12th January: The National Trust

The National Trust was founded 12 Jan 1895. Here are a few things you might not know about the National Trust:

1. The trust was founded on 12 January 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley.
2. The National Trust is the largest private landowner in the United Kingdom. It owns over more than 610,000 acres (985 square miles, 2550 km²), of land and over 350 properties. It owns or controls a quarter of the Lake District, 12% of the Peak District and 775 miles of coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - one fifth of the total. 1.5% of the total land mass of England, Wales and Northern Ireland belongs to the Trust.
3. Known for its historic houses, the National Trust owns a few other things that you might not expect - 59 villages, including Buttermere in Cumbria and Lacock in Wiltshire, 61 pubs and inns, including the George Inn in Southwark, 49 churches, nine monasteries and, according to its website, eight billiard tables including one which is heated and has an electronic scoring system.
4. The Trust bought its first property in 1896. This property was Alfriston Clergy House, and it set them back the princely sum of £10. Even in today's money that was just £600. The house has a decorative cornice with a a sprig of Oak carved on it, which is said to have inspired the Trust's oak sprig symbol.
5. The trust's first nature reserve was Wicken Fen, a wetland nature reserve situated near the village of Wicken, Cambridgeshire, England, and its first archaeological monument was White Barrow, a large Neolithic long barrow situated on a chalk ridge on Salisbury Plain just outside the village of Tilshead in Wiltshire.
6. In 2015, the Trust had 4.24 million members. According to some sources this makes it the biggest membership organisation in Britain, although on their own website the Trust admits that the Automobile Association (AA) may be bigger. The Trust's membership is about six times bigger than that of all the main political parties put together.
7. Much of the Trust's work is done by volunteers - there are over 70,000 of them, doing 3.77 million hours of work a year which would cost £29.2 million if paid staff were employed to do it all. As well as the volunteers commonly seen in the houses, shops and ticket offices there are some more unusual roles - 120 volunteer firefighters, 15 volunteer pilots, two beekeepers and two shepherds.
8. The most visited National Trust location is the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The house which gets the most visitors is Stourhead in Wiltshire.
9. The motto of the National Trust is For everyone, for ever.
10. The Trust is funded by membership subscriptions, entrance fees to properties (although members usually get in free), and of course, revenue from its gift shops and restaurants. Legacies make up a big chunk as well. Beatrix Potter was a huge supporter and left most of her property to the Trust. Their head office, based in Swindon, is named Heelis, which was Beatrix Potter's married name.

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