Chilham · 19.5 road miles north-west
Roofers in Chilham
Two Grade I buildings, a scheduled keep and a designated conservation area sit inside the Kent Downs National Landscape. A Chilham roof is therefore read slowly and its address checked against the lists before any price is written, with each fault photographed, stamped repair, replace or check, and explained.
- Church and castle
- St Mary's and Chilham Castle, both Grade I (list entries 1071308 and 1071304)
- Scheduled monument
- Tower Keep Castle (list entry 1011802)
- Environment Agency zone
- Flood Zone 3 land close to the village centre
- Road permits for poles
- Kent County Council, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027
Gutter, cottage slope, porch: what a Chilham roof is owed
What we found
Gutter outlet blocked, brackets still sound
What it fairly needs
Clear it and reset the fall.
What we found
Cottage slope inside the conservation area
What it fairly needs
Ask the council, then repair to match.
What we found
Porch roof covering past patching
What it fairly needs
Lay a new covering on the porch.
The fair ledger
Church, castle, keep and flood map: Chilham roof questions
Three entries: which consent route suits a church, a castle and a scheduled keep, what the conservation area and Downs label add for an ordinary house, and how rain leaves a roof in a village the flood map marks. Each ends in a verdict.
Entry 01Church and castle
St Mary's, Chilham Castle and the keep: three consent routes
Three old buildings stand within a short walk of each other, and each is handled by a different consent system. A house nearby has its own status.
Faculty, listing and scheduling compared
Historic England lists the Church of St Mary at Grade I (list entry 1071308, first listed on 27 November 1957) and Chilham Castle at Grade I (list entry 1071304, first listed on 13 October 1952). St Mary's is still used for Church of England worship, so work on the church goes through the Church of England's faculty system, and listed building consent is not the route. Tower Keep Castle is a scheduled monument (list entry 1011802): under section 2 of the 1979 Act protecting scheduled monuments, works there are an offence unless authorised.
A cottage with no entry of its own is caught by none of this. It is judged on its own footing: listed building consent if it is listed, the conservation boundary if it is not. Your house is looked up before any ladder goes up, and the finding is written into the quote, so nobody has to remember it later, including whoever owns the house next. If the house is listed, the repair is drafted to follow the roof as it stands.
The visit starts at the ridge, works down each slope and ends at the gutters, with flashings and valleys read on the way. Our roof inspections page sets out what that covers, and our pitched roofing page describes the repairs that follow from it.
Myth: Living near a Grade I building puts your own roof under its consent rules.
Fact: A list entry covers the one building it names. A neighbouring house is judged by its own status, whatever stands beside it.
Who decides about work to St Mary's own roof?
The Church of England's faculty system, because the church is in use for worship. The council's listed building consent process is not the route for that building. A house nearby is a separate case, and the survey establishes which route yours follows.
Entry 02Village map
The Chilham conservation area and the Kent Downs label
Two boundaries cover the village in different ways. One is held by Ashford Borough Council, the other is a landscape designation with an advisory team.
What each boundary does and does not decide
Chilham has a designated conservation area. Ashford Borough Council holds its boundary and lists 43 conservation areas across the borough, with a map. That map settles whether a house sits inside, and a lane that looks old proves nothing. Ordinary re-roofing is normally permitted development even in a conservation area, but dormers are not, so for anything that changes the shape of a roof begin with our planning permission guide.
Chilham also lies within the Kent Downs National Landscape, the title that replaced Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The label marks out a place and takes no decisions on applications: those sit with the district council, while the Kent Downs team is consulted for advice only. Where a particular house stands in relation to that line is something the Kent Downs map answers.
An Article 4 direction can remove further permitted development rights. Ashford Borough Council can say whether one reaches your road, so check with Ashford Borough Council before planning work beyond a repair. The question goes in with the survey paperwork, and its answer goes into the file beside the quote. A larger job is held back until that reply has been read, which keeps the order of work settled before anyone arrives with scaffold.
Where the map answer leads
Loose ridge, slopes still sound
Re-fix the ridge
Extension planned inside the area
Council first
Covering worn out on one slope
Re-cover that slope
What sets the price
- How many slopes are touched
- Whether scaffold stands on the road
- Matching the material already up there
One written total price
Gutters, outlets and falls
Part of the ground near the centre of Chilham falls in Flood Zone 3 on the Environment Agency's map, though the centre itself does not. We state that as a map fact and nothing more: it is not a roofing rule and it changes nothing about how a roof is repaired. What a roof can do for a house in any zone is send rain away cleanly, and that depends on the gutters, downpipes and outlets doing their work.
