IChurch · listed 1967Church of St MaryPhoto: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: Mike Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
History of Lifton · Historic England
Old homes in Lifton: 45% built before 1919
Against 15% in the typical town, Lifton has 3 times the share. Historic England lists 16 buildings inside Lifton’s built-up area, 217 for every 10,000 residents.
Listed buildings
16
217 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
1
exceptional interest
Grade II*
0
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
45%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Lifton
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
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.
The map
Where Lifton’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade I
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
16 listed buildings by grade
1 Grade I0 Grade II*15 Grade II
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.
Grade I
The Grade I listed building in Lifton
Buildings of exceptional interest, about 2.5% of all listed buildings. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Grade II
15 Grade II listed buildings
Most listed buildings are in this grade, which covers buildings of special interest. Open any building to read its official list entry.
All 15 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Bradshaw Memorial About 50 Metres South West of the Tower of St MaryCockpit About 8 Metres North of the Arundell ArmsDingley DaleGatepiers, Gates and Railings to the South East of South LodgeHolly CottageHornaparkLifton Cottage HotelLifton War MemorialPalmer Chest Tomb About 10 Metres South East of the Tower of the Church of St MaryPalmer Chest Tomb About 9 Metres South of the Church of St MarySouth LodgeThe Old ManorThe Old RectoryWaddon Martyn Memorial About 5 Metres East of the Church of St MaryWall, Gatepiers and Gate Immediately to the South East of Hornapark
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 12% of Lifton
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Lifton 19934 ha
4 hain conservation areas, of 32 ha inside the built-up area.
11 of the 16 listed buildings stand in one.
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.
How the list grew
More than half of Lifton’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1985
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1985 · 13
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 1 entry was listed in 1952. 13 came in 1985, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.
Homes by age
45% of Lifton’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
44%
Before 1900
1.2%
1900–18
1.2%
1919–29
3.8%
1930s
3.8%
1945–54
6.2%
1955–64
5%
1965–72
10%
1973–82
5%
1983–92
1.2%
1993–99
13%
2000–08
0%
2009–15
5%
2016–25
LiftonEngland & Wales
44% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 2000–08, which added 13% 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 (4 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Lifton
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifton | 737 | 16 | 1 | — |
| Withnoe | 1,820 | 0 | 0 | D− |
| Launceston | 8,431 | 205 | 7 | A+ |
| Kelly Bray | 1,137 | 0 | 0 | D |
| Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel | 3,506 | 17 | 0 | B+ |
| Tavistock | 12,676 | 163 | 5 | A |
| Callington | 4,665 | 27 | 1 | B |
| Pensilva | 1,656 | 0 | 0 | C− |
In brief
Lifton in brief
Old houses are part of Lifton’s character: 45% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 16 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1993. The big year was 1985, when 13 of the 16 went on the list. The rest is about typical: Henry Martyn (1877) was born here before 1900.
Questions about Lifton’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Lifton?
Historic England lists 16 buildings inside Lifton’s built-up area: 1 Grade I, 0 Grade II* and 15 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Lifton?
One: Church of St Mary.
How many conservation areas are there in Lifton?
1, covering about 4 hectares of the town. The largest is Lifton.
When were Lifton’s buildings listed?
The first in 1952; the most, 13, in 1985.
How old are the homes in Lifton?
45% of homes were built before 1919 and 49% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
Lifton has no History Grade.
© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The National Heritage List for England is the official, up-to-date register of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England; check an entry on Historic England’s website before relying on it.
Sources: Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · Historic England conservation areas (supplied by local planning authorities; October 2026). All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.