On the Historic England list, all of them stand inside Worcester’s built-up area, 66 for every 10,000 residents. It also has 17 scheduled monuments. We have photos of 49 of its listed buildings and 8 old views of the town. 18% of its homes were built before 1919. Worcester grades A− for history: #5 of 22 in Worcestershire.
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.
Through time
Worcester from 1890 to 1903
8 old photos and postcards, in date order. All public domain, made before 1950.
Public 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 Worcester’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 garden400 m from Worcester Cathedral
Homes built before 1919, by neighbourhoodunder 10%10–25%25–50%50%+
9 of 13Grade I buildings stand within 400 m of Worcester Cathedral, a five-minute walk. So do 178 of the 699 listed buildings.
8 of 66neighbourhoods have mostly pre-1919 homes; in the oldest, 91% were built before 1919.
Hover a dot for its name; tap one with a photo to open it.
699 listed buildings by grade
13 Grade I39 Grade II*647 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 13 Grade I listed buildings in Worcester
Buildings of exceptional interest, about 2.5% of all listed buildings; 9 of these stand within 400 m of Worcester Cathedral. Every one is photographed. Each opens its own page, with the official list entry.
Walls & gates · listed 1971Worcester Guildhall gatesOn the list as Wrought Iron Gates and Railings to Forecourt at GuildhallPhoto: Philip Halling · CC BY-SA 2.0
Grade II*
The 39 Grade II* listed buildings in Worcester
Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. 33 are photographed.
The High Street and The Tything have the most listed buildings
Streets by the listed entries with an address on them. One entry can be a whole terrace, so long rows count once.
High Street30 listed
The Tything30 listed
Foregate Street26 listed
Britannia Square25 listed
Broad Street23 listed · 1 II*
Friar Street21 listed · 2 II*
St Johns19 listed
London Road15 listed
St Georges Square15 listed
Sidbury14 listed
Edgar Street13 listed · 1 II*
Mealcheapen Street11 listed
Of the 699 entries, 410 are named by a street address; the rest are named buildings such as churches, halls and bridges.
What’s protected
Most of Worcester’s listed buildings are homes
Every listed building sorted by what its list name says it is.
Houses, terraces & villas533
Walls, gates & bridges61
Public & civic buildings40
Churches, chapels & priories28
Inns, shops & warehouses21
Street furniture10
Memorials, crosses & tombs6
533 entries (76%) are houses, terraces and villas. 28 are churches, chapels and priories, including 4 of the 13 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
647 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.
The first 150 of 647 Grade II listed buildings, A to Z
Areas the council protects as a whole: demolition and changes to how buildings look need consent, and trees are protected.
Riverside 199297 ha
No data available for publication by HE51 ha
Historic City 196948 ha
Sidbury and Fort Royal 198020 ha
Worcester and Birmingham Canal 198915 ha
Battenhall Villas 200613 ha
Foregate Street and The Tything 198012 ha
St George's Square 198011 ha
Lansdowne Crescent and Raibow Hill Terrace 196910 ha
Britannia Square 19699 ha
St John's 19697 ha
Lowesmoor 19896 ha
Shrubbery Avenue 19936 ha
Lark Hill 19805 ha
Bevere5 ha
Trotshill 19864 ha
Royal Infirmary 20053 ha
Field Terrace 19891 ha
Warndon Court 19861 ha
324 hain conservation areas, of 2,558 ha inside the built-up area.
The first, Historic City, Lansdowne Crescent and Raibow Hill Terrace and Britannia Square, were designated in 1969; the newest, Battenhall Villas, in 2006. 617 of the 699 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
224 of Worcester’s 699 listed buildings were added in 1954
The year each building now on the list was first listed.
1954 · 2241971 · 1921974 · 130
19501960197019801990200020102020
The first 1 entry was listed in 1952. 224 came in 1954. Only 15 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.
17 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.
Protected heritage and the age of the town’s homes, against all UK towns.
