353 listed buildings, 22 of them Grade I

Carlisle Castle; medieval tower keep castle, two lengths of city wall, a 16th century battery, and part of an earlier Roman fort known as LuguvaliumScheduled monumentTullie House and ExtensionsGrade I listedMilbourne Arms Public HouseGrade II listedOuter Bailey Arroyo Block, Gym and Regimental Association ClubGrade II listedNo 4 Gasholder, Carlisle Gas WorksGrade II listed+50See 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. 1882

1890

c. 1890

c. 1890

1903

1903

1903

1909

c. 1910

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).

Etterby Street14 listed

Warwick Road13 listed

Fisher Street12 listed · 1 II*

Abbey Street10 listed · 2 II*

Chiswick Street9 listed

Portland Square9 listed

Scotch Street8 listed

Castle Street6 listed · 1 II*

Earl Street5 listed

Victoria Place5 listed · 4 II*

Greenmarket4 listed · 1 Grade I

Hartington Place4 listed

Of the 353 entries, 155 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 62 entries were listed in 1949, 20 of the 22 Grade I buildings among them. 105 came in 1994. Only 10 have been added in the last 15 years.

World Heritage

10 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.

RomanArea of Roman and medieval towns, bounded by Annetwell Street, Abbey Street, Castle Street and Paternoster Row

RomanCarlisle Castle; medieval tower keep castle, two lengths of city wall, a 16th century battery, and part of an earlier Roman fort known as Luguvalium

Carlisle Cathedral precinct

City wall, NE side

RomanHadrian's Wall and vallum between the field boundary west of Wall Knowe and Scotland Road including the Roman fort at Stanwix in wall mile 65

Hadrian's Wall and vallum in wall mile 66, Stanwix Bank to Stainton

Hadrian's Wall between Tarraby and Beech Grove, Knowefield in wall miles 64 and 65

Hadrian's Wall vallum between the boundaries north of the properties on Whiteclosegate and the field boundary west of Wall Knowe in wall miles 64 and 65

RomanRoman and medieval town area bounded by Heads Lane West Wall and Blackfriars Street

Town wall, section on West Walls

2 registered parks and gardens

Dalston Road CemeteryGrade II

Rickerby Park, CarlisleGrade 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.

Henry of Harclay

Anne Howard, Countess of Arundel

Sawrey Gilpin

William Pether

Joseph Dacre Carlyle

Edward Tiffin

Bernard Barton

William Thomas Best

John Mulcaster Carrick

Annie Elisabeth Law

Mandell Creighton

John Cowans

Maud Mary Brindley

Thomas Baty

Adelina de Lara

Joseph Simpson

Bob Spottiswood

William Darling

William Smith

John Allan

13501500165018001950

Mandell Creighton1843–1901 · English historian and clergyman (1843–1901); bishop of the Church of …

Edward Tiffin1766–1829 · American politician (1766-1829)

Bernard Barton1784–1849 · British writer, editor (1784-1849)

WS

William Smith1886–1937 · English field hockey player (1886–1937)

Sawrey Gilpin1733–1807 · British artist (1733-1807)

WB

William Thomas Best1826–1897 · English organist (1826-1897)

JC

Joseph Dacre Carlyle1758–1804 · British orientalist

Thomas Baty1869–1954 · English lawyer, writer and activist (1869–1954)

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

The official list counts 353 listed buildings in Carlisle, 22 of them Grade I, including Carlisle Cathedral. For its size, it has more listed heritage than 78% of UK towns. Abbey Gate and Gatehouse sits at the heart of it all, with 20 of the town’s Grade I buildings within 400 m. Only 8 of the 151 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

On Etterby Street alone there are 14 listed buildings. Its older streets lie in 8 conservation areas, the first designated in 1968. Of the whole list, 64% are houses, terraces and villas. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: 20% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.