Houses near the green
Hasted placed the village in the south of the parish, with the church on its north side and Hall Place a short distance away. We read the roof house by house, not by street.
Tiled village roofs near a green
Roofers in Leigh, Kent
Village roofs around the green, the church and the river Medway.
Leigh is a Weald village of 1,106 people at the 2021 Census, with its own conservation area and a Grade II* church. Every roof is surveyed first, and the price arrives once, in writing.
Around Leigh green and the Medway
The Forge Square row
Numbers 1 to 7 Forge Square are listed Grade II, as is the British Legion Hall. On a listed roof, the council is asked before anything alters the building's character.
A terrace of older tiled cottages
Low ground by the river
In 1797 Hasted wrote that the lower parts beside the river were much subject to flooding. Roofs there pass a lot of rain to the ground, so gutters and downpipes get a proper look.
Gutter and downpipe at the eaves
Leigh, a Weald village across the Kent border
Map of Leigh, Kent and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Leigh lies east of Crawley, a Weald village west of Tonbridge near the river Medway, with the church above the village.
- Distance
- 23.6 road miles from Crawley, to the east
- Drive
- About 44 minutes
- Council
- Sevenoaks District Council and Kent County Council
- Planning authority
- Sevenoaks District Council
- Conservation area
- Leigh
- Population
- 1,106 (Census 2021, Leigh built-up area)
- Listed church
- St Mary, Grade II* (national list entry 1258950)
Leigh village notes
What a Leigh roof can tell you before work starts
Three chapters: what the village record suggests, how a conservation area and listed neighbours shape a repair, and how Kent treats scaffold on the highway.
Stage 01 · First look
A pasture village with a green
Leigh's name comes from a Saxon word for pasture, and its roofs sit beside a green, a church and a river.
Some of the written record of Leigh is useful to a roofer. Hasted, writing in 1797, noted that the name was also spelled Lyghe or West Leigh and came from the Saxon word leaga, meaning pasture. He placed the village in the south of the parish, with the church on its north side and Hall Place a short distance off, and he put Lyghe green about half a mile to the west, above the former upper part of Penshurst park. That layout is still how people describe the place, and it tells us to expect a spread of houses of different ages rather than one estate built to a single pattern.
Survey points for Leigh homes
- Tiles
- Cracked, slipped or lifted by frost
- Ridge
- Bedding firm, caps fixed down
- Eaves
- Gutters flowing, fascia sound
- Valleys
- Open and free of leaf litter
- Loft
- Rafters dry, no gaps to the sky
What does an old Kent village mean for a roof survey?
It means we do not assume. A cottage beside the green and a house built later on the edge can have little in common, so each survey starts with the covering, the pitch, the ridge, which runs along the apex, the verge (where the roof ends at a gable wall) and the loft timbers. Research from the Building Research Establishment credits clay tile with a minimum life expectancy of 60 years, while for old peg tile the same number is not dependable. For slate, a published conservation guide says well-maintained slate can reach 100+ years. Treat both as typical lives and nothing more, because the photographs we take of your roof say more about its condition than its age does.
Why do gutters get a look first near the Medway?
Hasted recorded a stiff loam soil, and in 1797 the lower ground by the river was much subject to flooding. That is history, not a forecast, but it points to something practical: a Leigh roof can shed a lot of water, and where that water goes matters. A downpipe that empties against a wall, or a gutter sagging between brackets, soaks the brickwork and the foot of the wall. We check the fascia, the board fixed to the rafter ends that carries the gutter, the soffit under it and the outlets, because a roof can be perfect and still cause damp below. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page sets out what we look at.
Keep reading
None of this needs a new roof to put right. Much of it is a morning's work from a safe platform, and the written price after the survey names the jobs it covers, so nothing is added to the bill once the ladder is up.
Stage 02 · Permissions
A conservation area around St Mary's
Part of Leigh lies in the Leigh conservation area, and the church and several buildings are listed, so permission questions come up early.
The national dataset places part of Leigh in the Leigh conservation area, and the planning authority is Sevenoaks District Council. St Mary's church holds a Grade II* listing, dated 10 September 1954. Numbers 1 to 7 Forge Square carry a Grade II listing, as does the British Legion Hall. Whether your own house sits inside the boundary or is listed itself is worth confirming with Sevenoaks before any work is booked, because the answer decides which steps come first and how long they take.
Does a Leigh conservation area change a like-for-like repair?
Planning law has a long-standing exception for repairs that leave a building looking materially the same from outside, set out in section 55(2)(a) of the 1990 Act. Fitting tiles of the same size, colour and profile sits comfortably inside it. Changing the material, adding a rooflight or altering the line of the roof is where an application may be needed. Our answer on re-roofing a listed building explains how those questions are normally put to the council.
