368 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I

The Blue HouseGrade I listedChrist ChurchGrade II* listedThe Blue Boar InnGrade II listedBridgeGrade II listedDungannon BuildingsGrade II listed+5See 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 368 entries, 182 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.

Search the rest on Historic England’s list →

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 51 entries were listed in 1949, 1 of the 2 Grade I buildings among them. 182 came in 1983, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 have been added in the last 15 years.

1 scheduled monument

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

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.

Henry Thomas Ryall

Joseph Robson Tanner

Edward Compton

William Henry Reed

Malcolm Osborne

Box Case

1800182518501875190019251950

WR

William Henry Reed1876–1942 · British musician (1876-1942)

Joseph Robson Tanner1860–1931 · British historian

HR

Henry Thomas Ryall1811–1867 · Artist (1811-1867)

BC

Box Case1895–1969 · English cricketer (1895-1969)

EC

Edward Compton1872–1940 · English cricketer (1872-1940)

MO

Malcolm Osborne1880–1963 · British landscape and portrait artist (1880–1963)

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

Measured per resident, Frome has more listed heritage than 89% of UK towns. In all there are 368 listed buildings, 2 of them Grade I, including Rook Lane Chapel. Only 43 of the 357 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. On Cheap Street alone there are 19 listed buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1973. Most entries on the list, 72%, are houses, terraces and villas. Of the 6 people born here before 1900, the best known include William Henry Reed (1876), Joseph Robson Tanner (1860) and Henry Thomas Ryall (1811). Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it also has a scheduled monument; and 18% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.