II*Church · listed 1985Catholic Church of St Francis of AssisiPhoto: Robin Webster · CC BY-SA 2.5
Shefford Methodist Church · Photo: David Hillas · CC BY-SA 2.0C+History Grade
History of Shefford · Historic England
34 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade II*
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Shefford’s built-up area, 46 for every 10,000 residents. 33 of Shefford’s listed buildings are Grade II. 8.2% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 5 of its listed buildings and 2 old views of the town. Shefford grades C+ for history: #10 of 33 in Bedfordshire.
Listed buildings
34
46 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
1 registered park or garden
Homes built before 1919
8.2%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Shefford in 8 photos and old views
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed, and the town before 1950. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Catholic Church of St Francis of AssisiGrade II* listed
Chicksands PrioryGrade II park or garden
The White Hart Public HouseGrade II listed
St Francis's HomeGrade II listed
Parish Church of St Michael and All AngelsGrade II listed+3See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons and Geograph, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the building’s page or its official list entry.
Through time
Shefford in old photos
2 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
1905
Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.
The map
Where Shefford’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade II*Park or garden
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
0 of 4neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
34 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I1 Grade II*33 Grade II
Historic England lists buildings in three grades: Grade I for buildings of exceptional interest (about 2.5% of all listed buildings), Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest (about 5.8%), and Grade II for buildings of special interest (about 91.7%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.
Every entry on the National Heritage List for England whose point lies inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings. Neighbourhood dots: the population-weighted centre of each Census 2021 output area, coloured by its neighbourhood’s (LSOA’s) share of homes built before 1919 (Valuation Office Agency, March 2025).
Grade II*
The Grade II* listed building in Shefford
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
What’s protected
Most of Shefford’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas24
Churches, chapels & priories4
Inns, shops & warehouses3
Walls, gates & bridges2
Public & civic buildings1
24 entries (71%) are houses, terraces and villas. 4 are churches, chapels and priories.
Buildings are sorted by words in each entry’s name (church, gate, inn, memorial…): the list’s open data has no building type. An entry named only by its address counts as a house.
Grade II
33 Grade II listed buildings
Most listed buildings are in this grade, which covers buildings of special interest. Open any building to read its official list entry.
All 33 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Avondale HouseBarclays Bank Kingswood ChemistsEast LodgeFormer Infants School Adjacent to Number 108Left Hand Wall of a Pair Flanking Entrance at East LodgeParish Church of St Michael and All AngelsPresbytery Adjacent to Catholic Church of St FrancisRight Hand Wall of a Pair Flanking Entrance at East LodgeShefford Methodist ChurchSt Francis's HomeThe Tudor HouseThe White Hart Public HouseWhite Swan Public House1, 2 and 3 The Maltings, High Street, Shefford1, Ampthill Road10, Northbridge Street108, Clifton Road11, Northbridge Street16-22, High Street19 and 21, High Street2 and 4, High Street2, Clifton Road21 and 23, Northbridge Street23, High Street24 and 26, High Street3 and 5, Northbridge Street32, High Street34, High Street37, High Street39 and 43, High Street46 and 48, High Street7 and 9, Northbridge Street8, High Street
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 2.8% of Shefford
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Shefford 19715 ha
5 hain conservation areas, of 188 ha inside the built-up area.
27 of the 34 listed buildings stand in one.
Historic England’s conservation areas layer, supplied by councils (incomplete in places, so a page fact, never graded). Hectares are the part of each area inside the built-up area.
How the list grew
More than half of Shefford’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1985
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1985 · 25
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 3 entries were listed in 1952. 25 came in 1985, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.
Monuments & landscapes
Monuments, parks and gardens
Designations that overlap the town by a tenth of their area or half a hectare.
1 registered park or garden
Chicksands PrioryGrade II
History Grade
Shefford grades C+ for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (36 points, 49 per 10,000 residents)More than 60% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (8.2%)More than 19% of UK towns
Two measures, each ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more, with protected heritage counting twice as much as the age of homes. Protected heritage counts each listed building by its grade (Grade I three points, II* two, II one), each scheduled monument and battlefield two, and each registered park or garden by its grade; it is ranked both per 10,000 residents and as a total, so a village with one fine church doesn’t outrank a historic city. The second measure is the share of homes built before 1919, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records. History is a character grade: it describes the town and isn’t part of the overall grade.
Homes by age
8.2% of Shefford’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
8.2%
Before 1900
0%
1900–18
1.3%
1919–29
2.6%
1930s
3.4%
1945–54
5.1%
1955–64
7.8%
1965–72
11%
1973–82
5.3%
1983–92
17%
1993–99
12%
2000–08
9.7%
2009–15
17%
2016–25
SheffordEngland & Wales
8.2% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1993–99, which added 17% of today’s homes.
Valuation Office Agency, council tax stock of properties by build period, 31 March 2025, for the neighbourhoods (LSOAs) that make up the town, split by where their residents live. Homes with no recorded build period (10 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Shefford
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shefford | 7,317 | 34 | 0 | C+ |
| Clifton | 2,769 | 15 | 0 | C+ |
| Meppershall | 2,044 | 9 | 0 | C+ |
| Henlow | 2,446 | 11 | 1 | B− |
| Lower Stondon | 3,966 | 6 | 0 | D |
| Langford | 3,712 | 5 | 1 | C− |
| Shillington | 1,629 | 26 | 1 | A |
| Arlesey | 6,027 | 8 | 1 | C |
In brief
Shefford in brief
Shefford has 34 listed buildings, including Catholic Church of St Francis of Assisi. High Street alone has 11 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1971. Of the whole list, 71% are houses, terraces and villas.
Its homes are mostly newer: 8.2% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. More than half went on the list in a single year, 1985: 25 of 34. Beyond that, like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and Theodore Wade-Gery (1888) was born here before 1900.
Questions about Shefford’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Shefford?
Historic England lists 34 buildings inside Shefford’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 33 Grade II.
How many conservation areas are there in Shefford?
1, covering about 5 hectares of the town. The largest is Shefford.
When were Shefford’s buildings listed?
The first in 1952; the most, 25, in 1985.
Are there old photos of Shefford?
Yes: 2 public-domain photos and postcards from 1905 to 1905, all on this page.
How old are the homes in Shefford?
8.2% of homes were built before 1919 and 12% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The National Heritage List for England is the official, up-to-date register of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England; check an entry on Historic England’s website before relying on it.
Sources: Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · Historic England conservation areas (supplied by local planning authorities; October 2026). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.