121 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I

Old Town HallGrade II* listedSudbury HouseGrade II* listedThe Folly InnGrade II listedThe Old StationGrade II listedFormer National SchoolGrade II listed+1See 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 121 entries, 53 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 16 entries were listed in 1952, 1 of the 2 Grade I buildings among them. 84 came in 1986, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

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.

John Bunce

Gerald Goodlake

Charles Lapworth

Thomas Belcher

Martin Burrell

Ernest Brooks

Cicely Hey

1800182518501875190019251950

Charles Lapworth1842–1920 · English geologist (1842-1920)

Martin Burrell1858–1938 · Canadian politician (1858-1938)

Cicely Hey1896–1980 · British artist (1896–1980)

Ernest Brooks1878–1957 · British photographer

John Bunce1828–1899 · (1828–1899), journalist

Gerald Goodlake1832–1890 · British military officer (1832–1890)

TB

Thomas Belcher1847–1919 · (1847-1919) Headteacher and cricketer

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

Per resident, Faringdon has more listed heritage than 85% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 121 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I, including Church of All Saints. Only 48 of the 721 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. London Street alone has 26 listed buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969. Most entries on the list, 78%, are houses, terraces and villas. Charles Lapworth (1842), Martin Burrell (1858) and Cicely Hey (1896) are among the 7 people born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: 18% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.