114 listed buildings, 6 of them Grade II*

Church of St MatthewGrade II* listedHighley Hall and BarnGrade II* listedThe Old Manor HouseGrade II* listedCalder and Hebble Navigation Anchor Bridge CH9Grade II listedMoravian Chapel and Minister's HouseGrade 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.

1893

1908

c. 1914

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 114 entries, 30 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 1 entry was listed in 1952. 89 came in 1983, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 0 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.

Anglian high cross fragment in the churchyard of St Matthew's Church, Rastrick

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.

27% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, which added 11% 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 (40 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.

Susan Sunderland

Thomas Holroyd

Josiah Firth

Joseph Fisher

Ballington Booth

Mark Ambient

William Nicholl

Violet Brunton

George Weldrick

Charles Clay

Blakey Martin

F. L. Lucas

Miles Balmford Sharp

1800182518501875190019251950

Ballington Booth1857–1940 · American activist (1857-1940)

F. L. Lucas1894–1967 · British writer and classical scholar (1894–1967)

Josiah Firth1826–1897 · New Zealand politician, entrepreneur and pastoralist

Joseph Fisher1834–1907 · South Australian newspaper editor and politician (1834-1907)

Susan Sunderland1819–1905 · [née Sykes] (1819–1905), British singer

Thomas Holroyd1821–1904 · English painter (1821–1904)

GW

George Weldrick1882–1953 · English cricketer (1882-1953)

CC

Charles Clay1885–1978 · English antiquarian and librarian (1885-1978)

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

More of Brighouse’s homes are old than in most places: 30% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 114 listed buildings, including St Matthew's Church, Rastrick. A conservation area protects part of it. Of the whole list, 53% are houses, terraces and villas.

Of the 13 people born here before 1900, the best known include Ballington Booth (1857), F. L. Lucas (1894) and Josiah Firth (1826). More than half went on the list in a single year, 1983: 89 of 114. Otherwise the figures are ordinary: it has no Grade I building, where the middle town its size has 1; per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns; and it also has a scheduled monument.