IChurch · listed 1960Church of St LawrencePhoto: Andrew Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0
Easton Neston · Photo: Cj1340 · CC0BHistory Grade
History of Towcester · Historic England
90 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I
Historic England counts them inside Towcester’s built-up area, 79 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 2 scheduled monuments. 6.5% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings. Towcester grades B for history: #13 of 31 in Northamptonshire.
Listed buildings
90
79 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
2
exceptional interest
Grade II*
2
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
2
1 registered park or garden
Homes built before 1919
6.5%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Towcester in 8 photos
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Church of St LawrenceGrade I listed
Bury Mount motte castleScheduled monument
Towcester MillGrade II listed
The Saracens Head HotelGrade II listed
The Post OfficeGrade II listed+3See all photosPhotos 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 Towcester’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade IGrade II*Scheduled monumentPark or garden
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
0 of 6neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 29% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
90 listed buildings by grade
2 Grade I2 Grade II*86 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 2 Grade I listed buildings in Towcester
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.
IWalls & gates · listed 1951The Chain Gate and Lodges and Attached Walls, Piers, Standards and ChainsPhoto: Mike Faherty · CC BY-SA 2.0
Grade II*
The 2 Grade II* listed buildings in Towcester
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. 1 is photographed.
II*Walls & gates · listed 1979Number 88 (The Chantry House) and Attached Forecourt Walls and GatewayPhoto: Jo Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0
House · listed 1951157, Watling Street West
Historic streets
Watling Street West has the most listed buildings
Streets by the listed entries with an address on them. One entry can be a whole terrace, so long rows count once.
Watling Street West20 listed · 1 II*
Watling Street East19 listed
Park Street7 listed
Of the 90 entries, 51 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.
What’s protected
Most of Towcester’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas64
Churches, chapels & priories9
Inns, shops & warehouses7
Walls, gates & bridges4
Public & civic buildings4
Street furniture1
Memorials, crosses & tombs1
64 entries (71%) are houses, terraces and villas. 9 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 2 Grade I buildings.
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.
Grade II
86 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 86 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Barn and Stable Approximately 40 Metres South of Number 23Bell HouseBoundary Wall from Number 88 Watling Street (The Chantry House) to Amen CornerChest Tomb Approximately 4 Metres North of North East Corner of Vestry of Church of St LawrenceChest Tomb Approximately 4 Metres South East of South East Corner of South Aisle of Church of St LawrenceChest Tomb Approximately 4 Metres South of South Aisle of Church of St LawrenceChest Tomb Approximately 4 Metres South of South Tower of Church of St LawrenceChest Tomb Approximately 50 Metres East North East of Chancel of Church of St LawrenceChurch CottageGarden Gatepiers and Linking Wall at Number 21K6 Telephone Kiosk Outside Chantry HouseK6 Telephone Kiosk Outside Post OfficeMill HouseNorth Lodge and Gateways to Easton Neston House on Northampton RoadNumber 104 and Number 106 (The Brave Old Oak Hotel)Numbers 160, 162, 164 and Attached RailingsOld Mint HousePark HouseProspect HouseRichmond HouseRoman Catholic ChurchSponne HouseThe CottageThe HovelThe Old Brewery HouseThe Olde WheatsheafThe Pickwick RestaurantThe Plough Public HouseThe Post OfficeThe Saracens Head HotelThe VicarageTowcester MillTowcester Police Station and Magistrates' CourtTowcester War MemorialTown HallYe Olde Watling Well Hotel1, Park Street112, Watling Street East114 and 116, Watling Street East118, Watling Street East12 and 14, Park Street122 and 124, Watling Street East126, Watling Street East128 and 130, Watling Street East131, Watling Street West132, Watling Street East134, Watling Street East150, Watling Street East154, Watling Street East159 and 161, Watling Street West16, Park Street163/5, Watling Street West167, Watling Street West169, Watling Street West171, Watling Street West175, Watling Street West177 and 179, Watling Street West18 and 20, Park Street18, Brackley Road181, Watling Street West183 and 185, Watling Street West184, Watling Street East19, Park Street191, 193 and 193A, Watling Street West193B, 195 and 195A, Watling Street West2 Chest Tombs Approximately 15 Metres South East of South East Corner of Chancel of Church of St Lawrence2 Chest Tombs Approximately 5 Metres South West of South West Corner of South Porch of Church of St Lawrence203, Watling Street West205 and 207, Watling Street West209, 211 and 213, Watling Street West22, Park Street223, Watling Street West23, Park Street239 and 241, Watling Street West5-19, Gilbert Scott Court6, Watling Street East68/70, Watling Street East7, Brackley Road76, Watling Street East78, Watling Street East8, Watling Street East80, Watling Street East81, Watling Street West93, Watling Street West94, Watling Street East98/98A, Watling Street East
Conservation areas
2 conservation areas cover 5% of Towcester
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Towcester20 ha
Easton Neston 20051 ha
21 hain conservation areas, of 420 ha inside the built-up area.
