Oldest buildings in Britain
Encyclopedia
This article lists the oldest extant freestanding buildings in the United Kingdom. In order to qualify for the list a structure must:
  • be a recognisable building
  • either incorporate features of building work from the claimed date to at least 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) in height and/or be a listed building.
  • incorporate features of building work of the above nature that date from no later than 1349 AD.

Roads are excluded although other structures such as bridges may be if they otherwise fulfill the above criteria.
Building Location First Built Notes
Knap of Howar
Knap of Howar
At Knap of Howar on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland, a Neolithic farmstead may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe...

Papa Westray
Papa Westray
Papa Westray, also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a population of 65 at the time of the 2001 Census, now increased to 70 people...

, Orkney
3500 BC A Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...

 farmstead, claimed to be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe.
Midhowe Chambered Cairn
Midhowe Chambered Cairn
Midhowe is a large Neolithic chambered cairn located on the south shore of the island of Rousay, Orkney, Scotland. The name "Midhowe" comes from the spectacular Bronze Age broch that lies just west of the tomb...

Rousay
Rousay
Rousay is a small, hilly island about north of Orkney's Mainland, off the north coast of Scotland, and has been nicknamed "the Egypt of the north", due to its tremendous archaeological diversity and importance....

, Orkney
3500 BC A well preserved example of the Orkney-Cromarty
Cromarty
The Royal Burgh of Cromarty is a burgh in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.-History:It was previously the county town of the former county of Cromartyshire...

 type of chambered cairn
Chambered cairn
A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable chamber was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves....

.
Tomb of the Eagles
Tomb of the Eagles
Located on at cliff edge at Isbister on South Ronaldsay in Orkney, Scotland, the Tomb of the Eagles is a Neolithic chambered tomb. First explored by Ronald Simison in 1958, he conducted his own excavations at the site in 1976...

South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay
South Ronaldsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. It is linked to the Orkney Mainland by the Churchill Barriers, running via Burray, Glimps Holm and Lamb Holm.-Geography and geology:...

, Orkney
3150 BC This chambered tomb was in use for 800 years or more. 16,000 human bones were found here, as well as 725 bird bones, predominantly White-tailed Sea Eagle.
Skara Brae
Skara Brae
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE...

Bay of Skaill
Bay of Skaill
The Bay of Skaill is a small bay on the west coast of the Orkney Mainland, Scotland.-Visitor attractions:Bay of Skaill is the location of the famous Neolithic settlement, Skara Brae, and a large residence, Skaill House, the property of the laird on whose estate Skara Brae was discovered...

, Mainland Orkney
3100 BC A large stone-built Neolithic village Mainland, Orkney, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 3180 BC–2500 BC. Europe's most complete Neolithic village with a high level of preservation and sophistication.
Unstan Chambered Cairn
Unstan Chambered Cairn
Unstan is a Neolithic chambered cairn located on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The tomb was built on a promontory that extends into the Loch of Stenness near the settlement of Howe and the town of Stromness...

Stenness
Stenness
Stenness is a village and parish on the Orkney Mainland in Scotland. It contains several notable prehistoric monuments including the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar.-Geography:...

, Mainland Orkney
2800-3400BC An Orkney-Cromarty chambered cairn.
Maeshowe
Maeshowe
Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The monuments around Maeshowe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney...

Stenness, Mainland Orkney 2700 BC A large and unique chambered cairn
Chambered cairn
A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable chamber was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves....

 and passage grave
Passage grave
thumb|250px|right|A simple passage tomb in [[Carrowmore]] near [[Sligo]] in IrelandA passage grave or passage tomb consists of a narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone. Megaliths are usually used in the construction of passage tombs, which...

, aligned so that its central chamber is illuminated on the winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...

.
Jarlshof
Jarlshof
Jarlshof is the best known prehistoric archaeological site in Shetland, Scotland. It lies near the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland and has been described as "one of the most remarkable archaeological sites ever excavated in the British Isles"...

Sumburgh
Sumburgh Head
Sumburgh Head is located at the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland in northernScotland. The head is a 100 m high rocky spur capped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. The Old Norse name was Dunrøstar høfdi, it means "The Head onto the Thunderous Noise", referring to the noise of Sumburgh Roost...

, Shetland
200 BC
200 BC
Year 200 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximus and Cotta...

A complex of preserved wheelhouses
Wheelhouse (archaeology)
In archaeology, a wheelhouse is a prehistoric structure from the Iron Age found in Scotland. The term was first coined after the discovery of a ruined mound in 1855. The distinctive architectural form related to the complex roundhouses, constitute the main settlement type in the Western Isles, in...

