38 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Church of St GeorgeGrade II* listedChurch of St LaurenceGrade II* listedThe GeorgeGrade II listedWar Memorial Gateway to Astley ParkGrade II listedThe Swan with Two NecksGrade II listed+3See 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.

1907

Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.

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).

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 6 entries were listed in 1966, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 28 came in 1984, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has been added in the last 15 years.

1 registered park or garden

Astley HallGrade II

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.

17% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 12% 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 (190 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Esther Roper

Charles Lightoller

Tommy Briercliffe

Charlie Ostick

William Mariner

Egerton Wright

Teddy Hodgson

Tom Mather

Harold Edwards

Bert Fishwick

18501875190019251950

Charles Lightoller1874–1952 · British sailor (1874–1952)

Esther Roper1868–1938 · English suffragist, editor

TB

Tommy Briercliffe1874–1948 · Footballer (1874-1948)

Egerton Wright1885–1918 · English cricketer and soldier (1885-1918)

TM

Tom Mather1888–1957 · English football manager (1888–1957)

TH

Teddy Hodgson1885–1919 · English footballer (1885-1919)

Harold Edwards1892–1952 · RCAF officer (1892-1952)

Bert Fishwick1899–1961 · Footballer (1899-1961)

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

Old houses are part of Chorley’s character: 26% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 38 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including Astley Hall. Its older streets lie in 2 conservation areas, the first designated in 1985.

Of the 10 people born here before 1900, the best known include Charles Lightoller (1874), Esther Roper (1868) and Tommy Briercliffe (1874). The big year was 1984, when 28 of the 38 went on the list. The rest is about typical: it has one Grade I building, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 1); and per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.