Old homes in Ilfracombe: 52% built before 1919

Parish Church of Holy TrinityGrade I listedParish Church of Saint Philip and St JamesGrade II* listedCastle HouseGrade II listedThe Royal Britannia HotelGrade II listedHarbour Master's Office and Ilfracombe Yacht ClubGrade II listed+9See 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.

1840

1870s

c. 1890

c. 1890

1890s

c. 1890

c. 1890

1903

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).

Of the 128 entries, 53 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 15 entries were listed in 1951, 2 of the 2 Grade I buildings among them. 49 came in 1973, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have 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.

49% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 9.2% 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 (92 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

James Bowen

Richard Bowen

John Richards Lapenotière

Thomas Price

Coulson Kernahan

Arthur Cleave

175017751800182518501875190019251950

CK

Coulson Kernahan1858–1943 · British writer (1858–1943)

AC

Arthur Cleave1884–1939 · British actor (1884-1939)

James Bowen1751–1835 · Royal Navy officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleoni…

Richard Bowen1761–1797 · British Royal Navy officer

John Richards Lapenotière1770–1834 · Royal Navy officer

TP

Thomas Price1840–1906 · Queensland politician

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

More of Ilfracombe’s homes are old than in most places: 52% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 128 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I, including Parish Church of Holy Trinity. Per resident, it has more listed heritage than 85% of UK towns. Only 46 of the 697 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

High Street alone has 22 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1973. Most entries on the list, 63%, are houses, terraces and villas.