135 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I

Abbey RuinsGrade I listedAbbotsford HouseGrade II* listedThe Bear and Ragged Staff InnGrade II listedPremises Occupied by Midland BankGrade II listedTudor CottageGrade II listed+6See 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.

1903

1903

Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.

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 135 entries, 71 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 22 entries were listed in 1949, 2 of the 3 Grade I buildings among them. 83 came in 1971, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 have been added in the last 15 years.

3 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.

Fishpond complex, 260m east of Castle Farm

Kenilworth Abbey

Kenilworth Castle: a motte and bailey and enclosure castle with mere, dams and 16th century gardens

2 registered parks and gardens

Garden at 1 Castle Hill (formerly Wantage)Grade II

Kenilworth CastleGrade II*

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 Bird Sumner

Charles Sumner

William Gresley

William Henry Draper

Job Eagles Stone

George Hollis

Hugh Pope

Alfred Nelson

Magdalena Sauer

175017751800182518501875190019251950

John Bird Sumner1780–1862 · Archbishop of Canterbury; Bishop of Chester; British Anglican bishop …

MS

Magdalena Sauer1890–1983 · South African architect

Charles Sumner1790–1874 · Bishop of Winchester; Bishop of Llandaff (1790-1874)

William Henry Draper1855–1933 · English hymnist and clergyman

GH

George Hollis1869– · English footballer (1869-1897)

Hugh Pope1869–1946 · British theologian (1869–1946)

AN

Alfred Nelson1871–1927 · English cricketer (1871-1927)

WG

William Gresley1801–1876 · English divine and writer

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

Per resident, Kenilworth has more listed heritage than 76% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 135 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I, including Kenilworth Castle. Only 34 of the 444 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. Castle Hill alone has 18 listed buildings.

A conservation area has protected part of it since 1969. Most entries on the list, 81%, are houses, terraces and villas. John Bird Sumner (1780), Magdalena Sauer (1890) and Charles Sumner (1790) are among the 9 people born here before 1900. Beyond that, it also has 3 scheduled monuments; and 11% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.