Roofs in a Darent valley village below the Kent Downs.
Brasted stands on the Westerham road between the North Downs and the greensand ridge, with a conservation area and listed buildings. We climb up, photograph what is there, and write one price.
Grade II entries include 1-5 Elliots Lane and 1-5 Rectory Lane. Where work would change how a listed roof looks or behaves, listed building consent comes first, so we study the roof and explain what a matching repair involves.
Old tiled roof beside a chimney
The Brasted High Street conservation area takes in some of the village, not all. Ask Sevenoaks District Council about your address before changing a covering, and we will copy the tiles, ridge and edge details already up there.
Clay tiles on a village roof
Brasted lies inside the Kent Downs National Landscape. Mending a roof so it looks the same is one question; fitting a roof window or dormer is another, and the planning team should hear about that before you order.
Pitched roof with a roof window
Map of Brasted and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Brasted sits on the Westerham road in the Darent valley, between the North Downs and the greensand ridge, a village rather than a town.
Our Brasted notebook
Three chapters on the village and its setting, the protected places that shape a roof job here, and the Kent and Sevenoaks rules that arrive when a small repair turns into something bigger.
Stage 01 · Setting
Brasted lies on the Westerham road between chalk hills and sand hills, in a parish Hasted called long and narrow. Each roof is read afresh.
Brasted is a village in the Darent valley, on the road to Westerham. Hasted, writing in 1797, placed it midway between the chalk hills and the sand hills, with the river Darent flowing about a quarter of a mile to the south. He thought the name came from the parish's long, narrow shape and noted that it is nowhere more than a mile wide. In his day a large tract of rough, woody waste called Brasted Chart common stretched about two miles south from Brasted Place to the sand hill.
From the ladder and the loft
A village with that much history has no single roof type. Cottages, terraces and larger houses stand close together, and each has its own age, covering and repair record, so we begin with the survey and not with an assumption. We go up on a ladder or an access tower and photograph the tiles, the ridge, the verges and the valleys. Here is what those words mean. The ridge runs along the very top where two slopes meet. The verge is where the roof stops at the side of a gable wall. A valley is the inward fold where two slopes join and shed water. From the loft we study the battens, the timber laths the tiles hang from, and the underlay, the membrane laid beneath them. You then receive the photos and one written price.
Age alone settles nothing. We check whether tiles have slipped, split or lost their nibs, whether the mortar at the ridge and verge has crumbled, and whether the flashing, the metal strip that seals a roof against a chimney or wall, is still tight. In the loft we look for daylight, damp timber and blocked airways at the eaves. A roof can be old and sound, or newer and failing, and the photos show which you have. If the covering is tired across a whole slope, our roof replacement page explains how a re-roof runs. If only a few tiles have gone, pitched roofing covers the repair.
Before work starts you also get a plan for the days ahead: where the access goes, where tiles and waste are kept, and when the crew expects to arrive each morning. A village street has neighbours close by, so we say in advance when something noisy or large is coming. If a delivery needs the road for a short while, you hear about it first.
Stage 02 · Protected places
Part of Brasted lies in the Brasted High Street conservation area, and listed buildings stand on Elliots Lane, Rectory Lane and the High Street.
The national conservation area dataset records a Brasted High Street area, and it covers only part of the village. Sevenoaks District Council publishes the boundary, and the quickest way to be sure is to ask its planning team about your address. Historic England's list names several Grade II entries here: 1-5 Elliots Lane, 1-5 Rectory Lane, and a High Street group made up of 17 High Street, Kent Cottage, Cromers Cottage, the House and the Shop.
Putting back the same tile, the same ridge and the same fixings falls outside the definition of development, as long as the building's external appearance is not materially affected. That is our starting point, and it is why the existing covering is photographed closely before anything is priced. Listed building consent is a separate matter. It is required for work that would alter the character of a listed building, so a listed roof deserves a question to the council before a date is fixed. A conservation area adds scrutiny wherever the look of a roof is going to change. Our post on planning permission for roof work covers the planning side, including what shifts on protected land.
