210 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade II*

College known as Glasney College, PenrynScheduled monumentCeltic Cross Adjacent to the Town HallGrade II* listedDaniell's WarehouseGrade II listedQuay Walls of Inner HarbourGrade II listedThe Kings Arms HotelGrade II listed+5See 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. 1910

1924

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).

Of the 210 entries, 137 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 31 entries were listed in 1949. 95 came in 1971, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

2 scheduled monuments

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

College known as Glasney College, Penryn

Fish Cross: standing cross immediately east of the Town Hall

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.

John Coode (Maryland politician)

Thomas Pellow

Charles Penrose

Shuldham Peard

John Tucker Williams

Edward Dunsterville

William Harris Rule

William Gilbert Puckey

William Upton Richards

Emma Hosken

16001650170017501800185019001950

Thomas Pellow1704–1747 · English author and enslaved person

William Gilbert Puckey1805–1878 · New Zealand missionary (1805–1878)

EH

Emma Hosken1845–1884 · British novelist

JP

John Coode (Maryland politician)1648–1709 · American politician

Charles Penrose1759–1830 · Royal Navy admiral

John Tucker Williams1789–1854 · Canadian politician

ED

Edward Dunsterville1796–1873 · British naval officer and hydrographer

William Harris Rule1802–1890 · Ran Methodist church and mission in Gibraltar (1802-1890)

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

Per resident, Penryn has more listed heritage than 90% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 210 listed buildings, including College known as Glasney College, Penryn. On Broad Street alone there are 21 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969.

Of the whole list, 78% are houses, terraces and villas. Thomas Pellow (1704), William Gilbert Puckey (1805) and Emma Hosken (1845) are among the 10 people born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; it also has 2 scheduled monuments; and 22% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.