It is estimated that:
- There are 16,151 Church of England parish churches in England. Approximately 13,000 (80%) of these are listed buildings.
- There are 2,765 Catholic parish churches and 700 other Catholic churches and chapels open to the public.625 (18%) of these are listed buildings.
- There are 5,312 Methodist chapels in England. 541 (10%) of these are listed buildings.
- There are 1,115 United Reformed Churches in England. 290 (26%) are listed buildings.
- There are 1,809 churches within the Baptist Union Corporation, of which 283 (16%) are listed buildings.
- There are 30 listed synagogues in England.
- There is one purpose built mosque listed so far, the grade II* Shah Jehan Mosque in Oriental Road,Woking and several others now in historic buildings listed for other reasons.
4,200 Church of England parish churches are grade I listed.This constitutes 45% of all grade I listed buildings.
Surveys in 2003 and 2005 showed that 86% of the population visited a place of worship in the previous 12 months, for reasons ranging from worship to concerts or simply wanting a quiet space.(ORB)
Parish churches are the most easily visited type of historic building
Legally, Church of England Parochial Church Councils and Churchwardens directly manage, repair and maintain each of their buildings.This means that the buildings are the responsibility of their congregations and local communities.
The burden of looking after England's Anglican churches falls on 32,000 church wardens and 50,000 to 100,000 secretaries, treasurers and members of Parochial Church Councils, none of whom are paid.
Four rural counties, Lincolnshire, Herefordshire, Norfolk and Cumbria, have 1% of England's population but 12% of England's grade I listed Anglican churches.
One quarter of listed Methodist chapels have a registered membership of 15 or fewer.
In 2005 46% of the population thought central taxation, local taxation, the National Lottery or English Heritage should be primarily responsible for funding the maintenance of church buildings. (ORB 2005)