IChurch · listed 1956St Peter's ChurchOn the list as Parish Church of St PeterPhoto: Chris Downer · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
History of Portesham · Historic England
Old homes in Portesham: 46% built before 1919
For Portesham, that is 3 times the typical town’s share, 15%. Historic England lists 22 buildings inside Portesham’s built-up area, 361 for every 10,000 residents.
Listed buildings
22
361 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
1
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
46%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Portesham
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 Portesham’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade IGrade II*
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
22 listed buildings by grade
1 Grade I1 Grade II*20 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 Portesham
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*
The Grade II* listed building in Portesham
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
House · listed 1956Manor House and Stables
What’s protected
Most of Portesham’s listed buildings are churches and chapels
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Churches, chapels & priories11
Houses, terraces & villas9
Walls, gates & bridges1
Memorials, crosses & tombs1
9 entries (41%) are houses, terraces and villas. 11 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 1 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
20 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 20 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Chestnut CottagesDowand Monument, 3 Metres South of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch in the Church YardFront Walls and Railings 15 Metres South-East of Portesham HouseHampton CottageHawkins Monument 5 Metres North of Parish Church of St Peter, North Aisle, In the Church YardManor FarmhouseMonument Unidentified, 18 Metres South-East of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch in the Church YardMonument Unidentified, 25 Metres South-South-West of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch in the Church YardMonument Unidentified, 28 Metres South South East of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch in ChurchyardPortesham HousePortesham War MemorialRussell Monument, 20 Metres South-West of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch in the Church YardSamson Monument, 5 Metres North of Parish Church of St Peter Chancel, In the Church YardShepherd's CottageThe KnappThornhyll Monument, 4 Metres South of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch in the Church YardThree Unidentified Monuments 4-8 Metres North of Parish Church of St Peter, North Aisle, In the Church YardTrafalgar HouseTudor HouseTwo Unidentified Monuments 18-20 Metres South-West of Parish Church of St Peter, Porch, In the Church Yard
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 62% of Portesham
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Portesham20 ha
20 hain conservation areas, of 32 ha inside the built-up area.
22 of the 22 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 Portesham’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1985
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1985 · 121956 · 9
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 9 entries were listed in 1956, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 12 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
46% of Portesham’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
45%
Before 1900
0.9%
1900–18
0.9%
1919–29
1.9%
1930s
1.9%
1945–54
5.6%
1955–64
5.6%
1965–72
6.3%
1973–82
18%
1983–92
7.2%
1993–99
4.7%
2000–08
0%
2009–15
2.8%
2016–25
PorteshamEngland & Wales
45% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1983–92, which added 18% 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 (6 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Portesham
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portesham | 610 | 22 | 1 | — |
| Chickerell | 3,973 | 9 | 0 | C− |
| Weymouth | 55,540 | 571 | 3 | A |
| Dorchester | 21,358 | 278 | 5 | A |
| Charminster | 1,732 | 17 | 1 | B+ |
| Charlton Down | 1,487 | 2 | 0 | C |
| Maiden Newton | 1,128 | 20 | 1 | A |
| Fortuneswell | 4,554 | 78 | 1 | A+ |
In brief
Portesham in brief
Old houses are part of Portesham’s character: 46% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 22 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I. A conservation area protects part of it. Most entries on the list, 50%, are churches, chapels and priories. The big year was 1985, when 12 of the 22 went on the list.
Questions about Portesham’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Portesham?
Historic England lists 22 buildings inside Portesham’s built-up area: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 20 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Portesham?
One: Parish Church of St Peter.
How many conservation areas are there in Portesham?
1, covering about 20 hectares of the town. The largest is Portesham.
When were Portesham’s buildings listed?
The first in 1956; the most, 12, in 1985.
How old are the homes in Portesham?
46% of homes were built before 1919 and 49% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
Portesham 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.