49 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Greta HouseGrade I listedChurch of St KentigernGrade II* listedBrigham Forge CottagesGrade II listedKing's Arms HotelGrade II listedThe Bridge CaféGrade II listed+10See 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. 1900

c. 1900

c. 1925

1938

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.

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 7 entries were listed in 1951, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 32 came in 1977, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.

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.

29% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 11% 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 (54 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Edward Stephenson

Robley Dunglison

Derwent Coleridge

Sara Coleridge

Eliza Lynn Linton

Frederic William Henry Myers

Arthur Thomas Myers

Francis Derwent Wood

Arthur Edward Flynn Fawcus

Derwent Hall Caine

1650170017501800185019001950

Sara Coleridge1802–1852 · British poet, translator, editor, writer (1802–1852)

Frederic William Henry Myers1843–1901 · English poet and essayist (1843–1901)

Eliza Lynn Linton1822–1898 · English novelist and journalist (1822–1898)

AM

Arthur Thomas Myers1851–1894 · British physician and sportsman (1851–1894)

Francis Derwent Wood1871–1926 · (1871 - 1926) British sculptor (1871–1926)

Derwent Coleridge1800–1883 · British writer and priest (1800-1883)

Derwent Hall Caine1891–1971 · British politician and actor (1891-1971)

Robley Dunglison1798–1869 · Physician

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

Old houses are part of Keswick’s character: 32% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 49 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including Greta Hall. For its size, it has more listed heritage than 76% of UK towns. Only 88 of the 985 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1981. Of the whole list, 55% are houses, terraces and villas. Sara Coleridge (1802), Frederic William Henry Myers (1843) and Eliza Lynn Linton (1822) are among the 10 people born here before 1900.