Research and analysis

Receiver of wreck: protected wrecks

Information regarding protected wrecks, areas and monuments in the UK.

• From: Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Published: 1 May 2014
• Last updated: 6 February 2025
  Show all updates

  1. 6 February 2025

     Removed documents containing information we do not update, and replaced them with links to the appropriate government bodies' sites. Also updated the text on the page to accurately represent this change.

  2. 11 September 2020

     Updated the following spreadsheets, correct as at 11/09/2020: - Protected wrecks in the UK under section 1 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 - Wrecks designated as Maritime Scheduled Ancient Monuments - Protected wrecks in the UK under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 - Wrecks designated as historic marine protected areas in Scotland

  3. 18 July 2018

     Updated pdf documents for 2018.

  4. 15 June 2017

     Updated document added, Protected Wrecks Section 1

  5. 1 May 2014

     First published.

Documents

Protected wrecks in the UK under section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973

PDF, 197 KB, 1 page

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Details

This collection is for anyone interested in more information about various protected wrecks, areas and monuments throughout the UK.

Provided here is a document showing the wrecks protected under Section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. This document is maintained by the Receiver of Wreck.

Additionally please see below, links to the sites maintained by the regulating government bodies who are responsible for scheduling all other protected wrecks, areas and monuments in the UK. Please be aware that, whilst it may be a shipwreck, some of the protected sites are listed as monuments or areas. The Receiver of Wreck is not responsible for maintaining any of these linked sites and lists:

Wrecks in England protected under Section 1 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 or the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (managed by Historic England).

Wrecks in Scotland protected as Historic Marine Protected Areas (Historic Environment Scotland).

Wrecks in Scotland protected as Scheduled Monuments (Historic Environment Scotland).

Wrecks in Wales protected under Section 1 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 (managed by Cadw).

Wrecks in Wales protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (managed by Cadw).

Wrecks in Northern Ireland protected under Section 1 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 (managed by Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs).

Wrecks in Northern Ireland protected under the Historic Monument and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order 1995, Article 3 (managed by Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs).

Military wrecks around the UK, in International waters and overseas protected under The Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 (Designation of Vessels and Controlled Sites) Order 2019 (managed by the Ministry of Defence, Navy Secretariat).