Brabourne · 10.7 road miles north-west
Roofers in Brabourne
A village in the Kent Downs with a Grade I church, with a conservation area, listed farm buildings and the Kent Downs National Landscape all in play. We work out which rules reach your address, read the roof slope by slope, and only then put a single figure on paper.
- Grade I building
- St Mary, Grade I, in use for Church of England worship
- Village map
- Brabourne conservation area, designated; Ashford Borough Council holds the boundary
- Landscape
- The village lies within the Kent Downs National Landscape
- Scaffold permits
- Kent County Council, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027
Stable block, lane-end cottage, lean-to: what each Brabourne roof is owed
What we found
Ridge tiles loose, the tiles below sound
What it fairly needs
Re-bed and fix the ridge; keep the slopes.
What we found
Cottage in the conservation area, tiles slipping
What it fairly needs
Ask the council about the address, then repair.
What we found
Rear lean-to covering past patching
What it fairly needs
Strip that one slope and re-cover it.
The fair ledger
A church, a village map and listed outbuildings: three Brabourne roof questions
Brabourne has a Grade I church in use, a designated conservation area and listed farm buildings, and each changes which door you knock on first. Every entry ends in a verdict, and the reason behind it is set out plainly.
Entry 01Church
St Mary's church and the faculty route for its roof
St Mary's is Grade I and still a place of worship, which sends work on the church itself down a different consent road from the houses around it.
Which consent road applies
Historic England lists St Mary's at Grade I (list entry 1232793), and it remains a Church of England place of worship. That settles the route. A church of that kind falls under the Church of England's faculty system, so work on the church itself is decided there, and never through a listed building consent application to Ashford Borough Council.
The houses around the churchyard are a separate matter. A house keeps its own status: if it is not listed, the ordinary rules for its roof apply, and if it lies inside the conservation area, the next entry covers that. The church's grade has no bearing on your own covering. It does mean a roof close to the churchyard path is seen by everyone who walks past, so we look hard at its edges, ridge and gutters, which are the parts a passer-by sees first.
The survey is the same list on every house in the village: ridge and hip fixings, each slope in turn, flashings where roof meets wall or chimney, valleys, and the eaves. Where the loft can be reached safely we look at the underside of the covering too, for daylight, damp staining and the state of the timbers. Our roof inspection page sets out what each visit covers.
Myth: A Grade I church makes every nearby roof listed.
Fact: Listing attaches to the building named on the list entry; a neighbouring house follows the rules for its own status.
Who approves work on the roof of St Mary's itself?
St Mary's is a Church of England church in use, so work goes through the Church of England's faculty system rather than a listed building consent application. A house nearby is not covered by that route. It follows the rules for its own status, and the survey checks which they are.
Entry 02Two maps
Conservation area and Kent Downs: two maps for one Brabourne address
Ashford Borough Council holds the conservation boundary and the Kent Downs team holds a map of its own, so one address can be asked about twice.
Reading both before pricing
Brabourne has a designated conservation area, and its boundary sits with Ashford Borough Council, which lists 43 conservation areas across the borough. The map, not the look of a lane, says whether a house is inside it. Your lane is set against that map first, and where the line is hard to judge we put the question to the council and keep its reply.
Ordinary re-roofing is normally permitted development even in a conservation area, but an Article 4 direction can take away further permitted rights, which is why your road is worth a question to Ashford Borough Council. We raise that question before pricing anything bigger than a repair, because the answer can change what has to be applied for and in what order.
The Kent Downs National Landscape (formerly AONB) takes in the village. The label is a designation; it does not make the Kent Downs team the planning authority, since Ashford Borough Council decides applications and the team advises. Which side of the boundary an address falls on is settled by the map, not by how the street looks. If you are thinking of a dormer, or anything that alters the roof's outline, begin with our planning permission guide.
What the map answer changes
Loose tiles, address clear of both maps
Plain repair
Dormer wanted, address inside the area
Council before drawings
Covering finished on every slope
Full re-cover
Can you tell from the road if my house is in the conservation area?
No, and neither can anyone else with confidence, because the boundary follows the council's map and not the look of the street. We read the map for your address before the survey and, if the answer is unclear, ask Ashford Borough Council and file its reply with the quote.
Recording the roof before touching it
The list has a Grade II coach house and stables north of Coquet Lodge (list entry 1232791) and Parsonage Farmhouse, also Grade II (list entry 1232789). A listing does not stop roof repairs. Where work could alter the special character of the building, listed building consent is added, Ashford Borough Council makes that call, and a repair is drafted to match what is already in place. Outbuildings are easy to overlook, yet a stable block can carry the same listing as the house beside it.