86 of the 90 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
More than half of Towcester’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1976
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1976 · 511951 · 161987 · 14
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 16 entries were listed in 1951, 1 of the 2 Grade I buildings among them. 51 came in 1976, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 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.
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.
1 registered park or garden
Easton NestonGrade II*
History Grade
Towcester grades B for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (102 points, 90 per 10,000 residents)More than 77% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (6.5%)More than 14% 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.
Homes by age
6.5% of Towcester’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
6.1%
Before 1900
0.3%
1900–18
0.6%
1919–29
1.7%
1930s
3.8%
1945–54
2.9%
1955–64
10%
1965–72
9.4%
1973–82
12%
1983–92
12%
1993–99
8.5%
2000–08
2.4%
2009–15
30%
2016–25
TowcesterEngland & Wales
6.1% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 2016–25, which added 30% 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 (9 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Born here
4 notable people born in Towcester before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
Thomas Shepard
Edward Grubb of Birmingham
William L. Abingdon
Wallace Jarman
16001650170017501800185019001950
TS
Thomas Shepard1605–1649 · American minister in New England
William L. Abingdon1859–1918 · British stage actor (1859–1918)
Edward Grubb of Birmingham1740–1816 · British sculptor
WJ
Wallace Jarman1872–1950 · English rugby union footballer
Everyone born in Towcester → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Towns its size
Towcester has the 52nd most Grade I buildings of 640 towns its size
Places of 7,000–18,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Towcester2
#142 of 640for listed buildings per resident (79 per 10,000). Brecon, Malmesbury and Ludlow lead.
51 have more. The typical town its size has 0.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Towcester
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Towcester | 11,333 | 90 | 2 | B |
| Greens Norton | 1,525 | 23 | 1 | B+ |
| Silverstone | 2,542 | 14 | 0 | C+ |
| Blisworth | 1,603 | 33 | 0 | B+ |
| Pattishall and Astcote | 1,081 | 8 | 0 | B− |
| Roade | 3,571 | 21 | 0 | C+ |
| Yardley Gobion | 1,283 | 19 | 0 | B+ |
| Potterspury | 1,637 | 26 | 0 | B+ |
In brief
Towcester in brief
Per resident, Towcester has more listed heritage than 77% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 90 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I, including Church of St Lawrence. Only 51 of the 640 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. Watling Street West alone has 20 listed buildings.
Its older streets lie in 2 conservation areas, the first designated in 2005. Of the whole list, 71% are houses, terraces and villas. Thomas Shepard (1605), William L. Abingdon (1859) and Edward Grubb of Birmingham (1740) are among the 4 people born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: it also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Questions about Towcester’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Towcester?
Historic England lists 90 buildings inside Towcester’s built-up area: 2 Grade I, 2 Grade II* and 86 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Towcester?
2, including Church of St Lawrence and The Chain Gate and Lodges and Attached Walls, Piers, Standards and Chains.
Which street in Towcester has the most listed buildings?
Watling Street West (20), Watling Street East (19) and Park Street (7) have the most listed entries named by an address. One entry can be a whole terrace.
Are there scheduled monuments in Towcester?
Yes, 2 scheduled monuments, including Bank of Roman town 550ft (170m) in length N of Brackley Road and W of High Street and Bury Mount motte castle.
How many conservation areas are there in Towcester?
2, covering about 21 hectares of the town. The largest are Towcester and Easton Neston.
When were Towcester’s buildings listed?
The first in 1951; the most, 51, in 1976.
Who was born in Towcester?
Among people born before 1900: Thomas Shepard (1605), William L. Abingdon (1859), Edward Grubb of Birmingham (1740) and Wallace Jarman (1872).
How old are the homes in Towcester?
6.5% of homes were built before 1919 and 8.8% 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.