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Matheson Road and Scotland Street, Free Presbyterian Church Including Boundary Walls, Gates and RailingsMatheson Road and Scotland Street, Free Presbyterian Church Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings · Photo: LornaMCampbell · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History of Stornoway · Historic Environment Scotland

71 listed buildings, 1 of them in the top category

On the Historic Environment Scotland list, all of them stand inside Stornoway’s locality, 155 for every 10,000 residents. 49 of Stornoway’s listed buildings are Category B. We have photos of 27 of its listed buildings and 1 old view of the town.

1Category A49Category B8on Gates and Railings
Listed buildings
71
155 per 10,000 residents
Category A
1
national importance
Category B
49
regional importance
Scheduled monuments
0
1 garden or designed landscape
In pictures

Stornoway in 29 photos and old views

Tap a photo to step through them full screen.

North Beach Quay/North Beach Old Sail Loft and House AdjoiningNorth Beach Quay/North Beach Old Sail Loft and House AdjoiningCategory A listedWar MemorialWar MemorialCategory B listedSpringfield Road Tower of Nicolson InstituteSpringfield Road Tower of Nicolson InstituteCategory B listedMatheson Road and Springfield Road, School BlockMatheson Road and Springfield Road, School BlockCategory B listed16 Francis Street, Post Office Building16 Francis Street, Post Office BuildingCategory B listed+24See 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.

Through time

Stornoway in old photos

1 old photo or postcard, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.

The Scottish Islands. - The Herring Fleet in Stornoway Bay, Island of Lewis1903
EdwardianThe Scottish Islands. - The Herring Fleet in Stornoway Bay, Island of LewisPhoto: Unknown photographer · Public domain

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

The map

Where Stornoway’s history is

Every Category A and B building, monument and historic park.

Lews Castle And Lady Lever Park, garden or designed landscapeAmity House, Category BCromwells Building Corner Cromwell Street and Francis Street, Category BFrancis Street St Peter's Episcopal Church Including Perimeter Wall Gates and Gatepiers, Category BFrancis Street,Museum (Formerly Free Church Seminary and School Building), Category BKenneth Street and Francis Street, Martins Memorial Church and Hall Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category BLewis Street and Church Street, St Columba's Old Parish Church, Category BLews Castle Lodge at Bayhead Including Quadrant Walls, Category BMatheson Road and 37 Church Street Barvas Lodge Including Boundary Walls Gates and Gatepiers, Category BMatheson Road and Goathill Road, High Church Including Boundary Walls, Gatepiers and Railings, Category BMatheson Road and Scotland Street, Free Presbyterian Church Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category BMatheson Road and Springfield Road, School Block, Category BMatheson Road and Springfield Road, Springfield House, Category BNorth Beach Lewis Hotel, Category BSouth Beach, Cromwell Street and Point Street, Municipal Buildings, Category BSpringfield Road Tower of Nicolson Institute, Category BStornoway Sheriff Court and Former Jail, including boundary walls, archway and railings, Lewis Street, Stornoway, Category BWar Memorial, Category B13 Matheson Road Claremont Including Boundary Walls Gates and Gatepiers, Category B14 Matheson Road Including Boundary Walls Gates and Railings, Category B14, 15 South Beach, Category B16 Francis Street, Post Office Building, Category B16 Matheson Road, Free Presbyterian Manse, Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category B16, 18 Cromwell Street, The Town House, Category B18 Matheson Road, Category B18, 20 James Street Including Boundary Walls Gates and Gatepiers, Category B2 (Fasgadh), 4 (Brentor), Matheson Road Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category B2 Goathill Crescent, Wandene Including Boundary Walls and Gatepiers, Category B2 Goathill Road and Matheson Road, Including Boundary Walls Gates and Gatepiers, Category B2 and 4 Garden Road Including Garden Boundary Wall, Gates and Railings, Category B22, 24 James Street Bellevue House Including Boundary Walls Gates and Railings, Category B23 Matheson Street and Robertson Road, Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category B26 and 27 James Street Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category B28 and 30 James Street, Park Guest House, Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Gatepiers, Category B3, 5 Matheson Road Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Gatespiers, Category B31 ,33 Lewis Street, Including Garden Walls and Railings, Category B32 Scotland Street, Category B32-38 (Even Nos )Cromwell Street, Category B4 Goathill Crescent Including Boundary Walls and Railings, Category B4, 6 Goathill Road Including Boundary Wall, Gates and Railings, Category B59-63 (Odd Nos )Cromwell Street and 1 Church Street Loch Erisort, Category B6 Matheson Road, Balone, Including Boundary Walls Gate and Railings, Category B6, 7 North Beach, Category B7 James Street, Category B7 Kenneth Street Religious Book Shop, Category B7 Matheson Road Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Gatepiers, Category B74 Keith Street, Former Industrial Female School (Lady Matheson Seminary), Stornoway, Category B8 Matheson Road, Park House, Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Gatepiers, Category B8 North Beach, Category B9, 11 Matheson Road Including Boundary Walls, Gates and Railings, Category BNorth Beach Quay/North Beach Old Sail Loft and House Adjoining, Category A
Category ACategory BPark or garden

Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.

71 listed buildings by grade
1 Category A49 Category B21 Category C

Historic Environment Scotland lists buildings in three categories: Category A for buildings of national or international importance (about 7.5% of listed buildings), Category B for buildings of regional importance (about 50%), and Category C for buildings of local importance (about 43%). Listing protects the whole building, inside and out.

