II*Church · listed 1959Parish Church of the Holy RoodPhoto: Trish Steel · CC BY-SA 2.0
Rose Mullion Tea Rooms · Photo: Michael Dibb · CC BY-SA 2.0B−History Grade
History of Wool · Historic England
39 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade II*
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Wool’s built-up area, 77 for every 10,000 residents. Grade II covers 38 of Wool’s listed buildings. 5.1% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings. Wool grades B− for history.
Listed buildings
39
77 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
5.1%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Wool in 6 photos
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Parish Church of the Holy RoodGrade II* listed
Poorhouse Barn the Old BarnGrade II listed
Gingerbread CottageGrade II listed
Burvan HouseGrade II listed
The PoplarsGrade II listed+1See all photosPhotos 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 Wool’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade II*
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
39 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I1 Grade II*38 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 II*
The Grade II* listed building in Wool
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
What’s protected
Most of Wool’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas35
Churches, chapels & priories2
Street furniture1
Memorials, crosses & tombs1
35 entries (90%) are houses, terraces and villas. 2 are churches, chapels and priories.
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
38 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 38 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Bovington FarmhouseBurvan HouseColliers BarnFarm Buildings Attached to No 55 at RearGingerbread CottageIvy Cottage Sturmey CottageK6 telephone kiosk, WoolMelissa CottageOutbuilding with Privy Approximately 2 Metres to North of Manor FarmhouseOutbuildings at Rear of the PoplarsPair of Table Tombs in Churchyard, 13 M North of the TowerPeppercorn CottagePoorhouse Barn the Old BarnRandomRegency CottageRoman Catholic Church of St JosephRose Mullion Tea RoomsRowantree and Attached Barn on EastSexy's Farm HouseSexy's Farm StablesSpringfield CottageTable-Tomb in Churchyard 7 M North of the TowerThe Old BakehouseThe PoplarsThe Village PoundYork Cottage1, Station Road16 and 17, High Street45, Spring Street46A and 46B, Spring Street48, Spring Street49, Spring Street50, Spring Street55, Spring Street61, Church Lane64, Church Lane8, High Street9, High Street
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 3.6% of Wool
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Wool 197511 ha
11 hain conservation areas, of 313 ha inside the built-up area.
36 of the 39 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
18 of Wool’s 39 listed buildings were added in 1984
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1984 · 181959 · 16
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 16 entries were listed in 1959. 18 came in 1984, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.
History Grade
Wool grades B− for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (40 points, 79 per 10,000 residents)More than 67% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (5.1%)More than 10% 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.
Wool is a military garrison town: most residents serve or work for the armed forces and live in service housing, so it keeps its grades but isn’t ranked against other towns.
Homes by age
5.1% of Wool’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
4.7%
Before 1900
0.4%
1900–18
1.8%
1919–29
8.7%
1930s
11%
1945–54
13%
1955–64
17%
1965–72
21%
1973–82
4.1%
1983–92
2.5%
1993–99
9.4%
2000–08
5.3%
2009–15
0.5%
2016–25
WoolEngland & Wales
4.7% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 21% 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 (18 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Wool
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wool | 5,044 | 39 | 0 | B− |
| Bere Regis | 1,320 | 42 | 1 | A |
| Crossways | 2,494 | 0 | 0 | D |
| Wareham | 5,876 | 189 | 4 | A |
| Sandford | 2,004 | 3 | 0 | D |
| Milborne St Andrew | 1,090 | 18 | 0 | B |
| Puddletown | 1,193 | 43 | 1 | A |
| Lytchett Matravers | 3,455 | 9 | 0 | C |
In brief
Wool in brief
Wool has 39 listed buildings, including Parish Church of the Holy Rood. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1975. Of the whole list, 90% are houses, terraces and villas. Its homes are mostly newer: 5.1% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. The rest is about typical: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; and per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.
Questions about Wool’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Wool?
Historic England lists 39 buildings inside Wool’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 38 Grade II.
How many conservation areas are there in Wool?
1, covering about 11 hectares of the town. The largest is Wool.
When were Wool’s buildings listed?
The first in 1959; the most, 18, in 1984.
How old are the homes in Wool?
5.1% of homes were built before 1919 and 16% 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.