Listed buildings in Stamford: 446 entries and what owning one means
The national list for Stamford, grade by grade, and the law that applies. open for offer is the pre-market: owners can test the market before a home is advertised.
Stamford parish has 446 entries on the National Heritage List for England, 8 of them Grade I. Own one? open for offer lets you test the market before you list. 103 are Grade II* and 335 Grade II.
Last reviewed 3 November 2026. Status: In force in England. The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 applies in England; section 1 of the Act now refers to lists for England.
How many listed buildings are there in Stamford?
We counted every list entry whose location falls inside the boundary of Stamford civil parish. Historic England's open data and the government's planning data platform agree to within one entry.
| Grade | Entries | What the grade means, in the government's words |
|---|---|---|
| Grade I | 8 | "of exceptional special interest" |
| Grade II* | 103 | "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" |
| Grade II | 335 | "of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them" |
| All grades | 446 |
The grade descriptions come from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings. The Grade I entries are mostly churches, including All Saints, St Mary's, St George's, St Martin's and St John the Baptist.
When were Stamford's buildings listed?
| Year first listed | Entries |
|---|---|
| 1954 | 232 |
| 1974 | 194 |
| Any other year | 20 |
Most of the list was drawn up in two passes, twenty years apart. The handful added since show the list is still amended, which is why we date the count.
A list entry is not the same as a home
One entry can cover a single house, a pair, a whole terrace, a boundary wall or a telephone kiosk. So 446 entries is not 446 homes, and we have not tried to convert one into the other.
The planning data platform also shows two conservation areas that carry the town's name: Stamford, and Stamford Northfields.
What does listing mean for an owner?
Section 7 of the 1990 Act says no person may demolish a listed building without authorisation.
The same applies to altering or extending it in any way that would affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The Act calls that authorisation listed building consent.
Section 9 makes breaking that rule an offence, and also makes it an offence to ignore a condition attached to a consent.
On conviction on indictment, the Act allows a prison term of up to two years, a fine, or both.
This is general information about the law, not legal advice on a particular house; a solicitor or the council's conservation officer can say what applies to yours.
Buying a listed home in Stamford
Three checks are worth making before you offer.
- Read the list entry on Historic England's National Heritage List search, so you know the grade and what the description mentions.
- Ask the seller, through your conveyancer, for the consent history: which works were done, and whether listed building consent was granted for them.
- Remember that GOV.UK's guide to buying a home says an offer is not legally binding until contracts are exchanged, which leaves time to resolve questions the survey or searches raise.
Selling a listed home in Stamford
Expect a buyer's conveyancer to ask about past works and consents, so gather the paperwork early. Sold-price records will not show you whether a house is listed; the national list is the place to check.
open for offer is the pre-market, the market that exists before a property is ever advertised.
For an owner of a period house, the market estimate for your address is a starting point, and you can see how testing the market works before deciding whether to list.
Our pages on terraced houses in Stamford show what the town's period terraces have sold for.
Testing the market is £9.99 a month, cancel any time.
How we counted
List entries: Historic England, National Heritage List for England, open data feature service, queried on 3 November 2026 for entries intersecting the boundary of Stamford civil parish (ONS code E04005940, boundary from the government's planning data platform).
The planning data platform's listed building dataset returned 447 entries for the same boundary, one of them with no grade. Listing years are each entry's first listing date.
Grade definitions: DCMS, Principles of Selection for Listed Buildings, checked 3 November 2026. Law: sections 7 and 9, Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, legislation.gov.uk, checked 3 November 2026.
Listed building data: Historic England, National Heritage List for England. © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Corrections: none so far. If we find an error, we will correct it here, with the date and the figure we changed.
Common questions
How many listed buildings are in Stamford?
Historic England's National Heritage List has 446 entries inside Stamford parish, read on 3 November 2026: 8 Grade I, 103 Grade II* and 335 Grade II. One entry can cover more than one building.
Do I need permission to alter a listed house?
Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires authorisation for demolition, or for any alteration or extension that would affect the building's special character. Works without it are an offence under section 9.