II*Public · listed 1964Polruan BlockhouseOn the list as Polruan CastlePhoto: David Stowell · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: Oliver Mills · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
History of Polruan · Historic England
Polruan: 54% of homes built before 1919
For Polruan, that is 4 times the typical town’s share, 15%. Historic England lists 13 buildings inside Polruan’s built-up area, 243 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Listed buildings
13
243 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
3
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
54%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Polruan
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
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.
The map
Where Polruan’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade II*Scheduled monument
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
13 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I1 Grade II*12 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.
Grade II*
The Grade II* listed building in Polruan
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Grade II
12 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 12 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Chapel of St SaviourCross Standing at South Junction of Fore Street and Trough AdjoiningGeneral StoresHarbour View PentewenHolly HouseK6 Telephone KioskLugger Inn and House Adjoining to LeftMethodist ChapelNet Lofts Adjoining Lugger InnQuayside Hotel and Reading Rooms25, 27 and 29, Fore Street38,39 and 42, Fore Street
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 27% of Polruan
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Polruan 19738 ha
8 hain conservation areas, of 29 ha inside the built-up area.
11 of the 13 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 Polruan’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1985
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1985 · 10
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 2 entries were listed in 1964. 10 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.
3 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.
Homes by age
54% of Polruan’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
53%
Before 1900
1.7%
1900–18
0.9%
1919–29
7.1%
1930s
3.7%
1945–54
5.4%
1955–64
10%
1965–72
6.3%
1973–82
2.9%
1983–92
1.7%
1993–99
2.9%
2000–08
2.9%
2009–15
1.7%
2016–25
PolruanEngland & Wales
53% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, 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 (13 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Polruan
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polruan | 534 | 13 | 0 | — |
| Fowey | 2,027 | 103 | 2 | A+ |
| Tywardreath | 2,589 | 18 | 0 | A− |
| St Blazey | 6,569 | 24 | 0 | B |
| Carlyon Bay | 1,174 | 1 | 0 | D− |
| Pelynt | 1,144 | 21 | 1 | A− |
| Lostwithiel | 3,067 | 85 | 2 | A+ |
| St Austell | 24,361 | 103 | 1 | B+ |
In brief
Polruan in brief
More of Polruan’s homes are old than in most places: 54% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 13 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1973. More than half went on the list in a single year, 1985: 10 of 13. Beyond that, it also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Questions about Polruan’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Polruan?
Historic England lists 13 buildings inside Polruan’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 12 Grade II.
Are there scheduled monuments in Polruan?
Yes, 3 scheduled monuments, including Medieval wayside cross on Fore Street, Polruan, Polruan Blockhouse and St Saviour's Chapel, Polruan.
How many conservation areas are there in Polruan?
1, covering about 8 hectares of the town. The largest is Polruan.
When were Polruan’s buildings listed?
The first in 1964; the most, 10, in 1985.
How old are the homes in Polruan?
54% of homes were built before 1919 and 62% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
Polruan has no History Grade.
© 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.