ABSTRACT
The English selection of industrial sites was co-ordinated by English Heritage's Industrial Archaeology Panel when many dozens of suggestions were narrowed down to just seven. The European Route of Industrial Heritage has its origins in the Westphalia region of Germany where a regional route has existed for some years, but an Interreg IIB grant allowed a Master Plan to be developed for the much of the rest of western Europe. The publication emanating from the project will develop practical guidance for use by other organisations—whether national, regional or local—faced with the widely experienced problem of regenerating historically significant industrial sites and communities. The inclusion of so many industrial sites on the World Heritage List is tangible proof that the subject, as understood in Britain, has indeed 'gone universal'. In 1999 the UK regained the initiative and once again set the international agenda with its Tentative List of World Heritage Sites with its emphasis on themed landscapes.
