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Icons of England

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Icons - a portrait of England

The ICONS project aims to paint a virtual portrait of England through an exploration of everything that we cherish in our culture, from Stonehenge to the humble cup of tea.

You can visit the ICONS Online website at www.icons.org.uk to nominate your own icons and cast votes for or against a list of nominations compiled by the public.

There are many parts of postal heritage that could be considered 'icons'... the Penny Black, the Machin design (the Queen's head on today's stamps, probably the most reproduced portrait in human history), or the pillar box (but which type?). Many of the things which have successfully made it on the list of icons have featured on postage stamps. We have taken a look at some of the successful nominations, and found stamps in our collections that feature, or are linked to them.

Simply click on the images below to find out which icons have featured on British stamps over the years.

Alice in Wonderland Big Ben Blackpool Tower Bobby Bowler Hat Cricket Cup of Tea Domesday Book Dr Who Eden Project

English Weather FA Cup Fish & Chips Fox Hunting and the Ban Globe Theatre Guy Fawkes Night Hadrian's Wall Hay Wain HMS Victory Holbein's Portrait of Henry VIII

Ironbridge King James Bible Lake District Magna Carta Mini Morris Dancing Notting Hill Carnival Oak Tree Origin of Species Parish church

Pint/Real Ale Pride and Prejudice Pub Queen's Head Stamp Robin Rolls-Royce Routemaster Bus Rugby Sherlock Holmes Spitfire

Stonehenge Sutton Hoo Helmet Thames Tower of London V Sign Westminster Abbey White Cliffs of Dover Wimbledon Winnie The Pooh York Minster

Alternatively, you can view an alphabetical list of the icons in our Icons A to Z.

Education resources

We have worked in partnership with the ICONS of England project to produce a worksheet and teachers' notes for printing activities comparing the Machin Stamp and Penny Black. Download these for free now:

ICONS stamp activity worksheet (PDF, 5.2MB - broadband recommended)

ICONS stamp activity teacher's notes (PDF, 1.30MB)

 

What is an icon?

What makes something an icon?
Is it to do with being famous or important?
Is an icon beloved or somehow symbolic?
Why is a cup of tea iconic and not a glass of orange juice?
Do we include the Humber Bridge as well as Tower Bridge?
Wimbledon or Wembley?

Icons ARE...

Icons, for the purposes of the ICONS Online project, have to be uniquely important to life in England and the people who live here. Some are obvious. Stonehenge. Cricket. The Crown Jewels. Others are more controversial.

ICONS Online has agreed some ground-rules for the project:

  • Icons are symbolic - they represent something in our culture, history or way of life
  • Icons are recognisable in a crowd - if no-one has heard of it or knows what it looks like, it cannot be an icon
  • Icons are fascinating and surprising - they have hidden depths and unexpected associations

Icons AREN'T...

For the ICONS project, 'icons' doesn't mean people. Churchill and Darwin may live on as historical figures but they won't be included as icons in this collection. Key individuals will not be ignored! It just means that the ICONS website will include Shakespeare’s plays rather than the man from Stratford, Stephenson's Rocket rather than Mr Stephenson himself.

ICONS - A Portrait of England has been commissioned by Culture Online, part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.