Protected heritage, for its size and in all (803 points, 76 per 10,000 residents)More than 81% of UK towns
Homes built before 1919 (18%)More than 57% 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.
Born here
61 notable people born in Worcester before 1900
The 20 best known on one timeline, earliest first.
Egwin of Evesham
Edward Kelley
Francis Moore
William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot
Hannah Snell
Elizabeth Blower
Ann Hatton
Philip Henry Gosse
John Pyke Hullah
Ellen Wood
Benjamin Williams Leader
Thomas Brock
Carleton Rea
Vesta Tilley
Walter R. Booth
Charles Inglis
William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield
Ernest Payne
Muriel Freeman
E. J. Bowen
7509001050120013501500165018001950
EK
Edward Kelley1555–1590 · English alchemist
Philip Henry Gosse1810–1888 · English naturalist (1810-1888)
Ernest Payne1884–1961 · English racing cyclist (1884-1961)
Ellen Wood1814–1887 · English writer, editor (1814-1887)
Muriel Freeman1897–1980 · Fencer (1897–1980)
William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield1877–1963 · English motor manufacturer and philanthropist (1877–1963)
Hannah Snell1723–1792 · British soldier (1723-1792)
#7 of 103for listed buildings per resident (66 per 10,000). Bath, Shrewsbury and York lead.
Only Bath, Cambridge, York, Chester, Lincoln, Gloucester, Exeter, Carlisle, Rochester and Shrewsbury have more. Worcester is level with Colchester. The typical town its size has 2.
Measured per resident, Worcester has more listed heritage than 81% of UK towns. All told, the list holds 699 listed buildings, 13 of them Grade I. Its Grade I buildings cluster together: 9 of them stand within 400 m of Worcester Cathedral. Only 10 of the 103 towns nearest its size have more Grade I buildings.
High Street alone has 30 listed buildings. Its older streets lie in 19 conservation areas, the first designated in 1969. Most entries on the list, 76%, are houses, terraces and villas. Beyond that, 18% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 15% in the typical UK town.
Questions about Worcester’s history
How many listed buildings are there in Worcester?
Historic England lists 699 buildings inside Worcester’s built-up area: 13 Grade I, 39 Grade II* and 647 Grade II.
What are the Grade I listed buildings in Worcester?
13, including Berkeley's Hospital: Almshouses with Gatelodges, Piers and Gates, Berkeley's Hospital: Chapel, Cathedral Church of Christ and St Mary, Cathedral of St Mary: Cloister Range, Chapter House and Undercroft with Refectory, Church of St Nicholas and Church of St Swithun and attached railings.
Which street in Worcester has the most listed buildings?
High Street (30), The Tything (30) and Foregate Street (26) have the most listed entries named by an address. One entry can be a whole terrace.
Are there scheduled monuments in Worcester?
Yes, 17 scheduled monuments, including City walls: section S of The Butts, extending 100ft (30m) E from Rack Alley, City walls: section S of The Butts, extending 150ft (50m) between Angel Place and Bath Cottage, City walls: section extending 130ft (40m) between Charles Street and Portland Place and City walls: section extending 130ft (40m) from the back of No 27 New Street to Windsor Row.
How many conservation areas are there in Worcester?
19, covering about 324 hectares of the town. The largest are Riverside and No data available for publication by HE.
When were Worcester’s buildings listed?
The first in 1952; the most, 224, in 1954.
Are there old photos of Worcester?
Yes: 8 public-domain photos and postcards from 1890 to 1903, all on this page.
Who was born in Worcester?
Among people born before 1900: Edward Kelley (1555), Philip Henry Gosse (1810), Ernest Payne (1884), Ellen Wood (1814) and Muriel Freeman (1897).
How old are the homes in Worcester?
18% of homes were built before 1919 and 31% before 1940, from the Valuation Office Agency’s council tax records (March 2025).
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.