Appledore: 45% of homes built before 1919

Docton HouseGrade II* listedRichmond DockGrade II* listed

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.

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.

Of the 116 entries, 66 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

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 17 entries were listed in 1951. 94 came in 1973, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 3 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.

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.

43% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, which added 12% 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 (14 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Edward Calvert

William Reardon Smith

William Tatem, 1st Baron Glanely

175017751800182518501875190019251950

Edward Calvert1799–1883 · British artist (1799-1883)

WG

William Tatem, 1st Baron Glanely1868–1942 · British racehorse owner (1868-1942)

WS

William Reardon Smith1856–1935 · British shipowner

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

For its size, Appledore has more listed heritage than 94% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 116 listed buildings. Of its homes, 45% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. On Market Street alone there are 16 listed buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969. Most entries on the list, 88%, are houses, terraces and villas. Edward Calvert (1799), William Tatem, 1st Baron Glanely (1868) and William Reardon Smith (1856) were all born here before 1900. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; and it also has a scheduled monument.