The Atlas Obscura Guide To England

1,899 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in England

Updated September 22, 2023

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Unusual Attractions in England

London, England

Highgate Cemetery

London's creepiest cemetery was once the site of dueling magicians and mobs of stake-carrying vampire hunters.

The central interior of Leadenhall Market

London, England

Leadenhall Market

This ornate Victorian marketplace was the setting for Diagon Alley and the Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter films.

London, England

The Ruins of St. Dunstan-in-the-East

One of the few remaining casualties of the London Blitz, this destroyed church has become an enchanting public garden.

Gods Own Junkyard

London, England

God's Own Junkyard

A kaleidoscopic warehouse-maze of handmade neon signs.

Twinings tea shop on the Strand.

London, England

Twinings Tea Shop

A 300-year-old tea shop that brought tea to the English people, not to mention the Queen herself.

London, England

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History

This shop and gallery is a modern-day cabinet of curiosities, unassumingly positioned along an urban thoroughfare.

Puzzlewood

Coleford, England

Puzzlewood

The mysterious, fantastical woodland inspiration for "The Lord of the Rings."

Cecil Court.

London, England

Cecil Court

A charming 17th-century alley is lined with secondhand bookstores and antiquarian shops.

See All 1,899 Things To Do in England

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in England

Twinings tea shop on the Strand.

London, England

Twinings Tea Shop

A 300-year-old tea shop that brought tea to the English people, not to mention the Queen herself.

The bunker.

London, England

Growing Underground

The world's first underground farm is in a World War II bomb shelter beneath the streets of London.

The Lost Caves.

Nottingham, England

The Lost Caves

Hidden in a grotto 26 feet below Nottingham's oldest hotel, this stylish subterranean drinking den is notoriously hard to find.

The two mice eating cheese. Or are they fighting for it?

London, England

Philpot Lane Mice Sculpture

A mysterious pair of mice eating a piece of cheese is London's smallest public sculpture.

See all 10 Places to Eat in England

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Hidden Trafalgar Square

Wedged between Charing Cross and Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square is known for the throngs of people flocking to its famous attractions. Weave around the tourists on the National Gallery stairs and dodge the crowds clogging the street corners. Instead, duck down dreamy alleys and pop into unique, overlooked museums and shops. There, a secret side of this busy area waits to reveal itself.

The Whitehall Banqueting House is full of topsy-turvy views.

Explore England

History & Culture 185

Museums And Collections 122

Sacred Spaces 120

Architectural Oddities 119

Unique Restaurants & Bars 38

Places To Stay 21

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wants to go to The Royal Pavilion
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wants to go to Armada Beacon
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wants to go to Patcham Pylon
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wants to go to The Chattri
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wants to go to Clayton Tunnel North Portal

Stories About England

A herd of Hereford cattle roam a lush green pasture in Australia, home to several of the world's largest private landholdings.

What Do King Charles III, the Pope, and the Canadian Inuit Have in Common?

Meet the world's largest landowners.

by Frank Jacobs, Big Think

August 11, 2023

Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is obsessed with London's Chelsea F.C. soccer team.

How Cheering for a Soccer Club Brought a Singer’s Family Closer

Chelsea fandom has had its highs and lows, but it can make moment that stay with you.

Dave Rowntree, the drummer of the band Blur, has been looking up at the night sky since he got his first telescope as a kid.

How the Britpop Legends Blur Almost Launched the U.K. Space Program

What started as a late-night chat transformed into millions of dollars of funding for a Mars lander.

On the foggy morning of July 22, 1906, King Cadwallon struck rocks off the coast of St Martin's Island. A photographer from the Gibson family boarded a rowboat to get this image before the ship sank completely beneath the waves.

One English Family Took Photos of Shipwrecks for More Than a Century

Now it's the negatives themselves that need to be saved from time and the elements.

In 11th-century England, people used more than half a million eels in rental payments.

To Pay Rent in Medieval England, Catch Some Eels

The “Surprised Eel Historian” has mapped every eel rent recorded in medieval England.

by Leah Hamilton

The Bar Hill Comb was part of a collection of more than 280,000 artifacts recovered in Cambridgeshire, England, between 2016 and 2018.

In England, Bar Hill's 'Skull Comb' Is an Iron Age Mystery

The unusual artifact hints at how ancient communities may have treated their dead.

by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

All illustrations: John Mata for Atlas Obscura

Puzzle Monday: Get Lost Crossword

Podcast: National Poo Museum

A place where excrement is elevated.

by The Podcast Team

Lists Featuring England

Charles Goodwyn, Keeper of the Royal Philatelic Collection, with copies of world's first stamp

Lock & Co.

Plaque marking the Texan Embassy

The Lioness and the Lesser Kudu.

The 11 Best Places to Visit Near Buckingham Palace for Curious Travelers

Including The Royal Philatelic Collection, Lock & Co. , and The Embassy of the Republic of Texas

The "pet ham" is 119 years old.

Bog Butter, Ancient Beef, and Other Remarkably Old Foods on Display in Museums

Some of these foods are centuries past their expiration dates.

Including Ancient Bog Butter, Preserved Victorian Wedding Cake, and World’s Oldest Edible Ham

Madaba Mosaic Map

The gallery of maps, showing the ceiling

Great Polish Map of Scotland

13 Marvelous Maps That Go Way Beyond Paper

Charting the world's most intriguing out-of-the-box cartography.

Including Madaba Mosaic Map, Gallery of Maps - Galleria delle Carte Geografiche, and Mapparium Globe

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem0115 947 3171

The Star Tavern

The Eagle is among the best-known pubs in Cambridge.

The recreated apartment.

The Best British Pubs to Get Drunk on History

A 14-stop bar tour through Great Britain's past.

Including Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, The Star Tavern, and The Eagle

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