Every entry on Historic Environment Scotland’s designations whose point lies inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary. One list entry can cover a terrace or a group of buildings.

Category A

The Category A listed building in Stornoway

Buildings of national or international importance, about 7.5% of all listed buildings. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.

Category B

The 49 Category B listed buildings in Stornoway

Buildings of regional importance. 26 are photographed.

Memorials · listed 1971War MemorialPhoto: LornaMCampbell · CC BY-SA 4.0
House · listed 1971Amity HousePhoto: AlasdairW · CC BY-SA 4.0
Show the other 37
What’s protected

Most of Stornoway’s listed buildings are homes

Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.

Houses, terraces & villas55
Walls, gates & bridges9
Public & civic buildings3
Churches, chapels & priories2
Inns, shops & warehouses1
Memorials, crosses & tombs1

55 entries (77%) are houses, terraces and villas. 2 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.

Category C

21 Category C listed buildings

This category covers buildings of local importance. Open any building to read its official list entry.

All 21 Category C listed buildings, A to Z
Church Street and Matheson Road BBC Rosebank Including Boundary Walls and RailingsJames Street and Bells Road, Old Co-Op Yard BuildingsKenneth Street Free ChurchKenneth Street, Masonic Hall Including Boundary Walls, Gatepiers, Railings and ArchKnockgarrySpringfield Road School Block and Adjoining Hall1, 3 Cromwell Street and 20 South Beach Thorlee Guest House15 Matheson Road the Sheiling, Including Boundary Walls, Gate and Railings20 Bayhead23-29 (Odd Nos) Francis Street24 ,26 Lewis Street25 Kenneth Street28, 30 Scotland Street29 Kenneth Street3 South Beach, Star Inn31-35 Odd Nos Cromwell Street32 James Street Tower Guest House Including Perimeter Walls,Gates and Railings36 Francis Street38 ,40 Francis Street67 Keith Street Including Boundary Wall and Railings67-71 (Odd Nos) Kenneth Street
Conservation areas

1 conservation area covers 8.7% of Stornoway

Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.

Stornoway 197035 ha
35 hain conservation areas, of 397 ha inside the locality.

65 of the 71 listed buildings stand in one.

Historic Environment Scotland’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 locality.

How the list grew

More than half of Stornoway’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1993

The year each building now on the list was first listed.

1993 · 531971 · 8
19501960197019801990200020102020

The first 8 entries were listed in 1971, 1 of the 1 Category A buildings among them. 53 came in 1993. Only 0 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 garden or designed landscape

Lews Castle And Lady Lever Park
Lews Castle And Lady Lever ParkGarden and designed landscape
Born here

7 notable people born in Stornoway before 1900

Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.

Colin Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie
Louisa Baring
Phineas Ryrie
Robert Morrison MacIver
J.S.S. Martin
Agnes Mure Mackenzie
175017751800182518501875190019251950
Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie1764–1820 · Scottish explorer and fur trader (1764-1820)
Colin Mackenzie
Colin Mackenzie1754–1821 · Surveyor General of India
RM
Robert Morrison MacIver1882–1970 · British sociologist (1882–1970)
Louisa Baring
Louisa Baring1827–1903 · Scottish art collector and philanthropist (1827-1903)
JM
J.S.S. Martin1888–1973 · Military doctor (1888-1973)
Agnes Mure Mackenzie
Agnes Mure Mackenzie1891–1955 · British historian
PR
Phineas Ryrie1829–1892 · Scottish businessman (1829-1892)

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

In brief

Stornoway in brief

Stornoway has 71 listed buildings, 1 of them in the top category, including North Beach Quay/North Beach Old Sail Loft and House Adjoining. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1970. Of the whole list, 77% are houses, terraces and villas.

Of the 7 people born here before 1900, the best known include Alexander Mackenzie (1764), Colin Mackenzie (1754) and Robert Morrison MacIver (1882). More than half went on the list in a single year, 1993: 53 of 71. Beyond that, it has one Category A building, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 0).

Questions about Stornoway’s history

How many listed buildings are there in Stornoway?

Historic Environment Scotland lists 71 buildings inside Stornoway’s locality: 1 Category A, 49 Category B and 21 Category C.

What are the Category A listed buildings in Stornoway?

One: North Beach Quay/North Beach Old Sail Loft and House Adjoining.

How many conservation areas are there in Stornoway?

1, covering about 35 hectares of the town. The largest is Stornoway.

When were Stornoway’s buildings listed?

The first in 1971; the most, 53, in 1993.

Are there old photos of Stornoway?

Yes: 1 public-domain photo or postcard from 1903 to 1903, all on this page.

Who was born in Stornoway?

Among people born before 1900: Alexander Mackenzie (1764), Colin Mackenzie (1754), Robert Morrison MacIver (1882), Louisa Baring (1827) and J.S.S. Martin (1888).

Stornoway has no History Grade.

Listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites: Historic Environment Scotland, Open Government Licence v3.0. Check an entry on Historic Environment Scotland’s portal before relying on it.

Sources: Historic Environment Scotland designations (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, gardens and designed landscapes, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the NRS 2022 locality boundary · Historic Environment Scotland conservation areas (compiled from councils; 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.