115 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Church of Saints Peter and PaulGrade I listedGilpin House Orchard Side Cowper and Newton MuseumGrade II* listedThe Swan InnGrade II listedBridge HouseGrade II listedOlney War MemorialGrade II listed+2See all photos

Photos 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.

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).

Of the 115 entries, 68 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

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.

The first 58 entries were listed in 1952. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.

1 scheduled monument

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Secretary of State, advised by Historic England.

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.

Blair Swannell

Albert Wise

Arthur Gilbert Bull

18501875190019251950

Blair Swannell1875–1915 · Australian rugby union footballer (1875-1915)

Albert Wise1886–1965 · British association football player (1886-1965)

AB

Arthur Gilbert Bull1890–1963 · British sportsperson

Everyone born in Olney → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.

Measured per resident, Olney has more listed heritage than 87% of UK towns. In all there are 115 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including Church of Saints Peter and Paul. Only 88 of the 833 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. On High Street alone there are 34 listed buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969. Of the whole list, 78% are houses, terraces and villas. Blair Swannell (1875), Albert Wise (1886) and Arthur Gilbert Bull (1890) were all born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: it also has a scheduled monument; and 19% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.