Words you will meet
Part of Brasted lies in the conservation area, so check your own address first.
Brasted sits inside the Kent Downs National Landscape, and the planning rules treat that designation as protected land. For a repair that leaves the roof as it is today, the practical effect is small. It starts to matter once the plan involves new glazing in the slope, a dormer, or a change of tile. Then the council's planning team is your first call, and our photos and written price give it something concrete to read. Bring the roof's outline, pitch and covering to that conversation, because the council will ask what is being changed and by how much.
On a listed or conservation-area roof we also note what makes the existing covering distinctive: the tile colour and texture, any hand-made irregularity, how the ridge and hips are finished, and how the roof meets the eaves. That record lets a repair blend in, and it gives the council a record of what was there before the work.
Old roofs also carry leadwork around chimneys, walls and valleys. Our lead work page shows how we repair or renew it so the finished roof matches what was there before, and the lead is dressed neatly to the tiles around it.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Sevenoaks District Council handles planning and building control, while Kent County Council sets the terms for scaffold on a public highway.
Swapping a handful of slipped tiles, bedding a ridge back on or relaying a valley so the roof looks as it did is everyday work, and it begins with a survey, not an application. Paperwork enters the picture once a job swells: a whole slope or more, a different covering, a new opening, or scaffold standing on a public road.
The Planning Portal's test is that a building control application is not usually required while under 25 per cent of the building envelope (the walls, floor, roof, windows and doors together) is affected and the work touches under 50 per cent of the roof itself. A new covering that weighs 15 per cent or more above the old one also needs approval. Sevenoaks District Council runs its own building control service, so on a bigger job we ask its team before pinning down a start, and the quote you receive rests on those survey findings. Moving from concrete to clay or slate alters the weight, and a heavier covering can call for stronger support underneath, which is why a structural engineer or surveyor should be consulted before work begins.
Questions to settle early
Scaffold that blocks any part of a public highway needs the highway authority's licence, and at Brasted that authority is Kent County Council. Kent says the scaffolding company should apply on behalf of the end customer, asks for applications at least 5 working days before the licence is due to begin, and lists a permit at £52 a week for 2026 to 2027. If the drive or garden has space, scaffold can stand on private land with no licence at all.
Bats are fully protected by law, and GOV.UK warns that roof repair and replacement work can affect them. Birds nesting under the eaves are protected too, since under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 deliberately removing a nest, or harming an active one or one being built, is an offence. Should the survey turn up signs of either, we stop work and discuss the next step with you.
The easiest first step is to send the road name, a garden photo of the worrying spot, and a line saying whether the house is on the heritage list or within the High Street boundary.
Yes, with care. A repair that matches the existing tiles and details is the usual starting point, but work that affects a listed building's character needs listed building consent from the council before it starts, so Sevenoaks District Council's planning team should be asked first. We survey, photograph the roof and write a price for a matching repair, and you can show the photos to the council.
Inside the Brasted High Street conservation area, matching is the safe course. Only part of Brasted lies in it, so addresses differ. Check yours with Sevenoaks District Council's planning team before you plan a change. If you are inside, tell us before the survey. We then match the tile, ridge and verge details already there, and our photos help the council see what is being kept.
Brasted is inside the Kent Downs National Landscape, which the planning rules count as protected land, so a dormer needs an application, though roof windows within the limits are treated as elsewhere. Ask the council's planning team before you order one. Repairs that keep the existing look raise a separate question, and the survey photos show the team what is already there.
Yes, if it sits on the public road or pavement. Kent County Council issues the licence, says the scaffolding company should apply for the end customer, and asks for applications 5 working days ahead of the start. Its permit is listed at £52 a week for 2026 to 2027. Private land needs no highway licence, and we plan the access at the survey.
Tell us the road, whether the house is listed, and what you can see from the garden, and we will arrange a survey.
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