On a roof like this the first job is to find out what is already up there: the covering, how it is fixed, what the ridge is bedded on, how the leadwork meets the walls. We photograph all of it and write the repair to match, so that any application describes a like-for-like job a case officer can read in a minute. Big plain slopes show every mismatch from the lane, which is one more reason to match what is there.
Photographs taken before work starts stay with the quote, so a later reader can see the roof as it was. If a slope is only part-worn, the survey says which section needs attention and which can stay, and the written total reflects that split rather than a blanket re-cover. For ridges and abutments see our lead work and pitched roofing pages, which describe the repairs that follow a survey.
Entry 03Outbuildings
Coach house, stables and farmhouse: how listed roofs are approached
The Heritage List holds a Grade II coach house and stables and a Grade II farmhouse in the village, and they show what listing asks of a roof.
Does repairing a listed stable roof need consent?
Whether a repair affects the building's character is the council's judgement, not ours. Where there is any doubt we ask Ashford Borough Council before a tile is moved, and its reply is kept with the written quote so the file shows what was checked and when.
- Ridge tile along the apex
- Bed beneath the ridge
- Fixing that holds it down
The three points a survey reads on the ridge of an outbuilding roof.
Which Brabourne rules touch your roof: church, conservation area or listing?
Tell us the lane, attach a picture and say what you can see from the ground, and each fault gets a stamp, with the reason beside it, before the total is written.
North-west up to Brabourne
Allow about 14 minutes by road for the 10.7 road miles north-west of Folkestone, so a survey, a scaffold booking and a second look are all easy to arrange from Brabourne's side. The parish had 1,306 usual residents at the 2021 Census. Send a photograph and the lane name, and the conservation map, the Downs map and the list entries are checked before we arrive, so the visit starts with the rules already read.
Church, map and Downs: Brabourne answers
Short answers on the church, the village map and the Downs.
What gets checked first on a Brabourne roof beside St Mary's churchyard?
The ridge and hips come first, because they are visible from the ground and fixed separately from the slopes. Then each slope, the flashings at walls and chimneys, the valleys, and the eaves and gutters. From the loft, where it can be reached safely, we look at the underside of the covering too. Every defect is photographed, and each takes one verdict of repair, replace or check before the job is priced as a single written total.
Is Brabourne inside the Kent Downs National Landscape?
The village lies within it, but whether a particular address is inside is shown on the Kent Downs map, which is consulted before each survey. Being in the National Landscape does not hand planning decisions to the Kent Downs team: that is Ashford Borough Council's job, with the team in an advisory role. A like-for-like re-cover follows the everyday route. Dormers and anything larger than a repair start with our planning guide, and the outcome of the map check is written beside the price.
Do I need Building Regulations approval to re-roof in Brabourne?
Ashford Borough Council's own Building Control team, on 01233 330282, is the place to ask how the rules treat your house. The Planning Portal's test asks two things: does the work affect less than 25 per cent of the building envelope, and less than 50 per cent of the roof? If so, no application is normally needed, but a covering 15 per cent or more heavier brings approval into play. The survey records what covers the roof today and what you would like instead.
Who licenses scaffolding on a Brabourne lane?
Kent County Council is the highway authority, at £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, and a licence is needed only for scaffolding placed on the road or pavement, a step handled by us: we arrange the licence with our scaffolder, while Kent County Council states that the skip or scaffolding company should submit the application for you. The survey says early whether a scaffold will stand on the road, and any renewal is submitted 5 working days before the renewed permit is due to start.
Does a Grade I church change what neighbouring roofs need?
No. Listing attaches to the building on the list entry, so a neighbouring house follows the rules for its own status. If your own house is listed, work that affects its character needs listed building consent, so the list entry is looked up and Ashford Borough Council consulted before pricing. The conservation map gets checked as well, since the village has a designated area, and what we find goes onto the written quote so nothing rests on memory.
Does a repair come before a re-roof when I book a Brabourne survey?
Repair comes first wherever a repair is sound: a loose ridge, a handful of slipped tiles or a split gutter run does not need a new roof. A re-roof is written up only when the survey shows the covering is past mending, and the quote says why. You get the photographs behind each stamp, so you can judge the reasoning for yourself before agreeing to anything. Gutters and fascias are looked at on the same visit, and any that need work join the same written total.
Brabourne roof worrying you? Send a photo.
You will get one written total price after the survey.