Grade I:
'Buildings of exceptional interest' 3 per cent - usually cathedrals and great country houses.

The mausoleum on Stone Road is Stoke-on-Trent's only grade I listed building. It was built in 1808  for the Marquis of Stafford. It was used as the last resting place for of members of the Levison-Gower family.

Grade II*:
'Particularly important buildings of more than special interest' 5 per cent - typically a good manor house or something early or with good interior features.

There are about 17 grade II* listed buildings in the city, some are being restored such as the Bethesda Methodist Church in Hanley.

Others are in fair condition such as the Wedgwood Memorial Institute in Burslem. 

Others are in a very sad state of neglect in spite of local attempts to have them restored, such as the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Hanley.

Grade II:
'Buildings of special interest which warrant every effort to preserve them' 92 per cent.

Over 180 buildings in the Potteries are listed - ranging from mile posts, a Saxon preaching cross to pottery bottle kilns.

Conservation Areas:
There are some 8,000 conservation areas, designated by the local authorities and carrying similar restrictions to listed buildings. on the conservation areas in the Potteries.

Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAM's): 17,700 structures of archaeological interest, such as standing stones.

The SAM's in Stoke-on-Trent are:

Hulton Abbey, Lawn Farm Moat, Saxon Cross, Etruscan Mill and Chatterley Whitfield Colliery.

And it's not just buildings that are listed.

Did you know that throughout the country there are some 52 garden sheds, 35 fishponds, one racing-pigeon loft, 3,800 mileposts and stones, 11 army camps, 9 skating rinks, 2,195 telephone boxes, 489 pigsties, 663 lavatories, 192 post boxes, 982 lamp posts, two ventilation shafts (in the Blackwall Tunnel) and two petrol pumps listed.