125 listed buildings, 6 of them Grade I

Grimsby Minster, formerly the Church of St JamesGrade I listedThe Dock TowerGrade I listedVictoria MillsGrade II listedYarborough HotelGrade II listedDock OfficesGrade II listed+11See 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.

1896

1904

1904

1911

1949

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 5 entries were listed in 1951, 4 of the 6 Grade I buildings among them. 61 came in 1999. Only 3 have been added in the last 15 years.

1 registered park or garden

People's ParkGrade 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.

18% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was the 1930s, which added 11% 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 (90 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

John Whitgift

Martin Fotherby

Madge Kendal

Thomas Benjamin Kennington

Charlie Frith

James Bagshaw

Edward Brumley

Frederick Chatburn

Bert Brocklesbury

Arthur Elkins

Herbert Ayre

Violet Farebrother

Clarrie Bacon

William Blanchard

Tommy Codd

Arthur Drewry

George Edward Briggs

William Broom

Tom Wintringham

Walter Amos

1500165018001950

Arthur Drewry1891–1961 · English football administrator (1891-1961)

John Whitgift1530–1604 · Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to 1604

TK

Thomas Benjamin Kennington1856–1916 · English genre, social realist and portrait painter (1856-1916)

VF

Violet Farebrother1888–1969 · Actress (1888-1969)

Madge Kendal1848–1935 · British actor and theatre manager (1848–1935)

GB

George Edward Briggs1893–1985 · British botanist (1893-1985)

Tom Wintringham1898–1949 · British politician and historian (1898–1949)

Walter Amos1899–1967 · English footballer (1899-1967)

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

More of Grimsby’s homes are old than in most places: 25% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 125 listed buildings, 6 of them Grade I, including Grimsby Minster. Only 17 of the 129 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

Its older streets lie in 9 conservation areas, the first designated in 1972. Of the 42 people born here before 1900, the best known include Arthur Drewry (1891), John Whitgift (1530) and Thomas Benjamin Kennington (1856). Beyond that, per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.