Llandovery: 59% of homes built before 1919

Church of St DingatGrade II* listedTy-Ficar PritchardGrade II* listedWilliams Pantycelyn Memorial ChapelGrade II* listed+1See 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.

Cadw lists buildings of special architectural or historic interest in three grades: Grade I for buildings of exceptional interest, Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest, and Grade II for buildings of special interest. Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.

Every entry on Cadw’s register of listed buildings whose point lies inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.

Of the 106 entries, 26 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

Cadw’s conservation areas via DataMapWales. Hectares are the part of each area inside the built-up area.

The first 12 entries were listed in 1966, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 45 came in 1981. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

2 scheduled monuments

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Welsh Government (Cadw).

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.

55% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1919–29, 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 (0 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Rhys Prichard

William Williams Pantycelyn

Josiah Rees

David Jones

William Hallowes Miller

John Davies

Dan Isaac Davies

Pritchard Hughes

Aneurin Rees

Edward John Lewis

Conway Rees

David Thomas Gwynne-Vaughan

155016001650170017501800185019001950

William Hallowes Miller1801–1880 · Welsh mineralogist & crystallographer (1801–1880)

William Williams Pantycelyn1717–1791 · Welsh hymnwriter (1717-1791)

DG

David Thomas Gwynne-Vaughan1871–1915 · British botanist and professor (1871-1915)

RP

Rhys Prichard1579–1644 · Welsh writer

PH

Pritchard Hughes1847–1938 · British bishop (1847-1938)

CR

Conway Rees1870–1932 · Welsh rugby union player (1870-1932)

JR

Josiah Rees1744–1804 · British hymnwriter

DJ

David Jones1765–1816 · Welsh barrister

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

For its size, Llandovery has more listed heritage than 94% of UK towns. In all there are 106 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I. Of its homes, 59% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. Only 95 of the 1,784 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

High Street alone has 9 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1971. Of the 12 people born here before 1900, the best known include William Hallowes Miller (1801), William Williams Pantycelyn (1717) and David Thomas Gwynne-Vaughan (1871). Beyond that, it also has 2 scheduled monuments.