Words you may meet
- Listing
- Official record of special historic interest
- Grade II*
- Listed grade above Grade II
- Faculty
- How a parish church gets work approved
- Matching repair
- Same tile, size, colour and fixing
What about a listed cottage on Forge Square?
Listed building consent is the permission that applies before any alteration affecting a listed building's special character, and a roof forms part of that character. The council decides what counts, and that is not a call a roofer can make for you. What we can do is describe the roof exactly: tile type, number of courses, ridge treatment, the lead around chimneys and how the eaves are finished. With those details on paper, a conversation with the planning officers is quicker, and a matching repair is easier to specify down to the last fixing.
The church is a separate case. St Mary's still serves as an Anglican parish church, which puts its approvals in the diocese's faculty system rather than with listed building consent. Church roofs follow a different path from house roofs, and the notes from your own call to Sevenoaks District Council belong alongside your written price, where they stay easy to find if a neighbour or a later buyer asks what was agreed.
Ask the council before you order, and keep its answer with your survey photographs.
It also helps to know that a conservation area is a question about appearance, not about whether a leak can be fixed. A slipped tile, a failed ridge bedding or a blocked valley can be put right quickly in matching materials, and an active leak is made safe first, while the wider questions wait for answers.
Stage 03 · On site
Kent scaffold licences and Sevenoaks sign-off
Kent County Council runs the licensing, and its guidance says the scaffolding company is the one to apply.
Much of the roofwork in a village like Leigh happens from a scaffold standing on someone's own land, and that needs no licence at all. The rules begin when poles or a tower stand beside the lane, so it is worth knowing how Kent handles them before a date is fixed.
Who applies for the licence on a Leigh lane?
Kent's published guidance puts the application in the scaffolding firm's hands, not the householder's: the firm should be registered to apply on your behalf. Kent asks for 5 working days between submission and the planned start. Its charge for a seven-day permit in 2026 to 2027 is £52, with a site inspection fee of £78 if one is judged necessary. Those are Kent's own figures for this year, so have the scaffolder confirm what applies to your lane. A quote that includes scaffolding and VAT is easier to weigh against another that does the same.
Before a Leigh job starts
- Planning
- Sevenoaks District Council
- Building control
- Sevenoaks District Council
- Highway licence
- Kent County Council, scaffolder applies
- Notice
- 5 working days before the start
- Fee
- £52 per week in 2026 to 2027
When would a Leigh re-roof need building control?
For roof work the Planning Portal draws the line at 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof: below both, a building control application is not normally needed. Heavier coverings change this. A new covering whose weight rose by 15 per cent or more would need approval, and the Planning Portal also advises talking to a structural engineer or surveyor beforehand. Sevenoaks District Council has its own building control pages, so ask there about your job. Where the survey shows the whole covering has done its time, our roof replacement page describes how a re-roof runs day by day.
Older village houses raise the question of wildlife too. Every bat species is protected by law, roosts included, and GOV.UK names roof repair among activities that may affect bats. Should the survey show droppings or a likely roost, the job waits while next steps are agreed with you, and we would rather lose a day than disturb a colony.
Whatever the size of job, you are told what each day holds, scaffold or ladders go up in a sensible place and the rubbish leaves with us. For a first step, send one clear photograph of whatever is bothering you on the roof, plus your Leigh postcode, and mention whether the house is listed.
Pitched, flat and roofline work in Leigh, Kent
Roof, listing and licence questions in Leigh
What should I check on a Leigh, Kent roof that sits low, near the Medway?
Look at where the water leaves the roof. Hasted wrote that in 1797 the lower ground by the river was much subject to flooding, so check that gutters run freely, downpipes discharge clear of walls and the fascia is sound. A roof can be intact and still leave damp below, which is why our survey follows the water all the way to the ground.
Can a listed Leigh cottage have its roof repaired without consent?
The council decides, not the roofer. A repair in matching tile, ridge and lead may leave the building's character as it was, but ask Sevenoaks District Council's planning officers in writing before work begins. Our survey photographs come with a written account of the roof, so their answer concerns the roof you actually own and not a guess.
Is the scaffolder or the householder responsible for a Kent highway licence?
Kent's guidance names the scaffolding company, which should be registered to apply for the customer. Kent wants the application in 5 working days ahead of the planned start, and the permit costs £52 per week for 2026 to 2027. Poles standing wholly inside your boundary, in a front garden or on a drive, fall outside the highway rules, though the scaffolder will still want to plan access and a safe place for materials.
What does a roof survey cover on an older house in Leigh?
We look at the covering, the ridge and verge, the valleys, the flashings around chimneys, the gutters and fascia, and the loft timbers from inside. You receive photographs of your own roof, an explanation of what each fault means and one written total price. Where patching beats replacing, the survey says so plainly, and if a repair is all the roof needs the written price covers only that.
One written price for your Leigh roof
Photograph whatever looks wrong up there, tell us if the house carries a listing, and send both with your Leigh postcode.