Listed buildings and curtilage

Written by Jonathan Thompson. First published on 3 Apr 2017, and most recently revised on 30 Mar 2022.

‘Curtilage listing’ can invisibly extend listed building protection to other surrounding buildings and structures, even if they are not mentioned in the official list description. For obvious reasons this can cause considerable confusion for owners and local authorities, confusion exacerbated by a lack of guidance and an inaccurate but widely-promulgated view that ‘curtilage listing’ is impossibly complicated. This has become a standard criticism of listed building legislation and of the heritage protection system as a whole. In 2016, after many years of CLA and other lobbying, Historic England published advice on this which for the first time clarified what 'curtilage listing' covers and what it does not. In early 2017 however HE withdrew its advice and consulted on a watered-down version. This CLA response stresses the importance of clear advice from Historic England, both on whether or not a structure is a curtilage structure, and the implications if it is.

Key contact:

Jonathan Thompson Senior Heritage Adviser, London