II*House · listed 1985State CinemaPhoto: Peter Hammond · Public domain
State Cinema · Photo: Peter Hammond · Public domainC−History Grade
History of Grays · Historic England
11 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade II*
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Grays’s built-up area, 2.5 for every 10,000 residents. Grade II covers 9 of Grays’s listed buildings. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings and 3 old views of the town. 14% of its homes were built before 1919. Grays grades C− for history: #56 of 81 in Essex.
Listed buildings
11
2.5 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
2
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
14%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Grays in 9 photos and old views
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed, and the town before 1950. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Church of St Mary the VirginGrade II* listed
The White Hart public houseGrade II listed
Mecca Bingo ClubGrade II listed
War MemorialGrade II listed
The DellGrade II listed+4See 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.
Through time
Grays from 1915 to 1916
3 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
1915
1916
Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.
The map
Where Grays’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade II*
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
2 of 27neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 82% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
11 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I2 Grade II*9 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. 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).
Grade II*
The 2 Grade II* listed buildings in Grays
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
II*Church · listed 1960Church of St Mary the VirginPhoto: Nigel Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0
Grade II
9 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.
How the list grew
3 of Grays’s 11 listed buildings were added in 1981
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 2 entries were listed in 1960. 3 came in 1981, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.
History Grade
Grays grades C− for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (13 points, 3 per 10,000 residents)More than 23% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (14%)More than 40% 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.
Towns its size
How Grays compares with 249 towns its size
Places of 27,000–71,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Grays0
#240 of 249for listed buildings per resident (2 per 10,000). Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury and Chichester lead.
145 have more. The typical town its size has 1.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Grays
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grays | 44,340 | 11 | 0 | C− |
| Chadwell St Mary | 10,680 | 4 | 1 | D |
| Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 23,589 | 13 | 2 | C− |
| Tilbury | 14,187 | 3 | 0 | D− |
| Orsett | 1,428 | 19 | 1 | B |
| South Ockendon | 22,441 | 8 | 1 | D |
| Southfields | 1,167 | 0 | 0 | D− |
| Swanscombe | 15,462 | 29 | 1 | B− |
In brief
Grays in brief
Grays has 11 listed buildings, including State Cinema. For its size the list is short: per resident, it has more listed heritage than only 23% of UK towns. Most towns its size have more Grade I buildings: the typical one has 1. Beyond that, 14% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.
Questions about Grays’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Grays?
Historic England lists 11 buildings inside Grays’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 2 Grade II* and 9 Grade II.
When were Grays’s buildings listed?
The first in 1960; the most, 3, in 1981.
Are there old photos of Grays?
Yes: 3 public-domain photos and postcards from 1915 to 1916, all on this page.
How old are the homes in Grays?
14% of homes were built before 1919 and 38% 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. 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.