Largest landowner in UK?

[Vvroom]

Someone just asked me this and I struggled with the answer.

Who owns the most land, in terms of square footage, in the UK?

I said RailTrack as the railway network is pretty big and they have the land that the rails are on and the surrounding embankments etc etc. Surely that would mount up?!

Anyone have any ideas?

Please no suggestions of 'the queen' or 'jesus' !

[Alfa numeric]

Who owns the road network? I'd guess that's bigger in terms of area than the railways.

[B'stard Child]

Vvroom said:

Please no suggestions of 'the queen' or 'jesus' !

Why - I think that the crown is the largest landowner, probably followed closely by the church.......

[E55 Max]

The Duke of Westminster doesn't do badly, or Perhaps the Duke of Northumberland.

[MK_Bob]

I remember hearing that it was the Ministry of Defence.

[paoloh]

MK_Bob said:

I remember hearing that it was the Ministry of Defence.

I think that is correct

[farrendahl]

B'stard Child said:

Vvroom said:

Please no suggestions of 'the queen' or 'jesus' !

Why - I think that the crown is the largest landowner, probably followed closely by the church.......

I was about to add myself Somebody called Liz is in there, and that Catholic institution that also lets the WI use their halls every once in a while is probably a very close second

[Snails]

I was told the MoD own about 7% of the land in the UK. I don't know how accurate this is though.

Edited by Snails on Friday 24th September 11:12

[B'stard Child]

Quick google

The largest individual landowners in the British National Parks generally, however, are public organisations: the Forestry Commission, National Trust, Water Companies, Ministry of Defence, Duchy of Cornwall and Welsh Office, in that order. In comparison, Britain’s largest landowners are the Forestry Commission, then the Ministry of Defence. Third is the National Trust, fourth the Duke of Buccleuch and fifth Crown Estates.

Not very car related tho is it?

[anonymous-user]

Forestry Commission 2,400,000 acres
MOD 750k acres
National Trust 550k acres
Pension funds 500k acres
Utilities 500k acres
Crown Estate 384k acres
RSPB 283k acres
Duke of Buccleuch 277k acres
National Trust Scotland 176k acres
Duke of Atholl's trusts 148k acres

according to who owns britain by Kevin Cahill (2002)

but its by no means an exact science

[Vvroom]

B'stard Child said:

Vvroom said:

Please no suggestions of 'the queen' or 'jesus' !

Why - I think that the crown is the largest landowner, probably followed closely by the church.......

Because in technical terms the Crown probably is and every man and his dog knows that. I wanted the largest public/private landowner notwithstanding the fact that technically the Crown owns the lot.

[TJD2003]

Interesting reading.

http://www.caledonia.org.uk/land/documents/Who%20D...

TJ

[TJD2003]

Not sure how real this is.

“Queen Elizabeth II the largest landowner on Earth.”

Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom and of 31 other states and territories, is the legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface.

She is the only person on earth who owns whole countries, and who owns countries that are not her own domestic territory. This land ownership is separate from her role as head of state and is different from other monarchies where no such claim is made – Norway, Belgium, Denmark etc.

The value of her land holding. £17,600,000,000,000 (approx).

This makes her the richest individual on earth. However, there is no way easily to value her real estate. There is no current market in the land of entire countries. At a rough estimate of $5,000 an acre, and based on the sale of Alaska to the USA by the Tsar, and of Louisiana to the USA by France, the Queen’s land holding is worth a notional $33,000,000,000,000 (Thirty three trillion dollars or about £17,600,000,000,000). Her holding is based on the laws of the countries she owns and her land title is valid in all the countries she owns. Her main holdings are Canada, the 2nd largest country on earth, with 2,467 million acres, Australia, the 7th largest country on earth with 1,900 million acres, the Papua New Guinea with114 million acres, New Zealand with 66 million acres and the UK with 60 million acres.

She is the world’s largest landowner by a significant margin. The next largest landowner is the Russian state, with an overall ownership of 4,219 million acres, and a direct ownership comparable with the Queen’s land holding of 2,447 million acres. The 3rd largest landowner is the Chinese state, which claims all of Chinese land, about 2,365 million acres. The 4th largest landowner on earth is the Federal Government of the United States, which owns about one third of the land of the USA, 760 million acres. The fifth largest landowner on earth is the King of Saudi Arabia with 553 million acres

[PHmember]

TJD2003 said:

Not sure how real this is.

