316 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Truro CathedralGrade I listedThe City HallGrade II* listedRailway Viaduct Including Redundant Piers, Over River AllenGrade II listedFormer Baptist Chapel, Now Part of County MuseumGrade II listedLloyds BankGrade II listed+13See 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. 1890

c. 1902

c. 1907

c. 1910

1935

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 316 entries, 138 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 76 entries were listed in 1950, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 98 came in 1993. Only 9 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.

Standing cross at High Cross, 30m west of Truro Cathedral

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.

Giles Farnaby

John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor

Henry Bone

Richard Polwhele

Henry Martyn

Elizabeth Andrew Warren

Barrington Reynolds

Richard Lemon Lander

Charles Foster Barham

Henry Spry

John Lander

Charles Spence Bate

Edwin Dunkin

Henry Treffry Dunn

O. W. Tancock

Edith Hume

Frederick Davey

Elsie Wilkins Sexton

Joseph Hunkin

Brock Williams

155016001650170017501800185019001950

Richard Lemon Lander1804–1834 · Cornish explorer (1804–1834)

GF

Giles Farnaby1563–1640 · English composer

Henry Martyn1781–1812 · English Anglican priest and missionary in India and Persia

CB

Charles Spence Bate1819–1889 · British zoologist and dentist

Henry Bone1755–1834 · British artist (1755-1834)

John Lander1806–1839 · English printer and explorer in western Africa (1806-1839)

EH

Edith Hume1841–1913 · British painter and illustrator (1843-1906)

John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor1606–1685 · English politician; (1606-1685)

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

Per resident, Truro has more listed heritage than 88% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 316 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including Truro Cathedral. Only 102 of the 439 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. On Lemon Street alone there are 31 listed buildings.

Its older streets lie in 2 conservation areas, the first designated in 1969. Of the whole list, 58% are houses, terraces and villas. Richard Lemon Lander (1804), Giles Farnaby (1563) and Henry Martyn (1781) are among the 27 people born here before 1900. Beyond that, it also has a scheduled monument; and 18% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.