IWalls & gates · listed 1976HeathcoteOn the list as Heathcote, subsidiary buildings and structures, and entrance wallsPhoto: Betty Longbottom · CC BY-SA 2.0
Lister's Arms Hotel · Photo: Only By Land · CC BY-SA 4.0A−History Grade
History of Ilkley · Historic England
56 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I
Historic England counts them inside Ilkley’s built-up area, 38 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 5 scheduled monuments. 31% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 9 of its listed buildings and 4 old views of the town. Ilkley grades A− for history: #18 of 91 in West Yorkshire.
Listed buildings
56
38 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
3
exceptional interest
Grade II*
3
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
5
2 registered parks & gardens
Homes built before 1919
31%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Ilkley in 15 photos and old views
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed, and the town before 1950. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Heathcote, subsidiary buildings and structures, and entrance wallsGrade I listed
3 Stone Crosses South of the Church of All SaintsGrade I listed
Manor HouseGrade I listed
Winter GardenGrade II listed
Town Hall (Including Public Library)Grade II listed+10See 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.
Through time
Ilkley from 1890 to 1890
4 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
c. 1890
c. 1890
c. 1890
1890Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server. Each credit opens the image’s page with its full description and history.
The map
Where Ilkley’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park, over the age of each neighbourhood’s homes.
Grade IGrade II*Scheduled monumentPark or garden
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
2 of 9neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 55% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
56 listed buildings by grade
3 Grade I3 Grade II*50 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. 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).
Grade I
The 3 Grade I listed buildings in Ilkley
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.
IHouse · listed 19763 Stone Crosses South of the Church of All SaintsPhoto: Alexander P Kapp · CC BY-SA 2.0
IHouse · listed 1949Manor HousePhoto: Hugh Chappell · CC BY-SA 2.0
Grade II*
The 3 Grade II* listed buildings in Ilkley
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. Every one is photographed.
II*Church · listed 1976Church of St MargaretPhoto: Tim Green · CC BY 2.0
II*Public · listed 1949Low HallPhoto: Only By Land · CC BY-SA 4.0
II*Church · listed 1949Parish Church of All SaintsPhoto: Tim Green from Bradford · CC BY 2.0
What’s protected
Most of Ilkley’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas30
Public & civic buildings11
Inns, shops & warehouses4
Walls, gates & bridges4
Churches, chapels & priories3
Memorials, crosses & tombs2
Street furniture2
30 entries (54%) are houses, terraces and villas. 3 are churches, chapels and priories.
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
50 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 50 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
'Story of Wool' sculptural mural, International Development Centre, Valley Drive, Ilkley, West YorkshireAll Saints First SchoolArdenleaBarn South of Wheatley Grange, Adjacent to House and in Same AxisBox TreeChurch of All Saints HallCrescent HotelFirst World War memorial, Ilkley Memorial GardensFormer Stables of Lister's Arms HotelGate piers, gates, railings and steps, Ilkley Memorial GardensHollin Hall Farm HouseIlkley HallIlkley Lido (Including Cafe and Changing Rooms)Ilkley StationLister's Arms HotelMilepostMilepost opposite 256, Leeds RoadMoor CottageNumber 14 and Number 16 (Castle House)Old Grammar SchoolOutbuilding of Crescent Hotel to the EastOutbuilding to East of Hollin Hall Farm Yard by StreamOutbuildings Enclosing the Farmyard of Wheatley Grange on North, West and South to the West of HousePier at North East of Garden of Number 1Pier at North West of Garden of Number 11Post box at junction with Denton Road, on north-east cornerRailings and Gate to Front Garden of West View (Numbers 6 and 7) to the West and NorthRailings to Front Garden of West View (Number 12) on North, South and WestRailings, Walls and Gates to ArdenleaSecond World War memorial and associated pavilion shelters, Ilkley Memorial GardensSt John's FlatsTown Hall (Including Public Library)United Reformed ChurchWells HouseWest ViewWest ViewWest ViewWestwood LodgeWheatley CottageWheatley GrangeWheatley HallWhite FarmWinter Garden12, Church Street14, Church Street16, Church Street18, Church Street19 and 21, Church Street4-6, Church Street7 Headstones Grouped South West of Church of All Saints
Conservation areas
3 conservation areas cover 37% of Ilkley
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Ilkley 1971125 ha
Middleton 200543 ha
Ben Rhydding 20039 ha
177 hain conservation areas, of 472 ha inside the built-up area.
