II*House · listed 1986Locomotive coaling dropsPhoto: Ashley Dace · CC BY-SA 2.0
Soho House · Photo: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0B+History Grade
History of Shildon · Historic England
23 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade II*
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Shildon’s built-up area, 24 for every 10,000 residents. Of the listed buildings in Shildon, 20 are Grade II. 37% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings. Shildon grades B+ for history: #7 of 52 in County Durham.
Listed buildings
23
24 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
3
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
37%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Shildon in 6 photos
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Locomotive coaling dropsGrade II* listed
Soho Engine Shed, originally Kilburns' warehouseGrade II* listed
Shildon Signal BoxGrade II listed
The Grey Horse Public HouseGrade II listed
Soho CottagesGrade II listed+1See 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.
The map
Where Shildon’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%+
2 of 6neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 68% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
23 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I3 Grade II*20 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 3 Grade II* listed buildings in Shildon
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
II*House · listed 1986Hackworth MuseumOn the list as Soho HousePhoto: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0
II*Inns & shops · listed 1986Soho Engine ShedOn the list as Soho Engine Shed, originally Kilburns' warehousePhoto: Alan Murray-Rust · CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s protected
The largest group of Shildon’s listed buildings is homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas9
Walls, gates & bridges4
Churches, chapels & priories4
Memorials, crosses & tombs3
Inns, shops & warehouses3
9 entries (39%) are houses, terraces and villas. 4 are churches, chapels and priories.
Buildings are sorted by words in each entry’s name (church, gate, inn, memorial…): the list’s open data has no building type. An entry named only by its address counts as a house.
Grade II
20 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 20 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Aqueduct Across RailwayCart Shed, 2 Metres to Rear of Number 22A Main StreetChurch of All SaintsChurch of St JohnCoach House CentreDaniel Adamsons Coach HouseDrinking Fountain, 30 Metres South-East of Entrance to Recreation GroundMidland BankMonument to Timothy Hackworth, 27 Metres North-West of West Tower of Church of St. JohnNew Shildon War MemorialRailway Institute and Forecourt WallsRailway goods shed, coal drops, parcel office and boundary wallRailway lineside cabins known as Black Boy StablesShildon Signal BoxSoho CottagesSouth Portal of Shildon Railway TunnelSudbury House (Former Chapel)Sudbury House (Former Manse)The Grey Horse Public HouseWar Memorial, 3.0 Metres North of Midland Bank
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 1.3% of Shildon
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Shildon 19934 ha
4 hain conservation areas, of 318 ha inside the built-up area.
9 of the 23 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 Shildon’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1986
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1986 · 19
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 1 entry was listed in 1976. 19 came in 1986, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.
History Grade
Shildon grades B+ for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (26 points, 27 per 10,000 residents)More than 49% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (37%)More than 91% 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.
Homes by age
37% of Shildon’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
23%
Before 1900
13%
1900–18
3.2%
1919–29
3.7%
1930s
11%
1945–54
13%
1955–64
11%
1965–72
8.1%
1973–82
1.3%
1983–92
0.8%
1993–99
4.5%
2000–08
2.6%
2009–15
4%
2016–25
ShildonEngland & Wales
23% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1900–18, which added 13% 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 (7 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Born here
4 notable people born in Shildon before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
Thomas Daykin
Bill Worrall
Jack Forrest
Harry Brown
18501875190019251950
HB
Harry Brown1897–1958 · British association football player (1897-1958)
TD
Thomas Daykin1882–1960 · Footballer (1882-1960)
Jack Forrest1892– · English footballer
BW
Bill Worrall1886– · Association football player
Everyone born in Shildon → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Shildon
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shildon | 9,650 | 23 | 0 | B+ |
| Bishop Auckland | 23,359 | 92 | 9 | A− |
| School Aycliffe | 1,590 | 2 | 0 | D |
| Coundon and Leeholme | 2,522 | 2 | 0 | C+ |
| Heighington | 1,548 | 44 | 1 | A− |
| Newton Aycliffe | 25,760 | 10 | 1 | D |
| West Auckland | 3,107 | 30 | 1 | A− |
| Chilton | 4,693 | 1 | 0 | C− |
In brief
Shildon in brief
More of Shildon’s homes are old than in most places: 37% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 23 listed buildings, including Locomotive coaling drops. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1993.
Harry Brown (1897), Thomas Daykin (1882) and Jack Forrest (1892) are among the 4 people born here before 1900. The big year was 1986, when 19 of the 23 went on the list. The rest is about typical: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; and per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.
Questions about Shildon’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Shildon?
Historic England lists 23 buildings inside Shildon’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 3 Grade II* and 20 Grade II.
How many conservation areas are there in Shildon?
1, covering about 4 hectares of the town. The largest is Shildon.
When were Shildon’s buildings listed?
The first in 1976; the most, 19, in 1986.
Who was born in Shildon?
Among people born before 1900: Harry Brown (1897), Thomas Daykin (1882), Jack Forrest (1892) and Bill Worrall (1886).
How old are the homes in Shildon?
37% of homes were built before 1919 and 43% 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 · 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.