124 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I

Church of St Mary and St Germain (Selby Abbey)Grade I listedCorunna House, 42 and 44 OusegateGrade II* listedThe Royal Oak Public HouseGrade II listedThe Museum HallGrade II listedThe Market Cross, Market PlaceGrade II listed+2See 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.

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).

Of the 124 entries, 69 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

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 1952, 1 of the 2 Grade I buildings among them. 95 came in 1980, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

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.

The Abbot's Staithes

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.

Henry I of England

Thomas Johnson

Jonathan Hutchinson

Jemima Morrell

Richard Speight

Henry Dresser Atkinson

Woods Hutchinson

James Stephenson

William Norman Holmes

Jack Byers

1050120013501500165018001950

Henry I of England1068–1135 · King of England from 1100 to 1135 (1068–1135)

James Stephenson1889–1941 · British-American actor (1889-1941)

Jonathan Hutchinson1828–1913 · English surgeon, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, venereologist, and p…

Thomas Johnson1600–1644 · English botanist and Royalist soldier of the English Civil War

JB

Jack Byers1897–1931 · English footballer (1897-1931)

Henry Dresser Atkinson1841–1921 · Australian clergyman and naturalist (1841-1921)

JM

Jemima Morrell1832–1909 · English traveller and illustrator (1832–1909)

RS

Richard Speight1838–1901 · Australian politician (1838–1901)

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

Measured per resident, Selby has more listed heritage than 75% of UK towns. In all there are 124 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I, including Selby Abbey. Only 54 of the 483 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. Its older streets lie in 5 conservation areas.

Of the whole list, 69% are houses, terraces and villas. Of the 10 people born here before 1900, the best known include Henry I of England (1068), James Stephenson (1889) and Jonathan Hutchinson (1828). More than half went on the list in a single year, 1980: 95 of 124. The rest is about typical: it also has a scheduled monument; and 19% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.