Britain's Most Unusual Listed Buildings
When people hear the words "listed building", they tend to think of grand country houses, ancient churches, mediaeval cottages or imposing town halls.
But Britain's listed-building heritage is considerably stranger — and more interesting — than that.
The national heritage registers contain an extraordinary variety of structures, many of which were never intended to be monuments. There are buildings associated with changing technology, Victorian public health, leisure, transport and warfare, alongside structures whose original purpose seems positively bizarre today.
British Listed Buildings provides an extensive catalogue of these often-overlooked parts of Britain's architectural heritage. Here are some of the most unusual.
An ice house — Bromley Palace Park, London
An ice house might not sound particularly exciting, but the Ice House and Ha-Ha Wall at Bromley Palace Park is an unusually well-preserved example of a technology that once played an important part in wealthy households.
The ice house probably dates from the late eighteenth century. Before mechanical refrigeration, such structures allowed ice collected during winter to be stored through the warmer months, providing an early form of refrigeration for food and drink.
This particular example is especially interesting because of its unusual two-chamber plan. British Listed Buildings notes that only a handful of comparable listed examples survive in England.
It also has a later summerhouse attached to it, together with a brick ha-ha. The result is a structure that combines practical technology, landscape design and leisure architecture in a rather unexpected package.
A cattle trough — Harrow-on-the-Hill
Today, a roadside cattle trough in London sounds almost absurd. In the nineteenth century, however, it was an important piece of urban infrastructure.
The cattle trough at the junction of West Street and Bessborough Road in Harrow-on-the-Hill dates from 1898.
Made from grey granite, it was installed by the Metropolitan Cattle Trough & Drinking Fountain Association in memory of Miss J. E. Gordon. It provided water for animals while also incorporating a drinking basin for people.
Its listing is particularly revealing because the trough is recognised as a reminder of the almost vanished presence of horses and cattle in London's streets.
There is something rather wonderful about a humble water trough being preserved as evidence of a city that has otherwise almost completely disappeared.
A red telephone box — Follifoot, Yorkshire
Few objects are more recognisably British than the red telephone box. Yet it can be easy to forget that some of these familiar pieces of street furniture are themselves listed buildings.
The K6 telephone kiosk near the village cross at Follifoot in North Yorkshire is Grade II listed.
The K6 was designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, whose other work included Liverpool Cathedral and Battersea Power Station. Its square cast-iron structure, domed roof and distinctive crown motifs became an icon of British design.
The Follifoot example demonstrates just how broad the definition of architectural heritage can be. A tiny structure intended for making telephone calls can be considered sufficiently important to warrant the same statutory protection as much grander buildings.
A Second World War pillbox — East Sussex
Britain's listed buildings aren't necessarily old.
The Second World War pillbox at Stone Cross, Westham in East Sussex is a Grade II listed example of Britain's wartime defensive infrastructure.
It dates from around 1941–42 and was part of the extensive network of defences constructed in anticipation of a German invasion. Its unusually wide embrasures make it particularly rare: the listing identifies only three known examples of this particular non-standard design, all in East Sussex.
The pillbox also retains its Turnbull gun mount, designed to provide a fixed mounting for a machine gun.
What makes structures such as this especially interesting is that they preserve the physical reality of a period when Britain's landscape was transformed for war. A small concrete bunker beside a modern road can therefore be an important historical document.
A Victorian bandstand — Watford
Bandstands are another category of listed structure that might easily escape notice.
The bandstand in Watford Park is Grade II listed and dates from around 1900. It is an elaborate octagonal iron structure with slender columns, decorative wrought ironwork, ornamental cresting and a decorative finial.
It was actually re-erected at its present location, meaning that its history is not simply that of a building which has remained untouched since the Victorian period.
Bandstands were once central to public leisure. Parks provided places where large numbers of people could gather to hear live music, and their architecture was often surprisingly elaborate.
Today they are reminders of a very different idea of public entertainment — one that required neither electricity, screens nor headphones.
A market cross with a fountain — Wells
Some unusual listed structures are fascinating precisely because they combine several functions.
