90 listed buildings, 5 of them Grade II*

Market HouseGrade II* listedChapel of St Mary MagdaleneGrade II* listedBlack Horse HotelGrade II listedVaughan Tapscott Gloving FactoryGrade II listedFountain in Centre of Road at South EndGrade II listed+2See 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.

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).

Of the 90 entries, 49 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. 68 came in 1973, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

1 registered park or garden

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 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 (32 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

James Frederick Palmer

Mary Theresa Vidal

William Johnson Cory

Charles Hardie Buzacott

William Sandford

Henry Bishop

Henry Holland Vassall

Gerald Boundy

1800182518501875190019251950

William Johnson Cory1823–1892 · English educator and poet (1823-1892)

Mary Theresa Vidal1815–1873 · Australian writer

HB

Henry Bishop1849–1891 · Australian cricketer (1849-1891)

GB

Gerald Boundy1895–1964 · English cricketer (1895-1964)

James Frederick Palmer1803–1871 · English surgeon and politician in Australia

Charles Hardie Buzacott1835–1918 · Australian journalist, publisher and politician (1835-1918)

William Sandford1841–1932 · British businessman

HV

Henry Holland Vassall1887–1949 · English rugby union footballer (1887-1949)

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

More of Great Torrington’s homes are old than in most places: 29% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 90 listed buildings, including Church of St Michael and All Angels. For its size, it has more listed heritage than 84% of UK towns. New Street alone has 13 listed buildings.

A conservation area protects part of it. Most entries on the list, 77%, are houses, terraces and villas. William Johnson Cory (1823), Mary Theresa Vidal (1815) and Henry Bishop (1849) are among the 8 people born here before 1900. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building.