IChurch · listed 1949Church of St MaryPhoto: Colin Mitchell · CC BY-SA 2.0
Rushden Hall · Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0CHistory Grade
History of Rushden · Historic England
17 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Rushden’s built-up area, 5.4 for every 10,000 residents. Grade II covers 15 of Rushden’s listed buildings. We have photos of 3 of its listed buildings. 17% of its homes were built before 1919. Rushden grades C for history: #28 of 31 in Northamptonshire.
Listed buildings
17
5.4 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
1
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
0
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
17%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Landmarks of Rushden
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Church of St MaryGrade I listed
War Memorial Approximately 30 Metres West of Church of St MaryGrade II listedPhotos 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.
The map
Where Rushden’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade IGrade II*
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
2 of 17neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 68% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
17 listed buildings by grade
1 Grade I1 Grade II*15 Grade II
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).
Grade I
The Grade I listed building in Rushden
Buildings of exceptional interest, about 2.5% of all listed buildings. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Grade II*
The Grade II* listed building in Rushden
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed.
II*Public · listed 1949Rushden HallPhoto: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0
Grade II
15 Grade II listed buildings
Most listed buildings are in this grade, which covers buildings of special interest. Open any building to read its official list entry.
All 15 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Chest Tomb Approximately 1 Metre East of Chancel of Church of St MaryChest Tomb Approximately 1 Metre South of South Aisle of Church of St MaryCunnington Bros.Florence Simpson LimitedFormer John White Shoe FactoryFormer Park Road Methodist ChurchFormer William Green and Sons, Cromwell WorksFox Cottage and attached outbuilding to eastHilly Farmhouse and Attached Outbuilding and Barn to NorthManor FarmhouseThe Old RectoryWar Memorial Approximately 30 Metres West of Church of St Mary120, 122 and 124, High Street South5A & 7, Crabb Street61, Little Street
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 2.3% of Rushden
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Rushden 200819 ha
19 hain conservation areas, of 799 ha inside the built-up area.
9 of the 17 listed buildings stand in one.
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.
How the list grew
5 of Rushden’s 17 listed buildings were added in 1987
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1987 · 5
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 4 entries were listed in 1949, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 5 came in 1987, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.
History Grade
Rushden grades C for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (20 points, 6 per 10,000 residents)More than 32% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (17%)More than 53% of UK towns
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.
Born here
6 notable people born in Rushden before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
Thomas Britton
Fred Wood
Robert Knight
Sidney King
Bernard Vann
Arthur Denton
16001650170017501800185019001950
Thomas Britton1644–1714 · English charcoal merchant, chemist and concert promoter
SK
Sidney King1885–1972 · Cricketer (1885-1972)
RK
Robert Knight1879–1955 · English cricketer, born 1879
AD
Arthur Denton1896–1961 · English cricketer (1896-1961)
Bernard Vann1887–1918 · English recipient of the Victoria Cross (1887-1918)
FW
Fred Wood1861–1935 · English cyclist (1861-1935)
Everyone born in Rushden → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Rushden
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rushden | 31,689 | 17 | 1 | C |
| Wymington | 1,000 | 4 | 1 | B |
| Higham Ferrers | 8,825 | 50 | 7 | B+ |
| Irchester | 4,543 | 13 | 1 | C+ |
| Irthlingborough | 9,308 | 16 | 2 | C+ |
| Stanwick | 1,891 | 9 | 1 | B |
| Wollaston | 3,564 | 39 | 0 | A− |
| Finedon | 4,554 | 47 | 1 | A− |
In brief
Rushden in brief
The official list counts 17 listed buildings in Rushden, 1 of them Grade I, including Church of St Mary. A conservation area has protected part of it since 2008. Thomas Britton (1644), Sidney King (1885) and Robert Knight (1879) are among the 6 people born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: it has one Grade I building, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 1); per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and 17% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.
Questions about Rushden’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Rushden?
Historic England lists 17 buildings inside Rushden’s built-up area: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 15 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Rushden?
One: Church of St Mary.
How many conservation areas are there in Rushden?
1, covering about 19 hectares of the town. The largest is Rushden.
When were Rushden’s buildings listed?
The first in 1949; the most, 5, in 1987.
Who was born in Rushden?
Among people born before 1900: Thomas Britton (1644), Sidney King (1885), Robert Knight (1879), Arthur Denton (1896) and Bernard Vann (1887).
How old are the homes in Rushden?
17% of homes were built before 1919 and 31% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The National Heritage List for England is the official, up-to-date register of all nationally protected historic buildings and sites in England; check an entry on Historic England’s website before relying on it.
Sources: Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · Historic England conservation areas (supplied by local planning authorities; 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.