IChurch · listed 1960Church of St LaurencePhoto: Trish Steel · CC BY-SA 2.0
Manor House · Photo: AndyScott · CC BY-SA 4.0AHistory Grade
History of Downton · Historic England
107 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I
Historic England counts them inside Downton’s built-up area, 362 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 3 scheduled monuments. 24% of its homes were built before 1919. We have photos of 6 of its listed buildings. Downton grades A for history: #4 of 30 in Wiltshire.
Listed buildings
107
362 per 10,000 residents
Grade I
3
exceptional interest
Grade II*
2
more than special interest
Scheduled monuments
3
1 registered park or garden
Homes built before 1919
24%
typical UK town 15%
In pictures
Downton in 8 photos
Nearly every Grade I and II* building, photographed. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Church of St LaurenceGrade I listed
The Moot with Attached KitchenGrade I listed
The Bull HotelGrade II listed
County BridgeGrade II listed
The Moot: a ringwork and bailey, earlier Roman settlement remains and later garden earthworks immediately east of the River AvonScheduled monument+3See 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 Downton’s history is
Every Grade I and II* building, monument and historic park.
Grade IGrade II*Scheduled monumentPark or garden
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
107 listed buildings by grade
3 Grade I2 Grade II*102 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 3 Grade I listed buildings in Downton
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 1985Manor HousePhoto: AndyScott · CC BY-SA 4.0
IHouse · listed 1960The Moot with Attached KitchenPhoto: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0
Grade II*
The 2 Grade II* listed buildings in Downton
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. 1 is photographed.
II*House · listed 1960The White Horse InnOn the list as The Downton Press the White HorsePhoto: Jim Goldsmith · CC BY-SA 2.0
House · listed 1960The Courthouse
What’s protected
Most of Downton’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas80
Churches, chapels & priories17
Inns, shops & warehouses4
Walls, gates & bridges3
Memorials, crosses & tombs1
Public & civic buildings1
Street furniture1
80 entries (75%) are houses, terraces and villas. 17 are churches, chapels and priories, including 1 of the 3 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
102 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 102 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Anvil Cottage and Cottage Adjoining to the NorthApril CottageAvon HouseBaptist ChurchBarling Monument in the Churchyard About 4 Metres West of Baptist ChurchBarn and Attached Stable to South of Moot FarmhouseBarn and Cartshed to South East of Moot FarmhouseBarn in Garden to Rear of No 7Barn to west of Wick FarmhouseBorough Cross in front of No 62 (The Goat), The BoroughBrown Monument in the Churchyard About 32 Metres West of Church of St LaurenceChalkhill HouseChurchyard Boundary Wall Immediately North of Church of St Lawrence and South West of Manor HouseChurchyard Cross About 8 Metres South of Church of St LaurenceCobwebsCottage Adjoining Vine Cottage on the SouthCounty BridgeCreel CottageCrosswaysCymbelineDownton Church of England (Controlled) Primary SchoolDragon HouseEast MillFive Fanstone Monuments in the Churchyard Between 16 and 21 Metres South of the Church of St LaurenceFour Baily Monuments in the Churchyard Between 7 and 12 Metres South of the Church of St LaurenceGate, Gate Piers and About 6 Metres of Wall to Either Side, To Front of the MootGibbs Monument in the Churchyard About 6 Metres North of Church of St Laurence*Gibbs Monument in the Churchyard About 9 Metres North of Church of St LaurenceGranary at Parsonage FarmGranary to South East of Wick FarmhouseHamilton HouseHarebell CottageHill SideHooper Monument in the Churchyard About 9 Metres North of Church of St LaurenceJasmine CottageK6 Telephone Kiosk, High StreetLear and Shuckburgh Monuments in the Churchyard About 34 Metres West of Church of St LaurenceLeicester HouseLong Close HouseLychgate and Attached Walling to South of Churchyard of Church of St LaurenceManor CottageMeadowsideMinton CottageRadnor HouseRailed Enclosure in the Churchyard About 6 Metres West of Baptist ChurchRailings to Front of the Baptist ChurchRavenswoodRiver CottageRose CottageRose CottageRosemary Cottage and Attached Cartshed to LeftRossiter HouseSection PostSpringfieldStable CottageStables and Coach House at the MootSummerhouse at SpringfieldTaunton Monument in the Churchyard, About 3 Metres North of Baptist ChurchThe Bull HotelThe CottageThe CottageThe Kings ArmsThe ManseThe WarrenThe Wooden SpoonTwo Strading Monuments in the Churchyard About 13 Metres West of the Church of St LaurenceVine CottageVine CottageWaterside MillWell CottageWell HouseWellesley CottageWhitmarsh Monument in the Churchyard About 34 Metres West of Church of St LaurenceWick CottageWick FarmhouseWistaria1 and 2 Wick Farm Cottages10, High Street11 and 13, High Street12 and 14, The Borough136, The Borough14, High Street18, Lode Hill20 and 20A, Lode Hill23 and 25, High Street27 and 29, High Street3 and 5, High Street31, The Borough32 and 34, High Street36, The Borough36-44, High Street38, The Borough39, 41 and 43, The Borough4, Slab Lane40, The Borough46 and 48, The Borough50, The Borough7, High Street75, The Borough8 and 10, The Borough90 and 92, The Borough99 and 101, The Borough
Conservation areas
1 conservation area covers 30% of Downton
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Downton 197337 ha
37 hain conservation areas, of 125 ha inside the built-up area.
