What is a Listing and What Does it Cover?

Listing is used to describe the different types of protection for heritage included on the National Heritage List for England (the NHLE), which includes Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments, Registered Parks & Gardens, Protected Wreck Sites and Registered Battlefields. 

All list entries include a 'list description' of the building; however, this is only intended to aid identification and in some instances can be very short and may only mention the front of the building. In fact, the listed status of a building actually includes all of the internal and external fabric of the building. The absence of any feature of the building from the list description does not indicate that it is of no architectural or historic interest or that it may be removed or altered without consent.

Also protected is:

• Any object or structure fixed to the listed buildings and any structure (built before 1948) within the grounds (officially called the 'curtilage') of the listed building
• Curtilage is not defined by boundaries
• Curtilage listed buildings can include outbuildings, garden walls and other boundary structures, gates and, in some cases, even brick paths and terraces and statuary

Once a building is listed, changes which might affect its special interest have to be managed through the planning system.

We can advise you whether or not your outbuilding or structure is curtilage listed.