Boughton Aluph · 17.2 road miles north-west
Roofers in Boughton Aluph
A parish inside the Kent Downs National Landscape, with a Grade I church, a Grade II* court and the conservation areas of two neighbouring villages a short way off. Roofs here are read with the paperwork questions in mind first, and what each one fairly needs is then set down as a single written total, with the photographs behind every stamp.
- All Saints church
- Grade I, in use for Church of England worship, so works follow the faculty route
- Boughton Court
- Grade II*, with its own listed building consent question
- Downs designation
- Kent Downs National Landscape; Ashford Borough Council still decides applications
- Scaffold on the road
- Kent County Council issues the highway licence
Court wall, gutter run, church lane: three Boughton Aluph faults and their stamps
What we found
Slipped tiles on a listed roof
What it fairly needs
Read the list entry, then ask the council.
What we found
Gutter joint dripping onto the wall
What it fairly needs
Reseal or refit the joint; keep the run.
What we found
Fascia board soft along its lower edge
What it fairly needs
New board, with the gutter refixed to it.
Send a photo of your Boughton Aluph roof with the lane it stands on
The fair ledger
A court, a church and a Downs boundary: settle these first
Boughton Aluph has two listed landmarks, a National Landscape under its feet and conservation areas in the next villages. Each entry says who decides what, then how the roof is read.
Entry 01Court and church
Boughton Court and All Saints: two listings that follow different routes
One landmark is listed Grade II* and the other Grade I, yet the people who give consent for each are not the same, and a house nearby may be neither.
Which listing, which decision
Historic England lists the Church of All Saints at Grade I (list entry 1299904) and Boughton Court at Grade II* (list entry 1362711). They sit under different regimes. All Saints still serves as a Church of England church, which means work on its roof goes through the Church of England's faculty system and not through the council. Boughton Court is listed in the ordinary way: listed building consent is needed for work that changes what makes it special, and Ashford Borough Council is the authority that grants or refuses it.
Neither listing reaches the house along the lane unless that house is separately listed, and the entry settles it, never the look of the place. So before anything is priced we ask a paper question. Is this address on the list, close to a conservation boundary, or neither? A covering that looks perfectly sound still needs the right consent when the building is a listed one, and a refusal after the work is far dearer than a question before it.
Where a photograph and a list entry seem to disagree about a chimney or a roof edge, you get both in the write-up, side by side. Our roof inspections page shows what a survey records, and pitched roofing covers the repairs and re-covers that can follow.
At a listed address
Loose tiles, covering otherwise sound
Refix, after consent
Ridge bedding crumbled, tiles dry
Rebed the ridge
Battens snapped under a whole slope
Strip and re-cover
Can a repair at a listed house start before consent arrives?
Not where the repair would change the building's character. The sensible order is to read the list entry first, put the question to Ashford Borough Council, and keep its reply with the written quote, so that nobody has paid for work that then has to be reversed. A small, like-for-like fix can be a simple answer, but the council gives it, not us.
Entry 02Downs boundary
Inside the Kent Downs, beside Boughton Lees and Wye: who decides
Boughton Aluph lies within the Kent Downs National Landscape, and the nearest conservation areas belong to the villages of Boughton Lees and Wye.
A designation is not a decision-maker
Boughton Aluph lies within the Kent Downs National Landscape, which used to be labelled an AONB. The Kent Downs team describes itself as an advisory body to the planning authorities, not a planning authority itself, so Ashford Borough Council continues to decide any application for an address here. Where one particular house sits against the boundary is a job for the map, and we look it up before the survey instead of judging by the view from the garden.
The nearest conservation areas are those of Boughton Lees and Wye. That is a fact about the neighbours, not a ruling on your road. Ashford Borough Council reports 43 conservation areas in all and holds the map, so any individual address is checked with the council. Article 4 works the same way: whether a direction touches your road is for Ashford Borough Council to confirm, so we ask rather than assume. A direction, where one exists, withdraws named permitted development rights across a defined area.
Plain repairs go ahead as normal, and the survey notes on the quote that the question was asked. Changes to the shape of a roof are set out in our planning permission guide, which is the place to look before any drawing is made.
Myth: Living in a National Landscape means the Downs team signs off every roof.
Fact: The team advises. Ashford Borough Council decides, and a plain repair goes ahead as it would anywhere in the borough.
