369 listed buildings, 5 of them Grade I

Torre AbbeyGrade I listedLittle TheatreGrade II* listedTerraced gardens and all associated garden buildings at Castle TorGrade II listedThe Fish Quay, Torquay HarbourGrade II listedFormer Falcon Public HouseGrade II listed+26See 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.

1880

1880

1890

1890

c. 1890

c. 1890

c. 1908

1922

c. 1937

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 369 entries, 85 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

Search the rest on Historic England’s list →

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 31 entries were listed in 1952, 4 of the 5 Grade I buildings among them. 157 came in 1975, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 3 have been added in the last 15 years.

3 scheduled monuments

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Secretary of State, advised by Historic England.

Kent's Cavern, Torquay

St Michael's Chapel, Chapel Hill

Torre Abbey

3 registered parks and gardens

Castle TorGrade II

Princess Gardens and Royal Terrace GardensGrade II

Watcombe Park and Brunel ManorGrade II

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.

38% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, which added 7.1% 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 (48 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Theodosia Trollope

Richard Francis Burton

Alfred Noyes

Maurice Purcell-FitzGerald

William Jeffrey Prowse

Arthur Stark

Edward Hutton

Arthur Matthews

Alfred Clifford

John Arthur Barry

Leonard Rodway

Alfred Lys Baldry

Lionel Stopford

Percy Fawcett

Frank Lynn Jenkins

Percy Horder

Edward Lee

Arthur Ramsay, 14th Earl of Dalhousie

Ernest Brown

Agatha Christie

1800182518501875190019251950

Agatha Christie1890–1976 · English mystery and detective writer (1890–1976)

Richard Francis Burton1821–1890 · British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)

Percy Fawcett1867–1925 · British explorer, anthropologist and archaeologist (1867–1925)

Ernest Brown1881–1962 · British politician (1881-1962)

Edward Hutton1848–1923 · British Army general

Theodosia Trollope1816–1865 · English poet, translator and writer (1816-1865)

LR

Leonard Rodway1853–1936 · Australian dentist and botanist (1853-1936)

Arthur Ramsay, 14th Earl of Dalhousie1878–1928 · Scottish peer and soldier (1878-1928)

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

Old houses are part of Torquay’s character: 41% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 369 listed buildings, 5 of them Grade I, including Torre Abbey. For its size, it has more listed heritage than 81% of UK towns. Only 22 of the 216 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

Its older streets lie in 14 conservation areas, the first designated in 1975. Of the whole list, 62% are houses, terraces and villas. Agatha Christie (1890), Richard Francis Burton (1821) and Percy Fawcett (1867) are among the 32 people born here before 1900. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it also has 3 scheduled monuments.