List of national parks of England and Wales
National parks

List of national parks of England and Wales

Section Title: National parks
Table Section Text: None

Name	Photo	Country / County	Date formed	Area	Description

Peak District	-	England Derbyshire Cheshire Greater Manchester Staffordshire South Yorkshire West Yorkshire 53°21′N 1°50′W / 53.350°N 1.833°W	17 April 1951	1,438 square kilometres (555.2 sq mi)	The central location of this park provides for the coincidence of the northern limit of many lowland species, such as the stemless thistle and nuthatch and the southern extent of many northern upland species, such as the mountain hare and globe flower.

Lake District	-	England Cumbria 54°30′N 3°10′W / 54.500°N 3.167°W	9 May 1951	2,292 square kilometres (884.9 sq mi)	England's largest national park has geology providing a dramatic record of nearly 500 million years, with evidence of colliding continents, deep oceans, tropical seas, and kilometre-thick ice sheets.

Snowdonia (Welsh: Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri)	-	Wales Gwynedd Conwy 52°54′N 3°51′W / 52.900°N 3.850°W	18 October 1951	2,142 square kilometres (827.0 sq mi)	The largest national park in Wales, boasts the highest mountain in England and Wales, and Wales' largest natural lake. The area is steeped in culture and local history, where more than 90% its population speak Welsh Fossil shell fragments on the summit of Snowdon date from over 500 million years ago and the ancient ‘Harlech Dome’ of which Snowdon and Cadair Idris form the northern and southern extents respectively, was created in the Cambrian Period before the volcanoes erupted.

Dartmoor	-	England Devon 50°34′N 4°0′W / 50.567°N 4.000°W	30 October 1951	956 square kilometres (369.1 sq mi)	Dartmoor is the largest and wildest area of open country in the south of England. Granite, intruded 295 million years ago underlies 65% of the park and is surrounded by sedimentary rocks including limestones, shales and sandstones belonging to the Carboniferous and Devonian periods.

Pembrokeshire Coast (Welsh: Arfordir Penfro)	Marloes peninsula, Pembrokeshire coast, Wales, UK.JPG	Wales Pembrokeshire 51°50′N 5°05′W / 51.833°N 5.083°W	29 February 1952	620 square kilometres (239.4 sq mi)	The only UK national park recognised primarily for its coastline, it covers almost all the Pembrokeshire Coast, every offshore island, the Daugleddau estuary and large areas of the Preseli Hills and the Gwaun Valley.

North York Moors	-	England North Yorkshire type:landmark source:dewiki 54°23′N 0°45′W / 54.383°N 0.750°W	29 November 1952	1,436 square kilometres (554.4 sq mi)	Boasting archaeology dating from the end of the last Ice Age, the park contains the largest Iron Age hill-fort in the North of England, Roman forts, castles and abbeys, moorland crosses and important early industrial sites.

Yorkshire Dales	-	England North Yorkshire; Cumbria; Lancashire 54°16′N 2°05′W / 54.267°N 2.083°W	16 November 1954	2,179 square kilometres (841.3 sq mi)	The park straddles the central Pennines, known as the backbone of England. At the Millstone Grit-capped Three Peaks it rises to over 2,300 ft, contrasting with its deep cut valleys (dales) from which it derives its name.

Exmoor	-	England Somerset;Devon 51°06′N 3°36′W / 51.100°N 3.600°W	19 October 1954	693 square kilometres (267.6 sq mi)	The majority of Exmoor's rocks were formed during the Devonian period of geological history between about 410 and 360 million years ago, the most prominent being old and new red sandstones, Devonian slates, shales and limestone.

Northumberland	-	England Northumberland 55°19′N 2°13′W / 55.317°N 2.217°W	6 April 1956	1,049 square kilometres (405.0 sq mi)	With a population of around 2,000 people this is the least populated of all the national parks in England and Wales.

Brecon Beacons (Welsh: Bannau Brycheiniog)	-	Wales Blaenau Gwent, Carmarthenshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Monmouthshire, Torfaen, Caerphilly 51°53′N 3°26′W / 51.883°N 3.433°W	17 April 1957	1,351 square kilometres (521.6 sq mi)	The park wholly encompasses Fforest Fawr Geopark. Geologically there is evidence of ancient seas, mountain building and sea level and climate change scattered across a landscape that was shaped by the last Ice Age.

The Broads	-	England Norfolk; Suffolk 52°43′27″N 1°38′27″E / 52.72417°N 1.64083°E	1 April 1989	303 square kilometres (117.0 sq mi)	Britain's largest nationally protected wetland, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads is considered to be the eleventh member of the national park family, but in fact was designated through its own Act of Parliament in 1988 gaining similar status to a national park.

New Forest	New Forest heath and horses.JPG	England Hampshire Wiltshire 50°52′N 1°34′W / 50.867°N 1.567°W	1 March 2005	580 square kilometres (223.9 sq mi)	England's smallest national park was designated as a hunting ground by William the Conqueror almost 1,000 years before it became a national park and has its own section in the Domesday Book, in 1086.

South Downs	-	England East Sussex; Hampshire; West Sussex 50°54′40″N 0°22′01″W / 50.911°N 0.367°W	31 March 2010 2010 (operational)	1,641 square kilometres (633.6 sq mi)	The most recently designated national park in the United Kingdom is a line of hills that run from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east.

Sentence(s)

Snowdonia, at 2,142 square kilometers (827 sq mi), is Wale's largest national park.

final_sentence: Snowdonia, at 2,142 square kilometers (827 sq mi), is Wale's largest national park.