Grade II*
Historic England's grade for Boughton Court, list entry 1362711
Reading the line end to end
We start at one gable and walk the eaves to the other. The fascia board comes first: its lower edge, its joints and the way the gutter brackets are held to it. Then the gutter itself, its falls, its joints and the outlet, because a run that holds a puddle will rot the board behind it in time. Above that the underlay should lap into the gutter and not stop short of it, and at the soffit there should be a gap for air to pass.
Each fault gets a photograph and a stamp. Repair is the first answer where a repair is sound: one dripping joint is resealed, one loose bracket is refixed. Replace is written only where a board or a run is past mending. Check marks a fault that needs a closer look, perhaps from the loft, before anything is promised.
Where a drip has marked the wall below, the stain is photographed too, since it shows where the water has been landing and for how long the fault has been there. The written quote then gives one total for the whole job, with each photograph kept beside its stamp, so you can compare the picture with the verdict before agreeing to anything. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page covers the work in more detail.
Entry 03Eaves line
From fascia to gutter outlet: the Boughton Aluph eaves read in order
The eaves line is where the roof hands its water to the gutter, so a survey here walks it end to end and stamps each fault on its own merits.
What sets the price
- Length of eaves needing work
- Height and reach of the run
- Whether boards are sound behind
- Where a scaffold can stand
One written total price
- Fascia board
- Gutter and its fall
- Underlay lapped into the gutter
- Soffit and vent gap
Four parts of the eaves line that the survey reads one after another.
Is your Boughton Aluph roof listed, near a boundary, or neither?
Send the road name, a photograph and anything you can see from the garden, and the stamps and their reasons arrive before the total does.
North-west out to Boughton Aluph
Boughton Aluph is 17.2 road miles north-west of Folkestone, about 24 minutes by road. The parish had 2,578 usual residents at the 2021 Census. A photograph and the road name are enough to start, and the list entries and the boundary map are read before the survey, so the visit itself can stay on the roof. You will hear from us about a survey date by phone or WhatsApp, and what follows is a quote with a single written total. If the lane is narrow or the house sits back from it, say so in the form, because access decides where a scaffold goes and where materials are stacked.
Questions from Boughton Aluph, from eaves to listed court
For owners around the church, the court and the lanes between.
What should I look at where my Boughton Aluph roof meets the gutter?
Start from the ground, with binoculars if you have them. Look for a gutter sagging between brackets, a joint with a dark drip stain beneath it, and fascia paint lifting along the bottom edge. Inside, check the ceiling beside the outer wall for a tide mark. None of this proves the roof needs replacing: it can point at one joint or one board, and the survey photographs whichever it is, so the quote follows the fault and nothing larger. An old, dry stain gets noted as such.
Does re-covering a Boughton Aluph roof call for Building Regulations approval?
The Planning Portal sets a two-part test. No application is normally needed when the work touches less than 50 per cent of the roof and less than 25 per cent of the building envelope, and approval is also required where the new covering is 15 per cent or more heavier than the roof covering now in place. Ashford Borough Council's own Building Control team, on 01233 330282, can answer for your address, and we note what is on the roof at the survey.
Who licenses a scaffold on a Boughton Aluph road?
Kent County Council issues the licence when a scaffold stands on the highway, at £52 per week for 2026 to 2027. Kent County Council's guidance says the scaffolding company "should submit the application for you", and the licence is arranged through our scaffolder. Whether yours is needed depends on where the scaffold would stand, which the survey establishes early so that no date slips on the day itself. The permit period is set out on the quote, so you can read it before anything is booked.
Does the Kent Downs designation change how a repair is carried out?
A plain repair is carried out as it would be elsewhere. The designation matters for larger changes, and even then the Kent Downs team only advises while Ashford Borough Council decides. We place your address on the boundary map before the survey. If a change to the shape of the roof is on your mind, our planning permission guide sets out the questions to ask first, and the council's own answer is noted beside the price when we have it.
Does the Grade I status of All Saints touch my own roof?
No. The church carries its grade, and your house is assessed on its own entry or on none at all. If your house is listed, listed building consent from Ashford Borough Council is needed for work that alters its character, so we read the entry before a price is given. Work on the church itself goes through the Church of England's faculty system, which is a separate route again, and neither route is one we guess at.
Will a Boughton Aluph job be priced as one written total?
Yes. After the survey you receive a single total for the whole job, with the photographs behind each stamp and a note of which rules were checked for your address. Where a repair is sound the quote says so, and a full re-cover is written up only for a covering beyond mending. Gutters and fascias seen on the visit join the same figure, so nothing arrives as a surprise on the day.
Roof questions in Boughton Aluph? Send a photo.
One written total, after the survey.