Forge House · Photo: Michael Dibb · CC BY-SA 2.058 listed buildings
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Herne Bay’s built-up area, 23 for every 10,000 residents. Herne Bay’s listed buildings are all Grade II. 27% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings and 8 old views of the town. Herne Bay grades B+ for history: #36 of 87 in Kent.
Herne Bay in 14 photos and old views
Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
The Pier HotelGrade II listed
Baptist Church Including the Parish RoomGrade II listed
The Clock TowerGrade II listed
The Old CottageGrade II listed
Fordwich HouseGrade II listed+9See 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.
Herne Bay from 1890 to 1937
8 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
c. 1890
c. 1890
c. 1890
c. 1890
c. 1890
1910
1914
1937Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.
Where Herne Bay’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
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).
Most of Herne Bay’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
44 entries (76%) are houses, terraces and villas. 5 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.
58 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 58 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
2 conservation areas cover 22% of Herne Bay
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
The first, Herne Bay, was designated in 1970; the newest, Eddington, Herne Bay, in 1989. 40 of the 58 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.
More than half of Herne Bay’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1976
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
The first 8 entries were listed in 1951. 38 came in 1976, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.
Herne Bay grades B+ for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all 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.
27% of Herne Bay’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
20% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was the 1930s, 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 (39 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
4 notable people born in Herne Bay before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
Everyone born in Herne Bay → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Listed buildings in the places around Herne Bay
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Herne Bay | 24,873 | 58 | 0 | B+ |
| Herne | 14,874 | 47 | 2 | C+ |
| Hersden | 2,118 | 2 | 0 | D |
| Whitstable | 32,185 | 99 | 0 | B |
| Sturry | 4,857 | 76 | 4 | A− |
| Blean | 1,327 | 4 | 0 | C− |
| Rough Common | 1,291 | 3 | 0 | C |
| Canterbury | 55,107 | 913 | 36 | A |
Herne Bay in brief
More of Herne Bay’s homes are old than in most places: 27% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 58 listed buildings, including Forge House. Its older streets lie in 2 conservation areas, the first designated in 1970. Most entries on the list, 76%, are houses, terraces and villas.
Of the 4 people born here before 1900, the best known include Claude Treglown (1893), Tom Armstrong Bowes (1869) and William Peter Durtnall (1873). The big year was 1976, when 38 of the 58 went on the list. The rest is about typical: per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.
Questions about Herne Bay’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Herne Bay?
Historic England lists 58 buildings inside Herne Bay’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 0 Grade II* and 58 Grade II.
How many conservation areas are there in Herne Bay?
2, covering about 115 hectares of the town. The largest are Herne Bay and Eddington, Herne Bay.
When were Herne Bay’s buildings listed?
The first in 1951; the most, 38, in 1976.
Are there old photos of Herne Bay?
Yes: 8 public-domain photos and postcards from 1890 to 1937, all on this page.
Who was born in Herne Bay?
Among people born before 1900: Claude Treglown (1893), Tom Armstrong Bowes (1869), William Peter Durtnall (1873) and Harry Wells (1888).
How old are the homes in Herne Bay?
27% of homes were built before 1919 and 47% 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.