4 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Church of St MaryGrade I listedThe Queens Head Public HouseGrade 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. 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.

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.

William Bradford

Hugo Pearson

John Powers

Arthur Cobley

George Ward

George Geary

1650170017501800185019001950

George Geary1893–1981 · Cricket player of England. (1893-1981)

WB

William Bradford1663–1752 · Early English-born printer in North America

GW

George Ward1879–1951 · British Liberal politician and boot manufacturer (1879-1951)

JP

John Powers1868–1939 · English cricketer (1868-1939)

AC

Arthur Cobley1874–1960 · English cricketer (1874-1960)

HP

Hugo Pearson1843–1912 · Royal Navy officer 1843-1912

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

The official list counts 4 listed buildings in Barwell, 1 of them Grade I, including Church of St Mary. Only 96 of the 697 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. Its older streets lie in 2 conservation areas, the first designated in 2001.

George Geary (1893), William Bradford (1663) and George Ward (1879) are among the 6 people born here before 1900. For its size the list is short: per resident, it has more listed heritage than only 19% of UK towns. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: the list grew between 1963 and 1989; and 12% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.