IHouse · listed 1966Mistley Towers, North West TowerPhoto: Maria · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0A−History Grade
History of Mistley · Historic England
33 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Mistley’s built-up area, 181 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 2 scheduled monuments. 16% of its homes were built before 1919. Mistley grades A− for history.
Listed buildings
33
181 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
2
exceptional interest
Grade II*
0
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
2
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
16%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Mistley
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. 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 Mistley’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade IScheduled monument
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
33 listed buildings by grade
2 Grade I0 Grade II*31 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 2 Grade I listed buildings in Mistley
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.
IHouse · listed 1966Mistley Towers, South East TowerPhoto: Bob Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s protected
Most of Mistley’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas18
Inns, shops & warehouses7
Public & civic buildings4
Memorials, crosses & tombs2
Walls, gates & bridges1
Street furniture1
18 entries (55%) are houses, terraces and villas.
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
31 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 31 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Acacia House with Left Return to the GreenCalburne Shop Occupied by J and Rw SteelConstable PlaceDolphin HouseDovehouse FarmhouseEast Lodge Including Outbuilding at RearEmpty Shop to East of NutcrackersFormer Aaor and County Emergency HqFountain House Grape Vine Cottage the Grape VineHome FarmhouseKowloonMaltings and Kiln Number 1, Mistley Quay Handling and Forwarding Company LimitedMaltings, Numbers 3 and 4 Adjacent to School RoadMistley HouseMistley InstituteMistley Quay wall (also known as Thorn or Allen's Quay)Mistley StationNo. 2 MaltingsNumber 1A House and Shop Adjoining to East of the MooringsOld Custom HousePump Adjacent to East Return of Number 12Railings Attached to Number 1 Maltings and Adjacent to North Side of PavementReturn of Swan HouseStaplehurstSwan FountainSwan House with Left Return to Number 9 High StreetThe MooringsThe Post Office and the Thorn Hotel, With Right Return to the GreenWhite Horse HouseYe Olde Mill House1-12, The Green
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 38% of Mistley
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Manningtree and Mistley 196931 ha
31 hain conservation areas, of 80 ha inside the built-up area.
31 of the 33 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
16 of Mistley’s 33 listed buildings were added in 1966
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1966 · 161987 · 6
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 4 entries were listed in 1952. 16 came in 1966. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.
Monuments & landscapes
Monuments, parks and gardens
Designations that overlap the town by a tenth of their area or half a hectare.
2 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.
History Grade
Mistley grades A− for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (41 points, 224 per 10,000 residents)More than 79% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (16%)More than 49% 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
Mistley has the 33rd most Grade I buildings of 1,586 towns its size
Places of 1,000–3,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Mistley
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mistley | 1,827 | 33 | 2 | A− |
| Manningtree | 1,676 | 87 | 0 | A+ |
| Bradfield | 1,254 | 15 | 0 | B+ |
| Lawford | 4,488 | 5 | 0 | D |
| Brantham | 2,081 | 6 | 0 | C |
| East Bergholt | 2,211 | 72 | 1 | A |
| Holbrook | 2,146 | 66 | 0 | A |
| Ardleigh | 1,042 | 18 | 0 | B+ |
In brief
Mistley in brief
Measured per resident, Mistley has more listed heritage than 79% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 33 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I. Only 32 of the 1,586 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.
A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969. Most entries on the list, 55%, are houses, terraces and villas. Beyond that, it also has 2 scheduled monuments; and 16% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.
Questions about Mistley’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Mistley?
Historic England lists 33 buildings inside Mistley’s built-up area: 2 Grade I, 0 Grade II* and 31 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Mistley?
2, including Mistley Towers, North West Tower and Mistley Towers, South East Tower.
Are there scheduled monuments in Mistley?
Yes, 2 scheduled monuments, including Mistley Towers and Site of Old St Mary's Church.
How many conservation areas are there in Mistley?
1, covering about 31 hectares of the town. The largest is Manningtree and Mistley.
When were Mistley’s buildings listed?
The first in 1952; the most, 16, in 1966.
How old are the homes in Mistley?
16% of homes were built before 1919 and 22% 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.