IChurch · listed 1950Church of St DecumanOn the list as Parish Church of St DecumanPhoto: ChurchCrawler · CC BY-SA 2.0
West Somerset Hotel · Photo: Simon Cobb · CC0B+History Grade
History of Watchet · Historic England
25 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I
On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Watchet’s built-up area, 69 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 1 scheduled monument. 23% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings. Watchet grades B+ for history: #22 of 49 in Somerset.
Listed buildings
25
69 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
1
exceptional interest
Grade II*
1
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
1
nationally important sites
Homes built before 1919
23%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Watchet in 6 photos
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Parish Church of St DecumanGrade I listed
Cross in Churchyard South of Church PorchGrade II* listed
Methodist ChurchGrade II listed
Bank HouseGrade II listed
Sea View TerraceGrade II listed+1See 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 Watchet’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade IGrade II*Scheduled monument
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
25 listed buildings by grade
1 Grade I1 Grade II*23 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.
Grade I
The Grade I listed building in Watchet
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 Watchet
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed.
II*Church · listed 1982Cross in the churchyard of the Church of St DecumanOn the list as Cross in Churchyard South of Church PorchPhoto: Rose and Trev Clough · CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s protected
The largest group of Watchet’s listed buildings is homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas10
Walls, gates & bridges6
Inns, shops & warehouses4
Churches, chapels & priories4
Public & civic buildings1
10 entries (40%) are houses, terraces and villas. 4 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 1 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
23 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 23 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Bank HouseBaptist Church and Sunday School, Railings and GateCountry KitchenEsplanade HouseFootbridge over Washford River Adjacent to Waterloo CottagesGate Piers and Gates to Churchyard Entrance, East of Parish ChurchLondon InnMethodist ChurchNational Westminster BankNo 41 and Front Wall and Gate PiersNo 5 and Adjoining Town Council ChamberNorth east, south east and south west churchyard walls to Parish Church of St DecumanNos 25 and 26 (The Green) and One Gate Pier at Entrance the GreenNos 3 and 3A (Wyndene), Railings and Gates on North East and North West Side WyndeneParsonage Cottage Parsonage FarmhouseSea View TerraceThe Market HouseTwo Table Tombs in Churchyard South of Parish Church of St DecumanWaterloo CottagesWest Somerset Hotel1, Market Street7-10, Swain Street9, Market Street
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 8.8% of Watchet
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Watchet 197511 ha
11 hain conservation areas, of 129 ha inside the built-up area.
15 of the 25 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 Watchet’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1982
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1982 · 20
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 4 entries were listed in 1950, 1 of the 1 Grade I buildings among them. 20 came in 1982, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 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.
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.
History Grade
Watchet 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 (30 points, 82 per 10,000 residents)More than 64% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (23%)More than 70% 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
23% of Watchet’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
21%
Before 1900
2.1%
1900–18
8.2%
1919–29
6.9%
1930s
9.6%
1945–54
7.5%
1955–64
5.2%
1965–72
9.2%
1973–82
5.7%
1983–92
5.2%
1993–99
6.5%
2000–08
7.7%
2009–15
4.7%
2016–25
WatchetEngland & Wales
21% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1945–54, which added 9.6% 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 (24 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Towns its size
Watchet has the 96th most Grade I buildings of 1,102 towns its size
Places of 2,000–6,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Watchet1
#413 of 1,102for listed buildings per resident (69 per 10,000). Sandwich, Tenby and Dolgellau lead.
95 have more. The typical town its size has 0.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Watchet
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watchet | 3,643 | 25 | 1 | B+ |
| Williton | 2,433 | 66 | 0 | A− |
| Minehead | 11,752 | 151 | 0 | A |
| Nether Stowey | 1,483 | 30 | 0 | A− |
| Wiveliscombe | 2,316 | 51 | 0 | A |
| Bishops Lydeard | 2,050 | 32 | 1 | B+ |
| Milverton | 1,112 | 72 | 1 | A+ |
| Cotford St Luke | 2,411 | 2 | 0 | D |
In brief
Watchet in brief
More of Watchet’s homes are old than in most places: 23% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. All told, the list holds 25 listed buildings, 1 of them Grade I, including Church of St Decuman. Only 95 of the 1,102 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.
A conservation area has protected part of it since 1975. The big year was 1982, when 20 of the 25 went on the list. Beyond that, per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and it also has a scheduled monument.
Questions about Watchet’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Watchet?
Historic England lists 25 buildings inside Watchet’s built-up area: 1 Grade I, 1 Grade II* and 23 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Watchet?
One: Parish Church of St Decuman.
Are there scheduled monuments in Watchet?
Yes, 1 scheduled monument, including Cross in the churchyard of the Church of St Decuman.
How many conservation areas are there in Watchet?
1, covering about 11 hectares of the town. The largest is Watchet.
When were Watchet’s buildings listed?
The first in 1950; the most, 20, in 1982.
How old are the homes in Watchet?
23% of homes were built before 1919 and 38% 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.