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The River Usk
The River Usk flows from the Black Mountain in Wales, east, and then south to the sea. As it goes, it passes the town of Caerleon, the site of a Roman ruin which seems to have inspired many of the details of the myths in the Arthurian Legend.
The Blackwater
The Fens
Grisedale Tarn
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The River Avon
The North Downs
The Thames Estuary
Shetland
Shetland is a one-of-a-kind place. Surrounded by other islands, its history includes mining and subsistence farming on the unforgiving hillsides. Today, its money comes from the vast oil below it.
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Grisedale Tarn
Grisedale Tarn earns its last name from how it was formed. Tarns are lakes created by the act of a glacier carving out a depression in the land, which later forms a lake.
The Devil's Appendix
Cautley Spout
Pass of Killiecrankie
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Fingal's Cave
High Cliff
The Severn Bore
The Severn River is the longest river in the UK, and when it empties into the ocean, something very strange happens. It develops the Severn Bore, a strange phenomenon when the tidal forces of the ocean collide with the river, creating a wave of water that travels upstream!
South Downs
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The Forest of Dennis
The Heart of England Forest charity was funded by publisher Felix Dennis, hence the affectionate nickname. A new forest in the truest sense of the word, it is comprised entirely of native British species, ensuring that the landscape remains unique in the world.
The Three Peaks
The River Usk
Bodmin Moor
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Cautley Spout
Cautley Spout is the highest above-ground cascade waterfall in England. That reads as a lot of caveats, but it is important to be specific. After all, in England there are other waterfalls that have greater unbroken falls, and there are longer ones.
John o' Groats
The North Downs
Land's End
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Glyder Fawr
With a peak elevation at 3,284, the craggy Glyder Fawr is the highest mountain peak in the Glyderau Mountains. Created in part by the dissolution of glaciers which deposited rocks all around the area, the mountain's name is derived from the Welsh for "heap of rocks".
The Three Peaks
Arthur's Seat
The River Usk
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The Devil's Appendix
The tallest waterfall in Wales, The Devil's Appendix isn't a very powerful waterfall. As a result, it does not flow all year, turning what was a waterfall into a surface for climbers for part of the year.
Pass of Killiecrankie
Land's End
Drumochter Pass
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Arthur's Seat
Arthur's Seat has not erupted in an eternity, instead providing Edinburgh with its unique landscape. Topping out at an elevation of 823 feet, it is unclear why it is called "Arthur's Seat," but one theory points to the Arthurian legend.
Cautley Spout
Grisedale Tarn
The Blackwater
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Cautley Spout
The Firth of Forth
The Fens
The Fens, also called The Fenlands, is the lowest place in the UK, similar in many ways to parts of Holland. This area has been home to a plethora of churches and monasteries since the Dark Ages.
The Devil's Appendix
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Wookey Hole
The Wookey Hole Caves aren't just for spelunkers, but for families, as it has turned into a genuine tourist attraction, complete with a crazy golf course and special events for children at Christmas. It is worth noting that the double o in Wookey Hole is pronounced like the double o in snooker, not as in Wookiee.
The Old Man of Storr
Malham Cove
Loch Ness
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Sheltand
Drumochter Pass
Pass of Killiecrankie
The Pass of Killiecrankie is an important mountain pass in Scotland. It is also near the location of the Battle of Killiecrankie, fought by the Jacobites.
The North Downs
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Glyder Fawr
The Weald
The New Forest
South Downs
The South Downs include the biggest national park in the UK, which is actually larger than the chalk hills which characterize the South Downs. With a landscape shaped by grazing animals, it's no surprise that the South Downs have their own breed of sheep: Southdown sheep.
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The Wash
Wookey Hole
Ben Nevis
Northey Island
Northey Island is a windswept island in Essex connected to the mainland by a sandbar which disappears at high tide. It was the site of a massive Viking invasion in 991 AD that presaged the conquest of England by Swain Forkbeard of Denmark.
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Dunnet Head
Dunnet Head is the most northerly place in the mainland UK, sitting just to the north of the nearby town of John o' Groats. There are more northerly places in the UK, but they are all outlying islands.
The North Downs
The Thames Estuary
Sheltand
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Drumochter Pass
The Blackwater
The Blackwater Estuary faces east from Maldon, and not only fosters important local birds and fish, but it's also an important historical site, the Anglo-Saxon structures and fishing gear frequently emerging from land and sea. This is where Maldon salt comes from!
The Firth of Forth
The Fens
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Cheddar Gorge
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is part of the many chalky cliffs along the southeast coast of England. Resembling the wall of a fortress, much of what keeps Britain safe from invasion resides in the geology of its surroundings.
The Jurassic Coast
Stump Cross Caverns
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Drumochter Pass
Drumochter Pass is where the southern and northern highlands meet, where the water looks like it doesn't know where to go because it can flow in either direction. Were this pass to snow in, the highlands would become far less accessible.
John o' Groats
Sheltand
Land's End
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Malham Cove
Malham Cove was once a waterfall, many thousands of years ago. The waterfall drained a prehistoric glacier, now long gone. Atop Malham Cove is what is called its limestone pavement, a location perhaps most recognized from its appearance in a "Harry Potter" film.
The Severn Bore
Salisbury Plain
Stump Cross Caverns
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The River Usk
The Three Peaks
Bodmin Moor
The New Forest
Like many "new" things in the UK, The New Forest is not new, being named a royal forest by William the Conqueror. It remains one of the only unenclosed forests in England.
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The Forest of Dennis
Arthur's Seat
The Weald
The Weald, meaning "The Woodland" in Old English, holds an important place in British history. Specifically, it is the place where Henry VIII's regime began production of iron cannon, which, being far cheaper than bronze cannon, could be mounted shipboard, forming the teeth of the British Navy.
The Three Peaks
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