237 listed buildings, 4 of them Grade I

Skerne BridgeGrade I listedBank Top Railway Station (Main Building)Grade II* listedThe Turks Head Public HouseGrade II listedDarlington Civic TheatreGrade II listedThe Clock TowerGrade II listed+14See 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. 1895

c. 1895

1900s

c. 1925

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).

Coniscliffe Road12 listed

Haughton Green12 listed

Bondgate11 listed · 1 II*

Cockerton Green9 listed

High Row7 listed

Skinnergate7 listed

Harewood Hill5 listed

Horsemarket5 listed · 1 II*

Post House Wynd4 listed

Blackwellgate3 listed

Of the 237 entries, 96 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 38 entries were listed in 1952, 3 of the 4 Grade I buildings among them. 155 came in 1977, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. 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.

Coniscliffe Road waterworks

3 registered parks and gardens

Landscape at Cummins Engine Factory, DarlingtonGrade II

South Park, DarlingtonGrade II

West Cemetery, DarlingtonGrade 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.

9.3% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was the 1930s, which added 14% 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 (44 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Anne Monson

Frank Hall Standish

Elizabeth Pease Nichol

Edward Backhouse

J. M. Dent

Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford

Katherine Routledge

James Stott

Ralph Hodgson

Jack Almond

Henry Hodgkin

Ronald Brebner

John William Nicholson

Seymour Cocks

Charlie Roberts

George Barron

Willie Smith

Norman Creek

Jack Andrews

Harry Dobinson

170017501800185019001950

Katherine Routledge1866–1935 · British archaeologist (1866–1935)

Ronald Brebner1881–1914 · English footballer (1881-1914)

Ralph Hodgson1871–1962 · British writer (1871-1962)

Charlie Roberts1883–1939 · English footballer and manager (1883-1939)

AM

Anne Monson1726–1776 · English botanist and collector of plants and insects (1726-1776)

Willie Smith1886–1982 · British snooker and billiard player (1886-1982)

Elizabeth Pease Nichol1807–1897 · British activist

Jack Pease, 1st Baron Gainford1860–1943 · British politician (1860-1943)

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

More of Darlington’s homes are old than in most places: 22% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 237 listed buildings, 4 of them Grade I, including Church of St Andrew. Only 25 of the 115 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. On Coniscliffe Road alone there are 12 listed buildings.

Its older streets lie in 7 conservation areas, the first designated in 1968. Most entries on the list, 61%, are houses, terraces and villas. Katherine Routledge (1866), Ronald Brebner (1881) and Ralph Hodgson (1871) are among the 52 people born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and it also has a scheduled monument.