The first, Ilkley, was designated in 1971; the newest, Middleton, in 2005. 46 of the 56 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 Ilkley’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1976
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1976 · 351949 · 10
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 10 entries were listed in 1949, 1 of the 3 Grade I buildings among them. 35 came in 1976, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 4 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.
5 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.
2 registered parks and gardens
Heathcote, IlkleyGrade II
Ilkley Memorial GardensGrade II
History Grade
Ilkley grades A− for history
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (77 points, 52 per 10,000 residents)More than 69% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (31%)More than 85% 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
31% of Ilkley’s homes were built before 1919
Every home by when it was built, from council tax records, against England & Wales (the dark tick).
24%
Before 1900
6.7%
1900–18
3.3%
1919–29
8.6%
1930s
3.6%
1945–54
6.9%
1955–64
10%
1965–72
9.1%
1973–82
8.1%
1983–92
4.1%
1993–99
8%
2000–08
4%
2009–15
3.1%
2016–25
IlkleyEngland & Wales
24% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, which added 10% 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 (68 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Born here
6 notable people born in Ilkley before 1900
Their lives on one timeline, earliest first.
W.A. Stewart
Edward Maufe
Alice Jenkins
Catherine Tolson
Mae Bacon
Thomas Harold Broadbent Maufe
18501875190019251950
Edward Maufe1883–1974 · English architect and designer (1883-1974)
CT
Catherine Tolson1892–1924 · English nurse and women's suffragist
WS
W.A. Stewart1882–1953 · Exponent of modern technical education in the Middle East and painter…
Alice Jenkins1886–1967 · (1886–1967), UK abortion campaigner
Mae Bacon1897–1981 · Actress
TM
Thomas Harold Broadbent Maufe1898–1942 · Recipient of the Victoria Cross (1898–1942)
Everyone born in Ilkley → Birthplaces from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons.
Towns its size
Ilkley has the 33rd most Grade I buildings of 548 towns its size
Places of 9,000–24,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Ilkley3
#197 of 548for listed buildings per resident (38 per 10,000). Ludlow, Bridport and Monmouth lead.
32 have more. The typical town its size has 0.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Ilkley
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilkley | 14,852 | 56 | 3 | A− |
| Burley in Wharfedale | 6,806 | 41 | 1 | B+ |
| Addingham | 3,247 | 56 | 1 | A |
| East Morton | 1,227 | 12 | 0 | B+ |
| Menston | 5,905 | 15 | 0 | C+ |
| Silsden | 8,392 | 31 | 0 | B+ |
| Otley | 14,549 | 149 | 1 | A |
| Bingley | 21,334 | 59 | 0 | B |
In brief
Ilkley in brief
Old houses are part of Ilkley’s character: 31% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. In all there are 56 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I, including Heathcote. Only 32 of the 548 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. Its older streets lie in 3 conservation areas, the first designated in 1971.
Most entries on the list, 54%, are houses, terraces and villas. Of the 6 people born here before 1900, the best known include Edward Maufe (1883), Catherine Tolson (1892) and W.A. Stewart (1882). It also has 5 scheduled monuments, the archaeology and ruins the law protects. Beyond that, per resident it sits near the middle of UK towns.
Questions about Ilkley’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Ilkley?
Historic England lists 56 buildings inside Ilkley’s built-up area: 3 Grade I, 3 Grade II* and 50 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Ilkley?
3, including Heathcote, subsidiary buildings and structures, and entrance walls, Manor House and 3 Stone Crosses South of the Church of All Saints.
Are there scheduled monuments in Ilkley?
Yes, 5 scheduled monuments, including Carved rock in wall of grounds of Overdale Nursing Home, Carved rock next to the drive of Overdale Nursing Home, Group of four carved rocks in Panorama Woods and Site of Roman Fort, Ilkley..
How many conservation areas are there in Ilkley?
3, covering about 177 hectares of the town. The largest are Ilkley and Middleton.
When were Ilkley’s buildings listed?
The first in 1949; the most, 35, in 1976.
Are there old photos of Ilkley?
Yes: 4 public-domain photos and postcards from 1890 to 1890, all on this page.
Who was born in Ilkley?
Among people born before 1900: Edward Maufe (1883), Catherine Tolson (1892), W.A. Stewart (1882), Alice Jenkins (1886) and Mae Bacon (1897).
How old are the homes in Ilkley?
31% of homes were built before 1919 and 43% 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.