100 of the 107 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 Downton’s listed buildings were added in one year, 1985
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1985 · 731960 · 26
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 26 entries were listed in 1960, 2 of the 3 Grade I buildings among them. 73 came in 1985, in the national resurvey of the 1970s and 80s. Only 1 has 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.
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.
1 registered park or garden
The Moot and Moot House, DowntonGrade II*
History Grade
Downton 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 (123 points, 417 per 10,000 residents)More than 92% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (24%)More than 72% 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
24% of Downton’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
2.4%
1900–18
1.9%
1919–29
1.9%
1930s
6.7%
1945–54
12%
1955–64
23%
1965–72
5.8%
1973–82
3.9%
1983–92
5.9%
1993–99
2.9%
2000–08
4.2%
2009–15
7.7%
2016–25
DowntonEngland & Wales
21% of homes are Victorian or older, against 16% across England and Wales. The busiest period since was 1965–72, which added 23% 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 (8 here) are left out; 1939–44 is not a period in the data.
Towns its size
Downton has the 19th most Grade I buildings of 1,227 towns its size
Places of 2,000–5,000 people outside London, by Grade I listed buildings.
Downton3
#60 of 1,227for listed buildings per resident (362 per 10,000). Painswick, Sandwich and Chipping Campden lead.
18 have more. The typical town its size has 0.
Neighbours
Listed buildings in the places around Downton
| Town | People | Listed | Grade I | History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downton | 2,952 | 107 | 3 | A |
| Redlynch and Woodfalls | 2,446 | 11 | 0 | B |
| Whaddon | 2,283 | 13 | 0 | B− |
| Fordingbridge | 4,947 | 48 | 1 | A− |
| Sandleheath | 1,546 | 2 | 0 | C− |
| Salisbury | 47,690 | 643 | 37 | A |
| Alderholt | 2,868 | 0 | 0 | D− |
| West Wellow | 1,584 | 17 | 0 | B− |
In brief
Downton in brief
For its size, Downton has more listed heritage than 92% of UK towns. In all there are 107 listed buildings, 3 of them Grade I. Of its homes, 24% were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town. Church of St Laurence sits at the heart of it all, with 3 of the town’s Grade I buildings within 400 m.
Only 18 of the 1,227 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings. A conservation area has protected part of it since 1973. Of the whole list, 75% are houses, terraces and villas. Beyond that, Roger Curtis (1746) and George Mannings (1843) were born here before 1900; and it also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Questions about Downton’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Downton?
Historic England lists 107 buildings inside Downton’s built-up area: 3 Grade I, 2 Grade II* and 102 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Downton?
3, including Church of St Laurence, Manor House and The Moot with Attached Kitchen.
Are there scheduled monuments in Downton?
Yes, 3 scheduled monuments, including Churchyard cross, The Moot: a ringwork and bailey, earlier Roman settlement remains and later garden earthworks immediately east of the River Avon and Village cross.
How many conservation areas are there in Downton?
1, covering about 37 hectares of the town. The largest is Downton.
When were Downton’s buildings listed?
The first in 1960; the most, 73, in 1985.
How old are the homes in Downton?
24% of homes were built before 1919 and 28% 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.