This dataset compares historic grassland survey data with contemporary spatial data of habitats in England. The National Vegetation Classification (NVC) community and grassland type were determined for 848 quadrats surveyed at grassland sites in England between 1960 and 1981. A 100m buffer was generated around each individual quadrat which matched the spatial accuracy (±100m) of the quadrat location, to represent a grassland site. These sites were intersected with Natural England's Priority Habitats Inventory in ArcGIS, to indicate the percentage cover of priority habitats found at the grassland sites in 2013. This dataset supersedes the previous version.