, amongst the remains of a variety of much older and more recent buildings.
Broch of Mousa Mousa
Mousa
Mousa is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petrel breeding colonies.-Geography:...

, Shetland
1st century BC Located on a small island in Shetland, this is the best preserved of numerous broch
Broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs include some of the most sophisticated examples of drystone architecture ever created, and belong to the classification "complex Atlantic Roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s....

s from this period.
Temple of Claudius (Colchester Castle)
Colchester Castle
Colchester Castle in Colchester, Essex is an example of a largely complete Norman castle. It is a Grade I listed building.-Construction:At one and a half times the size of the Tower of London's White Tower, Colchester's keep is the largest ever built in Britain and the largest surviving example in...

Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

60
60
Year 60 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Afer...

 (circa)
The substantial podium and vaults are of the Roman temple
Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples are among the most visible archaeological remains of Roman culture, and are a significant source for Roman architecture. Their construction and maintenance was a major part of ancient Roman religion. The main room housed the cult image of the deity to whom the temple was...

 (of Camulodunum, capital of Britain) . The Norman castle above dates from c.1076.
Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre Caerleon
Caerleon
Caerleon is a suburban village and community, situated on the River Usk in the northern outskirts of the city of Newport, South Wales. Caerleon is a site of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress, Isca Augusta, and an Iron Age hill fort...

, Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire
Monmouthshire is a county in south east Wales. The name derives from the historic county of Monmouthshire which covered a much larger area. The largest town is Abergavenny. There are many castles in Monmouthshire .-Historic county:...

90
90
Year 90 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Nerva...

 (circa)
Painted House Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

200
200
Year 200 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus...

 (circa)
Also one of the best preserved Roman houses in Britain
Beehive cells Eileach an Naoimh
Eileach an Naoimh
Eileach an Naoimh, also known as Holy Isle, is an uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland. It is the southernmost of the Garvellachs archipelago and lies in Firth of Lorne between Mull and Argyll. The name is Gaelic for "rocky place of the saint".About 542, St...

, Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...

6th century? The monastic centre on this island was founded by St. Brendan the Navigator in 542. The oldest remains include a double beehive cell and a grave and cross-slab associated with Eithne the mother of Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...

. These are the oldest extant church buildings in Scotland and possibly Britain.
Church of St Peter-on-the-Wall Bradwell-on-Sea
Bradwell-on-Sea
Bradwell-on-Sea is a village in Essex, England. The village is on the Dengie peninsula. It is located about north-northeast of Southminster and is east from the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the District of Maldon in the parliamentary constituency of Maldon whose boundaries were...

, Essex
654
654
Year 654 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 654 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Rhodes is invaded by an Arab force;...

The Chapel is assumed to be that of "Ythanceaster" (Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...

, book III, chapter XXII), originally constructed as an Anglo-Celtic Church for the East Saxons in 654 AD by St Cedd, astride the ruins of the abandoned Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 fort of Othona
Othona
Othona or Othonae was the name of an ancient Roman fort of the Saxon Shore at the location of the modern village Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, England...

 incorporating the Roman bricks and stones.
Escomb Church
Escomb Church
Escomb Saxon Church is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon churches in England, located in Escomb, approximately 2.5 km to the west of Bishop Auckland, County Durham.-History:...

Escomb
Escomb
Escomb is a village on the River Wear about west of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England. Escomb was a civil parish until 1960, when it and a number of other civil parishes in the area were dissolved.-Parish church:...

, County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

670
670
Year 670 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 670 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* On the death of his brother Clotaire,...

Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...

Ripon
Ripon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...

, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

672
672
Year 672 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 672 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Wamba succeeds Reccaswinth as king of the...

Only the Crypt survives at all - the earliest part of Cathedral itself is 1069
Hexham Abbey
Hexham Abbey
Hexham Abbey is a place of Christian worship dedicated to St Andrew and located in the town of Hexham, Northumberland, in northeast England. Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, the Abbey has been the parish church of Hexham.-History:...

Hexham
Hexham
Hexham is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, located south of the River Tyne, and was the administrative centre for the Tynedale district from 1974 to 2009. The three major towns in Tynedale were Hexham, Prudhoe and Haltwhistle, although in terms of population, Prudhoe was...

, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

674
674
Year 674 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 674 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* In Korea, Anapji was constructed by order of...

