209 listed buildings, 12 of them Grade II*

Polytechnic HallGrade II* listedThe Old Town HallGrade II* listedWarehouse and Quay Walls at Rear of No.38Grade II listedBar TerraceGrade II listedMarine Hotel with Shipwrights and Chain LockerGrade II listed+19See 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.

c. 1750

c. 1890

c. 1890

c. 1890

1905

1905

1907

c. 1912

1917

Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.

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).

Church Street18 listed · 1 II*

Arwenack Street17 listed · 1 II*

High Street11 listed · 1 II*

Woodlane7 listed

Market Street6 listed

Stratton Terrace5 listed

Wodehouse Terrace5 listed

Market Strand4 listed

Killigrew Street3 listed

Kimberley Place3 listed

Quay Hill3 listed

Of the 209 entries, 101 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

Search the rest on Historic England’s list →

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 17 entries were listed in 1949. 89 came in 1973, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 3 have 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.

Pendennis peninsula fortifications

1 registered park or garden

Falmouth General CemeteryGrade II

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.

19% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 10% 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 (2 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

John Laurance

Edward Long Fox

Josiah Fox

Robert Were Fox the Younger

Mary Lloyd

Samuel Prideaux Tregelles

Nicholas Pocock

John Barnicoat

Samuel Green

Elizabeth Philp

William Odgers

Carveth Read

Henry B. Guppy

Horace Hodges

John Sydney Hicks

Edward Jackett

J. T. Jose

Reginald Henderson

Edward Aylmer

175017751800182518501875190019251950

John Laurance1750–1810 · American statesman (1750-1810)

Samuel Prideaux Tregelles1813–1875 · British theologian (1813–1875)

Henry B. Guppy1854–1926 · British botanist (1854-1926)

Edward Jackett1878–1935 · English rugby union and rugby league footballer (1878–1935)

JJ

J. T. Jose1881–1963 · British shipwright and rugby player (1881–1963)

CR

Carveth Read1848–1931 · British philosopher

HH

Horace Hodges1863–1951 · British film actor and writer (1865–1951)

Josiah Fox1763–1847 · Naval architect

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

Old houses are part of Falmouth’s character: 22% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 209 listed buildings, including Church of King Charles the Martyr. Per resident, it has more listed heritage than 82% of UK towns. On Church Street alone there are 18 listed buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969. Of the whole list, 66% are houses, terraces and villas. Of the 19 people born here before 1900, the best known include John Laurance (1750), Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813) and Henry B. Guppy (1854). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; and it also has a scheduled monument.