49 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I

Church of St MaryGrade I listedNettlestead PlaceGrade I listedChurch of Saint John the BaptistGrade II* listedPelican FarmhouseGrade II* listedWateringbury PlaceGrade II* listed

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.

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.

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.

The first 7 entries were listed in 1952, 1 of the 3 Grade I buildings among them. 27 came in 1985, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.

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.

32% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1983–92, which added 14% 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 (6 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Alfred Fremlin

Herbert Leney

Lionel White

Jack Hubble

Stewart Symes

1800182518501875190019251950

Stewart Symes1882–1962 · British Army officer and colonial governor (1882–1962)

HL

Herbert Leney1850–1915 · Cricketer (1850-1915)

LW

Lionel White1850–1917 · English cricketer (1850-1917)

Jack Hubble1881–1965 · Cricketer (1881-1965)

AF

Alfred Fremlin1832–1915 · Australian politician

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

Old houses are part of Wateringbury’s character: 34% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 49 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I. Per resident, it has more listed heritage than 84% of UK towns. St Mary's Church, Nettlestead sits at the heart of it all, with 3 of the town’s Grade I buildings within 400 m.

Only 14 of the 1,414 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. Its older streets lie in 3 conservation areas, the first designated in 1985. Of the whole list, 61% are houses, terraces and villas.