86 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I

9, High StreetGrade II* listedCompton House and Forecourt RailingsGrade II* listedKing John's Hunting Lodge (Axbridge Museum)Grade II* listedOld Manor HouseGrade II* listedSt JudesGrade 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.

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 29 entries were listed in 1961, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 54 came in 1985, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has 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.

26% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1973–82, which added 22% 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 (10 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

William Naish

Simon Smith

Heneage Wheeler

Ernest Tandy

Philip Foy

John Allen Hussey

Mark Pizey

175017751800182518501875190019251950

Mark Pizey1899–1993 · Royal Navy officer (1899-1993)

Ernest Tandy1879–1953 · Cricketer (1879-1953)

PF

Philip Foy1891–1957 · English cricketer (1891-1957)

WN

William Naish1767–1800 · English miniature painter

HW

Heneage Wheeler1870–1965 · English cricketer (1870-1965)

SS

Simon Smith1839–1924 · Wisconsin politician

JH

John Allen Hussey1897–1969 · British naval officer and cricketer (1897-1969)

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

For its size, Axbridge has more listed heritage than 91% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 86 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I. Of its homes, 27% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. Only 88 of the 1,503 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.

On High Street alone there are 15 listed buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1991. Most entries on the list, 71%, are houses, terraces and villas.