133 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I

Bilton HallGrade I listedChurch of St BotolphGrade I listedChapel at Rugby SchoolGrade I listedThe George InnGrade II listedClock TowerGrade II listed+10See 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.

1895

c. 1946

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 133 entries, 61 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 18 entries were listed in 1949, 3 of the 3 Grade I buildings among them. 82 came in 1976, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 2 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.

Hillmorton Village Cross

Round mound at Hillmorton

The 'Island' tumulus

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.

Lawrence Sheriff

Andrew Bloxam

Catharine Tait

George Samuel Sale

Norman Lockyer

Edward Cotton-Jodrell

Margaret Louisa Woods

Katharine Jex-Blake

Herbert Haddock

Ronald Montagu Burrows

Mona Wilson

John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby

Ethel Sidgwick

Sam Bayley

St. John Lucas

Rose Macaulay

Rupert Brooke

Francis Marshall

Archibald Harris

Daniel O'Connell

1500165018001950

Rupert Brooke1887–1915 · English poet (1887–1915)

Norman Lockyer1836–1920 · English scientist and astronomer (1836–1920)

Rose Macaulay1881–1958 · English novelist and writer (1881–1958)

Margaret Louisa Woods1855–1945 · English writer (1856–1945)

Andrew Bloxam1801–1878 · English clergyman and naturalist (1801-1878)

Herbert Haddock1861–1946 · British sailor (1861–1946)

Katharine Jex-Blake1860–1951 · English classical scholar and college head (1860-1951)

John Maffey, 1st Baron Rugby1877–1969 · British civil servant and diplomat (1877–1969)

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

Rugby has 133 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I, including Bilton Hall. On Bilton Road alone there are 19 listed buildings. A conservation area protects part of it. Most entries on the list, 58%, are houses, terraces and villas.

Of the 29 people born here before 1900, the best known include Rupert Brooke (1887), Norman Lockyer (1836) and Rose Macaulay (1881). The big year was 1976, when 82 of the 133 went on the list. Beyond that, it has 3 Grade I buildings, about typical for a town its size (the middle one has 2); per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and it also has 3 scheduled monuments.