Walls & gates · listed 1974Tor House and Terrace Walls and Piers
Wesleyan Methodist Church · Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0C+History Grade
History of Torpoint · Historic England
11 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade II*
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Torpoint’s built-up area, 15 for every 10,000 residents. 10 of Torpoint’s listed buildings are Grade II. We have photos of 4 of its listed buildings and 2 old views of the town. 21% of its homes were built before 1919. Torpoint grades C+ for history: #32 of 35 in Cornwall.
Listed buildings
11
15 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
21%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Torpoint in 6 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.
Church of St James the GreaterGrade II listed
Ellis MonumentGrade II listed
WarehouseGrade 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
Torpoint in old photos
2 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
c. 1926
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 Torpoint’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade II*
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
0 of 5neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 44% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
11 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I1 Grade II*10 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 Torpoint
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Grade II
10 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.
How the list grew
More than half of Torpoint’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1987
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1987 · 6
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 1 entry was listed in 1973. 6 came in 1987, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.
History Grade
Torpoint 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 (12 points, 17 per 10,000 residents)More than 34% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (21%)More than 64% 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.
Born here
3 notable people born in Torpoint before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
John Langdon Down
John McCrea
Arthur Gordon Barry
1800182518501875190019251950
John Langdon Down1828–1896 · British physician and first person to describe Down syndrome (1828-18…
AB
Arthur Gordon Barry1885–1942 · English golfer
JM
John McCrea1829–1883 · Royal Navy admiral
Everyone born in Torpoint → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Torpoint
In brief
Torpoint in brief
Torpoint has 11 listed buildings, including Wesleyan Methodist Church. John Langdon Down (1828), Arthur Gordon Barry (1885) and John McCrea (1829) were all born here before 1900. The big year was 1987, when 6 of the 11 went on the list. Beyond that, like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and 21% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.
Questions about Torpoint’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Torpoint?
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside Torpoint’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 10 Grade II.
When were Torpoint’s buildings listed?
The first in 1973; the most, 6, in 1987.
Are there old photos of Torpoint?
Yes: 2 public-domain photos and postcards from 1926 to 1926, all on this page.
Who was born in Torpoint?
Among people born before 1900: John Langdon Down (1828), Arthur Gordon Barry (1885) and John McCrea (1829).
How old are the homes in Torpoint?
21% of homes were built before 1919 and 24% 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. 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.