Church of St Mary Magdalene · Photo: Hugh Llewelyn · CC BY-SA 2.0

History of South Molton · Historic England

83 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I

Historic England counts them inside South Molton’s built-up area, 133 for every 10,000 residents. 79 of South Molton’s listed buildings are Grade II. We have photos of 7 of its listed buildings. 20% of its homes were built before 1919. South Molton grades A− for history: #19 of 47 in Devon.

3Grade I 1Grade II*20on East Street

Listed buildings

133 per 10,000 residents

Grade I

exceptional interest

Grade II*

more than special interest

Scheduled monuments

nationally important sites

Homes built before 1919

20%

typical UK town 15%

In pictures

South Molton in 7 photos

Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

Guild Hall (Including Borough Museum)Grade I listed

South Molton Cemetery ChapelsGrade I listed

Kings Arms Public HouseGrade II listed

Medical HallGrade II listed

68, South StreetGrade 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.

The map

Where South Molton’s history is

Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.

Grade IGrade II*

0 of 4neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 43% were built before 1919.

Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.

83 listed buildings by grade

3 Grade I1 Grade II*79 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 3 Grade I listed buildings in South Molton

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.

Public · listed 1951Guild HallOn the list as Guild Hall (Including Borough Museum)Photo: Martin Bodman · CC BY-SA 2.0

Church · listed 1951Church of St Mary MagdalenePhoto: Hugh Llewelyn · CC BY-SA 2.0

House · listed 1986South Molton Cemetery ChapelsPhoto: Harrias · CC BY-SA 3.0

Grade II*

The Grade II* listed building in South Molton

Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed.

Public · listed 1951Public Market and Assembly RoomPhoto: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0

Historic streets

East Street has the most listed buildings

Streets by the listed entries with an address on them. One entry can be a whole terrace, so long rows count once.

East Street20 listed

Broad Street13 listed

South Street10 listed

Duke Street3 listed

Of the 83 entries, 51 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

What’s protected

Most of South Molton’s listed buildings are homes

Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.

Houses, terraces & villas68

Public & civic buildings5

Churches, chapels & priories4

Inns, shops & warehouses3

Walls, gates & bridges1

Street furniture1

Memorials, crosses & tombs1

68 entries (82%) are houses, terraces and villas. 4 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 3 Grade I buildings.

Buildings are sorted by words in each entry’s name (church, gate, inn, memorial…): the list’s open data has no building type. An entry named only by its address counts as a house.

Grade II

79 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 79 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z

Beach House Carisbrook Church House Congregational Church Eastleigh Entrance Gates to Church Yard Fallow House Former Town Gaol to Rear of Nos 22 and 23.Gatepiers to South-East Entrance of Churchyard Gatepiers to South-West Entrance of Churchyard George Hotel Inscribed Stone to South-East of Churchyard K6 Telephone Kiosk Kings Arms Public House Lodge to South Moulton Cemetery Loughrigg Masonic Hall Medical Hall National Westminster Bank Numbers 114 and 115 (Northam House)Post Office Rossiter House Sherborn House South Molton War Memorial Store Building at South-West Corner Opposite No 6 Church Street Tamarisk, East Street The Old Rectory Vicarage 1, King Street 100, East Street 11, South Street 112, East Street 113, East Street 12, Duke Street 136, East Street 137, East Street 138, East Street 139, East Street 140, East Street 141, East Street 16 and 17, South Street 17, 18 and 19, Broad Street 2 and 3, Broad Street 2 and 3, King Street 20 and 21, Broad Street 21, East Street 22 and 23, Broad Street 22 and 23, East Street 24, 25 and 26, South Street 24, Broad Street 27, Broad Street 27, South Street 28, Broad Street 29, Broad Street 3, The Churchyard 30, Broad Street 32, South Street 33, East Street 35, East Street 38 and 39, East Street 4, Broad Street 4, Duke Street 40, East Street 41, East Street 42, South Street 44, East Street 5, Duke Street 5, Queen Street 50-58, South Street 6 and 7, Broad Street 6, The Churchyard 68, South Street 69 and 70, South Street 77, East Street 8, Broad Street 82, South Street 88, 89 and 90, East Street 9 and 10, Broad Street 99, East Street

Conservation areas

1 conservation area covers 7.8% of South Molton

Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.

South Molton 197317 ha

17 hain conservation areas, of 218 ha inside the built-up area.

78 of the 83 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

41 of South Molton’s 83 listed buildings were added in 1986

The year each building now on the list was first listed.

1986 · 411951 · 39

19501960197019801990200020102020

The first 39 entries were listed in 1951, 2 of the 3 Grade I buildings among them. 41 came in 1986, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.

History Grade

South Molton grades A− for history

Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.

Protected heritage, for its size and in all (90 points, 145 per 10,000 residents)More than 82% of UK towns

Homes built before 1919 (20%)More than 61% of UK towns

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.

Born here

3 notable people born in South Molton before 1900

Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.

Aaron Buzacott

Ethel Coleridge

Richard Knight

1800182518501875190019251950

Ethel Coleridge1883–1976 · British actress (1883-1976)

Aaron Buzacott1800–1864 · British missionary (1800–1864)

Richard Knight1892–1960 · English cricketer and British Army officer

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

Towns its size

South Molton has the 35th most Grade I buildings of 869 towns its size

Places of 4,000–10,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.

South Molton3

#129 of 869for listed buildings per resident (133 per 10,000). Sandwich, Tenby and Brecon lead.

34 have more. The typical town its size has 0.

Neighbours

Listed buildings in the places around South Molton

Town	People	Listed	Grade I	History
South Molton	6,226	83	3	A⁻
Chulmleigh	1,232	79	1	A⁺
Landkey	2,001	14	1	B⁺
Witheridge	1,306	44	1	A
Barnstaple	31,271	378	6	A
Morchard Bishop	1,041	54	1	A⁺

In brief

South Molton in brief

Measured per resident, South Molton has more listed heritage than 82% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 83 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I. Its Grade I buildings cluster together: 3 of them stand within 400 m of Guild Hall. Only 34 of the 869 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

East Street alone has 20 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1973. Most entries on the list, 82%, are houses, terraces and villas. Beyond that, 20% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.

Questions about South Molton’s history

How many listed buildings are there in South Molton?

Historic England lists 83 buildings inside South Molton’s built-up area: 3 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 79 Grade II.

What are the Grade I listed buildings in South Molton?

3, including Church of St Mary Magdalene, Guild Hall (Including Borough Museum) and South Molton Cemetery Chapels.

Which street in South Molton has the most listed buildings?

East Street (20), Broad Street (13) and South Street (10) have the most listed entries named by an address. One entry can be a whole terrace.

How many conservation areas are there in South Molton?

1, covering about 17 hectares of the town. The largest is South Molton.

When were South Molton’s buildings listed?

The first in 1951; the most, 41, in 1986.

Who was born in South Molton?

Among people born before 1900: Ethel Coleridge (1883), Aaron Buzacott (1800) and Richard Knight (1892).

How old are the homes in South Molton?

20% of homes were built before 1919 and 25% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).

© 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.