St. Wilfred's 7th-century crypt survives, built largely out of stones from the Roman city at Corbridge. The main part of the abbey church dates to the 12th and 13th centuries.
St Peter's Church
St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth
St Peter's Church is the parish church of Monkwearmouth in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. It is one of three churches that make up the Parish of Monkwearmouth; the others being All Saints Church and St Andrew's Church, Roker....

Monkwearmouth
Monkwearmouth
Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bishopwearmouth and Sunderland, the area now known as the East End. It includes the area around St. Peter's Church...

, Sunderland
City of Sunderland
The City of Sunderland is a local government district of Tyne and Wear, in North East England, with the status of a city and metropolitan borough...

674
St Paul's Church
Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey
Wearmouth-Jarrow is a twin-foundation English monastery, located on the River Wear in Sunderland and the River Tyne at Jarrow respectively, in the Kingdom of Northumbria . Its formal name is The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Wearmouth-Jarrow...

Jarrow
Jarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...

, Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...

680
680
Year 680 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 680 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* The Bulgars subjugate the country of...

The Saxon chancel survives.
St Laurence's Church
St Laurence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon
St Laurence's Church, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, is one of relatively few surviving Saxon churches in England that does not show later medieval alteration or rebuilding....

Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon
Bradford on Avon is a town in west Wiltshire, England with a population of about 9,326. The town's canal, historic buildings, shops, pubs and restaurants make it popular with tourists....

, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

7th century
All Saints Church
All Saints' Church, Brixworth
All Saints' Church, Brixworth, in Northamptonshire is an outstanding example of early Anglo-Saxon architecture located in central England, and has been called "perhaps the most imposing architectural memorial of the 7th century yet surviving north of the Alps"...

Brixworth
Brixworth
Brixworth is a village and civil parish in the Daventry district of Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 5,162. The village is particularly notable for All Saints' Church, Brixworth, its historic Anglo-Saxon church....

, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

650-870
Greensted Church
Greensted Church
Greensted Church, in the small village of Greensted, near Chipping Ongar in Essex, England, is the oldest wooden church in the world, and probably the oldest wooden building in Europe still standing, albeit only in part, since few sections of its original wooden structure remain...

Greensted
Greensted
Greensted-juxta-Ongar is a village in Essex, England, strung out along the Greensted Road approximately one mile to the west of Chipping Ongar.-Naming:...

, Essex
845
845
Year 845 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* March 28 – Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collect a huge ransom in exchange for leaving.* The Vikings also sack Hamburg and Melun.* November 22 – Count of Vannes,...

The oldest wooden building in England
St Nicholas' Church, Leicester Leicester, Leicestershire 900
900
Year 900 was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* April 21 – Namwaran and his children, Lady Angkatan and Bukah, are granted pardon by the Datu of Tondo, as represented Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pila, which released them of all their debts as inscribed in the...

 (circa)
St Mary's Church
Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting
The Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, also known as St Mary the Virgin Church and St Mary's Church, is the Church of England parish church of Sompting in the Adur district of West Sussex. It stands on a rural lane north of the urban area that now surrounds the village, and retains much 11th-...

Sompting
Sompting
Sompting is a village and civil parish in the Adur District of West Sussex, England, located between Lancing and Worthing, at the foot of the southern slope of the South Downs. Twentieth century development has linked it to Lancing. The civil parish covers an area of 10.35 square kilometres and has...

, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

960
960
Year 960 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Edgar the Peaceable is crowned King of England. Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury and Edgar's chief adviser. He reforms monasteries and enforces the rule of Saint Benedict: Poverty, Chastity and Obedience for...

 (circa)
Holy Trinity Church, Colchester, Essex 1020 Oldest building in Colchester, which has an Anglo Saxon tower with an arrow head doorway. Burial place of William Gilbert and madrigal composer John Wilbye
John Wilbye
John Wilbye , was an English madrigal composer. The son of a tanner, he was born at Brome, Suffolk, near Diss, and received the patronage of the Cornwallis family. It is thought that he accompanied Elizabeth Cornwallis to Hengrave Hall near Bury St...

. Grade 1 listed building.
St Michael at the North Gate Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

1040 The tower dates from 1040. Oxford's oldest building.
St.Chads Church Stafford
Stafford
Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...

, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

1050
Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter at Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon in South West England....

Exeter
Exeter
Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...

1050 Historians suggest that this could be even AD 690
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle
Norwich Castle is a medieval royal fortification in the city of Norwich, in the English county of Norfolk. It was founded in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest of England when William the Conqueror ordered its construction because he wished to have a fortified place in the important city of...

Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

, East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

1067
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....

Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

, Kent
1070 Founded in 597
Richmond Castle
Richmond Castle
Richmond Castle in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, stands in a commanding position above the River Swale, close to the centre of the town of Richmond. It was originally called Riche Mount, 'the strong hill'...

Richmond
Richmond, North Yorkshire
Richmond is a market town and civil parish on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, England and is the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. It is situated on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and serves as the Park's main tourist centre...

, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...

Constructed from 1071
Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

1078
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...

Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely, Cambridgeshire
Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...

1083
Shrewsbury Abbey
Shrewsbury Abbey
The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1083 by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery, in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England.-Background:...

Shrewsbury, Shropshire 1083
St Albans Cathedral
St Albans Cathedral
St Albans Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral church at St Albans, England. At , its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England...

St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

1089
St Nicholas Church Iford, East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

c. 1090
Durham Cathedral
Durham Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...

Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...

1093
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire is one of the largest cathedrals in England, with the longest nave and overall length of any Gothic cathedral in Europe...

Winchester, Hampshire 1093
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral is a cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Formerly a Catholic church, it has belonged to the Church of England since the English Reformation....

Norwich, Norfolk 1096
Church of St Andrew, Stogursey
Church of St Andrew, Stogursey
The Church of St Andrew in Stogursey, Somerset, England which dates from the early 12th century and has been designated as a Grade I listed building....

Stogursey
Stogursey
Stogursey is the name of a small village and civil parish in the Quantock Hills in Somerset, England. It is situated from Nether Stowey, and west of Bridgwater...

, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

1107
St Margaret's Chapel Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

1124
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle
Rochester Castle stands on the east bank of the River Medway in Rochester, Kent, England. The 12th-century keep or stone tower, which is the castle's most prominent feature, is one of the best preserved in England or France. Located along the River Medway and Watling Street, Rochester was a...

Rochester, Kent 1127
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. The bishopric is second oldest in England after Canterbury...

Rochester, Kent 1130
Dover Priory
Dover Priory
The Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Martin of the New Work, or Newark, commonly called Dover Priory, was a priory at Dover in southeast England...

Dover, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

1131 One of the oldest monastic Refectories, still in use today by Dover College
Dover College
Dover College is a co-educational independent school in Dover in southeast England. It was founded in 1871, and takes both day pupils and boarders....

Kirkstead Abbey
Kirkstead Abbey
Kirkstead Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Kirkstead, Lincolnshire, England.The monastery was founded in 1139 by Hugh Brito, , lord of Tattershall, and was originally colonised by an abbot and twelve monks from Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire...

Kirkstead
Kirkstead
Kirkstead is an ancient village and former parish on the River Witham in Lincolnshire, England. It was amalgamated with the civil parish of Woodhall Spa in 1987.-History:...

, Woodhall Spa
Woodhall Spa
Woodhall Spa is a civil parish and village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England within a wooded area on the Southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, about south-west of Horncastle and about east-south-east of Lincoln...

, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

1139 (founded) Destroyed during the reformation; only a single part remains
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle
Cardiff Castle is a medieval castle and Victorian architecture Gothic revival mansion, transformed from a Norman keep erected over a Roman fort in the Castle Quarter of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The Castle is a Grade I Listed Building.-The Roman fort:...

Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

1140 (circa) The existing Great Keep was built by Robert "the Consul"
Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester
Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England. He was called "Rufus" and occasionally "de Caen", he is also known as Robert "the Consul"...

.
Birkenhead Priory
Birkenhead Priory
Birkenhead Priory is in Priory Street, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the oldest standing building on Merseyside. The remains of the priory are a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument...

Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

, Wirral
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 311,200, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of...

1150
Jew's House
Jew's House
The Jew's House is one of the earliest extant town houses in England. It lies on Steep Hill in Lincoln, immediately below Jew's Court.Dating from the mid-twelfth century, the building originally consisted of a hall at first floor level, measuring approximately 12 by 6 metres, above service and...

Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

c. 1150
Adel St John the Baptist Church Adel, Leeds
Adel, Leeds
Adel is a suburb in North Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Cookridge, Holt Park, Weetwood and Alwoodley. To the north are the villages of Arthington and Bramhope and the market town of Otley...

, Yorkshire
1150
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

Windsor
Windsor, Berkshire
Windsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....

, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

1154
Bradwell Abbey
Bradwell Abbey
Bradwell Abbey or Bradwell Priory is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, urban studies site, district and civil parish in Milton Keynes, ceremonial Buckinghamshire, England. The site was once the location of a Benedictine priory, founded in 1155....

Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...

, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

1155 The Grade 1 Listed Chapel still remains, the inside of the Chapel is often open to the public
Saltford Manor House
Saltford Manor House
The Saltford Manor House is a stone house in Saltford, Somerset, near Bath, that is thought to be the oldest continuously occupied private house in England, and has been designated as a Grade II* listed building....

Saltford
Saltford
Saltford is a large village and civil parish in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority, Somerset, England. It lies between the cities of Bristol and Bath....

, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

c. 1160
Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, was founded as a Benedictine monastery around 676 by the scholar-poet Aldhelm, a nephew of King Ine of Wessex. In 941 AD, King Athelstan was buried in the Abbey. By the 11th century it contained the second largest library in Europe and was...

Malmesbury
Malmesbury
Malmesbury is a market town and civil parish located in the southern Cotswolds in the county of Wiltshire, England. Historically Malmesbury was a centre for learning and home to Malmesbury Abbey...

, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

c. 1180 About a third of the original building remains, and is still in use
Cleeve Abbey
Cleeve Abbey
Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery located near the village of Washford, in Somerset, England. The abbey was founded in the late twelfth century as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. Over its 350-year monastic history Cleeve was undistinguished amongst the abbeys of its order,...

Washford
Washford
Washford is a small village on the Washford River in the English county of Somerset. It is within the civil parish of Old Cleeve and is best known as the site of Cleeve Abbey, one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in England...

, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

1198
Aberdour Castle
Aberdour Castle
Aberdour Castle is located in the village of Easter Aberdour, Fife, Scotland. Parts of the castle date from around 1200, making Aberdour one of the two oldest datable standing castles in Scotland, along with Castle Sween in Argyll, which was built at around the same time.The earliest part of the...

Aberdour
Aberdour
Aberdour is a scenic and historic village on the south coast of Fife, Scotland. It is on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, looking south to the island of Inchcolm and its Abbey, and to Leith and Edinburgh beyond. According to the 2006 population estimate, the village has a population of...

, Fife
Fife
Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

c. 1200 Base of a late 12th or early 13th century hall house incorporated into later buildings
Easaigh Church Ensay
Ensay, Outer Hebrides
Ensay is a currently unpopulated island in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The island lies in the Sound of Harris between the islands of Harris and Berneray...

, Na h-Eileanan Siar
Outer Hebrides
The Outer Hebrides also known as the Western Isles and the Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of Scotland. The islands are geographically contiguous with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland...

12th century
St. Leonard's Without
St. Leonard's Without
The church of St Leonard’s Without is a small and ancient chapel built between 1230 and 1240 in the parish of Kirkstead, Lincolnshire. It is an excellent example of the Early English style and even though measuring only by it is up to “Cathedral standards” of construction and may well have been...

Kirkstead, Woodhall Spa
Woodhall Spa
Woodhall Spa is a civil parish and village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England within a wooded area on the Southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, about south-west of Horncastle and about east-south-east of Lincoln...

, Lincolnshire
1230-40
Icomb Place
Icomb Place
Icomb Place is a medieval manor house on the edge of the village of Icomb, near Stow on the Wold in Gloucestershire.The word "Place" in this context is thought to be a precursor of the word "Palace".-Description:...

Icomb
Icomb
Icomb is a quiet Gloucestershire village in the Cotswolds, close to Stow on the Wold, with typical Cotswold stone cottages, and the parish church of St Mary the Virgin which was built in the mid 13th century. The tomb of Sir John Blaket, a knight who fought with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt,...

, Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

At least 1200-40 The first documented activity in the house, was a "restoration" in 1200. The Episcopal manor of Blockley owned the estate in 1086
York Castle
York Castle
York Castle in the city of York, England, is a fortified complex comprising, over the last nine centuries, a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings on the south side of the River Foss. The now-ruinous keep of the medieval Norman castle is sometimes referred to as Clifford's...

York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

, Yorkshire
1265
Tintern Abbey
Tintern Abbey
Tintern Abbey was founded by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow, on 9 May 1131. It is situated in the village of Tintern, on the Welsh bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire, which forms the border between Monmouthshire in Wales and Gloucestershire in England. It was only the second Cistercian...

Tintern
Tintern
Tintern is a village on the west bank of the River Wye in Monmouthshire, Wales, close to the border with England, about 5 miles north of Chepstow...

, Gwent
Gwent
-Places:*Kingdom of Gwent, a post-Roman Welsh kingdom or principality which existed in various forms between about the 5th and 11th centuries, although the name continued in use later....

1269-1301 The existing ruins of the great church date from this period.
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