The woman in charge of 6,000 years of history at English Heritage

Under her leadership, English Heritage has increased its membership to more than a million, and welcomes more than 10 million visitors a year to its sites. As Heather Martin discovers, Kate Mavor has some stories to tell

‘Whatever funders are keen on, we’ve got an example,’ says Mavor (English Heritage)

Kate Mavor CBE has a way with words. Bookish by nature and a linguist by training, she has always loved a good story. Now, as CEO of English Heritage, overseeing 6,000 years of English history and more than 400 historic sites – ranging from neolithic long barrows, through Stonehenge, to York’s Cold War bunker – she herself is a great storyteller.

Mavor joined English Heritage in 2015 from the National Trust in Scotland (“the second-best job in the world”). The organisation was preparing to split off from a rebranded Historic England (which advises the government on listings) and “make its own luck” as a charity rather than a government department, and Mavor was brought in “to make it work”. Since then, membership has increased by a third to more than a million, while volunteers have grown from a handful to over 4,000. There are now around 300,000 (mostly free) educational visits a year, and annual visitor numbers exceed 10 million.

English Heritage spends around £20m a year on conservation, and Mavor has to be able to spin a good yarn to raise that kind of money. Transitional funding from a government grant will end in April. Now, membership generates a third of annual revenue, the National Lottery Heritage Fund supports large-scale projects, and other major donors include the Garfield Weston, Wolfson, and Michael Bishop Foundations as well as benefactors such as the Rausings, who in the biggest donation to date gave £2.5m towards construction of the new Tintagel Bridge, which was shortlisted in 2021 for the prestigious RIBA Stirling Prize.