“Queen Elizabeth II the largest landowner on Earth.”

Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom and of 31 other states and territories, is the legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface.

She needs to get of her royal arse then, sell a couple of insignificant islands & give us all a hand with the national debt.

[Buzz word]

PHmember said:

TJD2003 said:

Not sure how real this is.

“Queen Elizabeth II the largest landowner on Earth.”

Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom and of 31 other states and territories, is the legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface.

She needs to get of her royal arse then, sell a couple of insignificant islands & give us all a hand with the national debt.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Queen-Slammed-For-Applying-For-Anti-Poverty-Grant-To-Heat-Buckingham-Palace-And-Windsor-Castle/Article/201009415742369?lpos=UK_News_Top_Stories_Header_2&lid=ARTICLE_15742369_Queen_Slammed_For_Applying_For_Anti-Poverty_Grant_To_Heat_Buckingham_Palace_And_Windsor_Castle

First things first, she has to pay the bills. The old dear is tucked up under her blanket at the moment.

[Vvroom]

TJD2003 said:

Not sure how real this is.

“Queen Elizabeth II the largest landowner on Earth.”

Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom and of 31 other states and territories

The value of her land holding. £17,600,000,000,000 (approx).

I call custard on that.

Come on Liz, get the Birds out.

[OllyBlox]

doogz said:

JPJPJP said:

Forestry Commission 2,400,000 acres
MOD 750k acres
National Trust 550k acres
Pension funds 500k acres
Utilities 500k acres
Crown Estate 384k acres
RSPB 283k acres
Duke of Buccleuch 277k acres
National Trust Scotland 176k acres
Duke of Atholl's trusts 148k acres

according to who owns britain by Kevin Cahill (2002)

but its by no means an exact science

I thought that MOD would have owned more than that.

I know Farmers that have around the 100 acre mark.

Thats 750k, as in 750,000. A bit more than your average farmer.

[Silent1]

doogz said:

JPJPJP said:

Forestry Commission 2,400,000 acres
MOD 750k acres
National Trust 550k acres
Pension funds 500k acres
Utilities 500k acres
Crown Estate 384k acres
RSPB 283k acres
Duke of Buccleuch 277k acres
National Trust Scotland 176k acres
Duke of Atholl's trusts 148k acres

according to who owns britain by Kevin Cahill (2002)

but its by no means an exact science

I thought that MOD would have owned more than that.

I know Farmers that have around the 100 acre mark.

M
100 acres is barely a farm, 600 is small and 1000 is normal

[ManOpener]

OllyBlox said:

doogz said:

JPJPJP said:

Forestry Commission 2,400,000 acres
MOD 750k acres
National Trust 550k acres
Pension funds 500k acres
Utilities 500k acres
Crown Estate 384k acres
RSPB 283k acres
Duke of Buccleuch 277k acres
National Trust Scotland 176k acres
Duke of Atholl's trusts 148k acres

according to who owns britain by Kevin Cahill (2002)

but its by no means an exact science

I thought that MOD would have owned more than that.

I know Farmers that have around the 100 acre mark.

Thats 750k, as in 750,000. A bit more than your average farmer.

Does the MOD still have the power to claim whatever land they want in times of conflict?

[ExiledTaff]

Silent1 said:

doogz said:

JPJPJP said:

Forestry Commission 2,400,000 acres
MOD 750k acres
National Trust 550k acres
Pension funds 500k acres
Utilities 500k acres
Crown Estate 384k acres
RSPB 283k acres
Duke of Buccleuch 277k acres
National Trust Scotland 176k acres
Duke of Atholl's trusts 148k acres

according to who owns britain by Kevin Cahill (2002)

but its by no means an exact science

I thought that MOD would have owned more than that.

I know Farmers that have around the 100 acre mark.

M
100 acres is barely a farm, 600 is small and 1000 is normal

All depends on the type of farm. At 140 acres, our farm is tiny compared to most of the arable farms, but about average for a purely dairy farm.