II*Church · listed 1984St Peter's ChurchOn the list as Church of St PeterPhoto: Chris Coleman · CC BY-SA 2.0
Lower Chapel · Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0BHistory Grade
History of Darwen · Historic England
Old homes in Darwen: 49% built before 1919
The typical town has 15%: Darwen has 3 times the share. Historic England lists 20 buildings inside Darwen’s built-up area, 7.2 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 1 scheduled monument. We have photos of 5 of its listed buildings. Darwen grades B for history: #20 of 65 in Lancashire.
Listed buildings
20
7.2 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
0
exceptional interest
Grade II*
2
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
1
3 registered parks & gardens
Homes built before 1919
49%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Darwen in 7 photos
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Church of St PeterGrade II* listed
India Mill ChimneyGrade II* listed
Steam tramway reversing triangleScheduled monument
Low Hill HouseGrade II listed
Sunnyhurst CottageGrade II listed+2See 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.
The map
Where Darwen’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade II*Scheduled monumentPark or garden
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
10 of 20neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 92% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
20 listed buildings by grade
0 Grade I2 Grade II*18 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 Darwen
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
II*Inns & shops · listed 1984India Mill ChimneyPhoto: Alexander P Kapp · CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s protected
The largest group of Darwen’s listed buildings is homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas8
Churches, chapels & priories6
Inns, shops & warehouses2
Memorials, crosses & tombs1
Public & civic buildings1
Walls, gates & bridges1
Street furniture1
8 entries (40%) are houses, terraces and villas. 6 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.
Grade II
18 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 18 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Belgrave ChapelBoer War MemorialChadwick Lychgate at entrance to Sunnyhurst WoodChurch of St CuthbertChurch of St JamesDarwen Library and Theatre, and attached railingsGable End Cottage Whitehall Whitehall CottagesGreenhouse Circa 50 Metres South of WoodlandsIndia MillLow Hill HouseLower ChapelMiddle Moss and Higher Moss FarmhouseOlde English Tea House and associated gate piers in Sunnyhurst WoodPair of Former Tram Shelters and Attached Railings Enclosing Centre of SquarePotter Gateway to Sunnyhurst WoodSunnyhurst CottageThe Old ChapelWoodlands
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 2.4% of Darwen
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Darwen Town Centre 199517 ha
17 hain conservation areas, of 677 ha inside the built-up area.
6 of the 20 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
More than half of Darwen’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1984
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1984 · 16
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 16 entries were listed in 1984. Only 4 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.
1 scheduled monument
Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Secretary of State, advised by Historic England.
3 registered parks and gardens
History Grade
Darwen grades B for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (27 points, 10 per 10,000 residents)More than 40% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (49%)More than 97% 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.
Homes by age
49% of Darwen’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
43%
Before 1900
6%
1900–18
2.4%
1919–29
2.2%
1930s
3.9%
1945–54
7%
1955–64
5.4%
1965–72
7.5%
1973–82
3.9%
1983–92
4.1%
1993–99
6.7%
2000–08
2.4%
2009–15
5.7%
2016–25
DarwenEngland & Wales
43% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 7.5% 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 (186 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Born here
19 notable people born in Darwen before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
George Walsh
William Holden
Tom Brindle
William Bury
John Leach
Richard Thornber
Robert Smalley
Joseph Marsden
Jack Hibbert
Robert Fish
Thomas Woolfall
Alec Wallace
James Cockshutt
Jimmy Tomlinson
George Parsonage
Harry Ainsworth
Robert Duxbury
Carlyle Atkinson
Sam Wadsworth
18501875190019251950
Sam Wadsworth1896–1961 · English footballer and manager (1896-1961)
TB
Tom Brindle1861–1905 · English footballer (1861-1905)
WB
William Bury1865–1939 · English footballer (1865-1939)
RD
Robert Duxbury1890–1962 · English footballer (1890-1962)
GW
George Walsh1852–1904 · English cricketer (1852-1904)
JL
John Leach1866–1931 · English footballer (1866–1931)
JM
Joseph Marsden1868–1897 · English footballer (1868-1897)
AW
Alec Wallace1872–1950 · English footballer (1872-1950)
Everyone born in Darwen → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Darwen
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darwen | 27,897 | 20 | 0 | B |
| Hoddlesden | 1,218 | 4 | 0 | B− |
| Blackburn | 124,958 | 81 | 0 | B+ |
| Brinscall | 1,332 | 0 | 0 | C− |
| Oswaldtwistle | 10,810 | 6 | 0 | C+ |
| Edgworth | 1,649 | 13 | 0 | A− |
| Rishton | 6,653 | 1 | 0 | C |
| Church | 5,030 | 7 | 0 | B− |
In brief
Darwen in brief
Old houses are part of Darwen’s character: 49% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 20 listed buildings, including St Peter's Church. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1995.
Of the 19 people born here before 1900, the best known include Sam Wadsworth (1896), Tom Brindle (1861) and William Bury (1865). More than half went on the list in a single year, 1984: 16 of 20. The rest is about typical: like most towns its size, it has no Grade I building; per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and it also has a scheduled monument.
Questions about Darwen’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Darwen?
Historic England lists 20 buildings inside Darwen’s built-up area: 0 Grade I, 2 Grade II* and 18 Grade II.
Are there scheduled monuments in Darwen?
Yes, 1 scheduled monument, including Steam tramway reversing triangle.
How many conservation areas are there in Darwen?
1, covering about 17 hectares of the town. The largest is Darwen Town Centre.
When were Darwen’s buildings listed?
The first in 1984; the most, 16, in 1984.
Who was born in Darwen?
Among people born before 1900: Sam Wadsworth (1896), Tom Brindle (1861), William Bury (1865), Robert Duxbury (1890) and George Walsh (1852).
How old are the homes in Darwen?
49% of homes were built before 1919 and 54% 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.