57 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

Church of St MaryGrade I listedThirsk HallGrade II* listedMill BridgeGrade II listedThe Golden Fleece HotelGrade II listedNew BridgeGrade 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.

c. 1891

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).

Of the 57 entries, 29 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 3 entries were listed in 1952. 40 came in 1984, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

2 scheduled monuments

Nationally important archaeological sites and monuments, protected by law; work on them needs consent from the Secretary of State, advised by Historic England.

A moated site 100m east of St Mary Magdalene's Church

Thirsk Castle: a motte and bailey castle

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 Walker

Thomas Lord

Mary Bumby

Thomas Johnson

Richard A. Harrison

Henry Eeles Dresser

R. E. B. Crompton

George Macaulay

170017501800185019001950

Henry Eeles Dresser1838–1915 · English ornithologist and businessman (1838-1915)

George Macaulay1897–1940 · Professional English cricketer (1897-1940)

Thomas Lord1755–1832 · English cricketer, founder of Lord's Cricket Ground (1755-1832)

R. E. B. Crompton1845–1940 · British engineer (1845-1940)

Richard A. Harrison1824–1904 · American politician (1824–1904)

WW

William Walker1729–1793 · English engraver (1729-1793)

Mary Bumby1811–1862 · Beekeeper and missionary

TJ

Thomas Johnson1819–1894 · South Australian merchant and politician (1819–1894)

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

Per resident, Thirsk has more listed heritage than 76% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 57 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including Church of St Mary. Only 89 of the 898 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1971.

Most entries on the list, 61%, are houses, terraces and villas. Henry Eeles Dresser (1838), George Macaulay (1897) and Thomas Lord (1755) are among the 8 people born here before 1900. The big year was 1984, when 40 of the 57 went on the list. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it also has 2 scheduled monuments; and 17% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.