The Market Cross in Wells is a Grade II* listed monument dating from around 1797. It is both a market cross and a fountain, constructed in limestone with a remarkably elaborate Gothic design.
Its water supply was originally connected to a pump house in the garden of the Bishop's Palace.
The structure therefore served practical, civic and symbolic purposes simultaneously. It provided water, marked the marketplace and formed a prominent piece of urban architecture.
It is also a reminder that some of Britain's most interesting historic structures aren't really "buildings" in the conventional sense at all.
A railway-era relic hiding in a park — Crystal Palace
The base of the southern water tower of the Crystal Palace is an especially unusual listing because the most obvious part of the building no longer exists.
The original water tower was constructed in the 1850s to provide water for the Crystal Palace. It was associated with the spectacular Victorian exhibition building that had been relocated from Hyde Park to Sydenham.
The tower itself was demolished during the Second World War, but its base survives, together with associated walls, trenches and pipework.
It is therefore a listed fragment of a vanished building — effectively preserving the physical evidence of something that no longer stands.
A cattle trough in the middle of London
If one cattle trough seems surprising, there are plenty more.
The cattle and horse drinking trough in Commercial Street, Spitalfields is Grade II listed and dates from the late nineteenth century.
It was installed by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association, which provided drinking water for London's animals at a time when horses were essential to the city's transport system.
The trough formed part of a group with a drinking fountain, bollards, Christ Church Spitalfields and the Ten Bells public house.
Standing today in a densely urban part of London, it can seem almost inexplicable. Yet it tells the story of a city in which thousands of horses passed through the streets every day.
A lighthouse on a tiny island
Lighthouses are, of course, a familiar category of listed building, but some are remarkable because of the extreme locations in which they were constructed.
The Lady Isle Lighthouse off the Ayrshire coast is an unusual example. Built in 1903, it stands on a tiny island in the Firth of Clyde and was designed to warn shipping of the island and surrounding hazards.
Its unusual concrete construction and striking form make it an excellent example of how engineering necessity can produce distinctive architecture.
It is the only lighthouse in this selection — because Britain's unusual listed buildings extend far beyond lighthouses.
A market cross with a very unexpected detail — Uttoxeter
The Conduit or Market Cross at Uttoxeter is another example of a seemingly ordinary civic structure containing an unexpected story.
Dating from the eighteenth century, the classical stone structure originally served as a conduit or water supply. It has a cube-shaped design with arched recesses and a domed roof.
But one of its most intriguing features is a later bas-relief depicting Dr Samuel Johnson doing penance in the market place.
Johnson's father was a bookseller in nearby Lichfield, and the young Samuel Johnson is traditionally associated with a story in which he was forced to stand in the marketplace as a punishment.
A small piece of public architecture thus became a monument to one of Britain's most famous literary figures.
A pillbox that is now historic architecture
The pillbox at Tollerton in Nottinghamshire provides another example of how the definition of heritage continues to expand.
It is a simple square-type wartime pillbox, built as part of Britain's Second World War defensive preparations.
There is little conventional architectural beauty in such a structure. Its importance lies instead in what it represents: the transformation of Britain's countryside and infrastructure during the Second World War.
A generation ago, many such structures were regarded simply as obsolete military debris. Today, some are recognised as historic structures worthy of preservation.
What counts as a listed building?
These examples demonstrate why exploring Britain's listed buildings can be so rewarding.
Listing isn't simply a competition to find the country's grandest architecture. The system can protect structures because of their architectural design, technological importance, rarity, historical associations or contribution to the character of a place.
That means that a Victorian cattle trough can sit alongside a mediaeval church; a telephone kiosk can be listed next to a stately home; and a concrete wartime pillbox can receive protection because it is a rare survivor of an important moment in Britain's history.
The result is an extraordinarily varied architectural record.
Some of Britain's most interesting listed buildings are precisely those that we normally walk past without giving them a second glance.
A telephone box. A bandstand. A water trough. An ice house. A wartime bunker.
Look closely, and Britain's heritage is full of surprises.