The survey walks the eaves line from end to end. Brett Martin's installation guidance sets a fall of 1 mm for every 600 mm towards the outlet, so a run that sags from bracket to bracket, or a joint that has dropped a little, lets water stand when it should be moving on. Each outlet is checked for blockage, and the foot of each downpipe shows where the water goes next. A bracket that has pulled out of a fascia board points to the board, which may need renewing before a new gutter goes up.
If gutters are the only fault, the job is a repair and the roof covering stays put. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page sets out what is replaced and what is reset, and the quote says which. A fascia or soffit that has rotted behind the gutter is added to the same written total, so the job is done once.
Entry 03Rainwater
Flood Zone 3 on the map, and the gutters that move rain
Flood Zone 3 land lies a short walk from the middle of Chilham on the Environment Agency's flood map. That is a fact about the map, and the roof's part is simply to shed water cleanly.
Does a flood map zone mean my Chilham roof needs something extra?
No. The zone describes flooding on the map and gives no roof specification. The roof is read for what it is doing itself, and for water that means clear gutters, outlets that drain and a fall that works. Anything beyond that is a question for the Environment Agency.
At the eaves
- Fascia board
- Gutter on its brackets
- Underlay lapping into the gutter
- Soffit and vent
Each part of the eaves is read before a gutter is called past saving.
Church, conservation area or flood map: what applies to you?
Send the road name and a photograph. Back come the faults, each with a stamp and its reason, and one written total price follows.
Out to Chilham along the Downs road
Chilham is north-west of Folkestone, 19.5 road miles away and about 26 minutes in the van. The parish had 1,774 usual residents at the 2021 Census. Photograph the roof, say which road it is on, and the list entries, the village boundary and the Downs map are all read before the visit. When a scaffold looks likely, its position is considered on the spot and talked through with you, so there are no surprises for neighbours or passers-by on the day. The same call also settles where materials and skips can stand without blocking the lane.
Chilham roof questions: listings, boundaries and rain
Short replies, each with the reason beside it.
What is read first on a Chilham roof near the church?
The ridge and hips, since they can be judged from the ground and are fixed apart from the slopes. After that come the slopes one at a time, the flashings at walls and stacks, the valleys, and the eaves with their gutters. Where the loft is safe to enter, daylight and damp under the covering are looked for. Each fault is photographed, given a stamp, and priced inside one written total. If something looks past a repair, you hear why before any figure appears. Photographs from the ridge are kept.
Does a Grade I church next door change what my roof needs?
No. Listing is specific to the one building a list entry names. If your own house is listed, listed building consent covers anything affecting its character, and Ashford Borough Council decides what counts. We find the list entry before pricing. If the house has none, the conservation boundary is checked instead, and whatever the check shows goes onto the written quote for you to read. Where nothing is listed, a plain repair goes ahead without delay. Photographs of the roof as it stands go with it.
Do the Kent Downs label and the conservation area limit a Chilham re-roof?
For a like-for-like re-cover, both leave the everyday rules in place. Applications are decided by Ashford Borough Council, with advice from the Kent Downs team. If you are weighing a dormer, or any change to a roof's outline, our planning permission guide is the place to start. Whether your address lies inside either boundary is settled by a map check at the survey, and the result is written beside the price. Decisions of that kind are not guessed at from the street. Nothing here stops a plain repair.
Is approval needed for a new covering on a Chilham house?
Stay under both of the Planning Portal's limits, 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, and building control approval is not normally required. A covering 15 per cent or more heavier changes that. Ashford Borough Council's own Building Control team, on 01233 330282, can advise on a particular address, and at the survey we make a note of what the present covering weighs. If your roof is listed, listed building consent runs separately. Heavier coverings can need a structural check.
Does Flood Zone 3 change how a Chilham roof is repaired?
No. Flood Zone 3 land sits near the village centre on the Environment Agency's map, but that is a statement about the map and carries no roofing rule. A roof is repaired on its own condition. Gutters, outlets and downpipes are checked because they carry rain away, and a gutter that holds water is reset to a working fall, so the water leaves the roof and the house the way it should. Rainwater goods are priced within the same written total.
Who arranges scaffold licences on a Chilham road?
Chilham's roads fall under Kent County Council as highway authority, and its permit for scaffolding is £52 per week for 2026 to 2027. We arrange it with our scaffolder. According to Kent County Council, the skip or scaffolding company should submit the application for you. A licence matters when poles stand on the highway itself, and we tell you at the survey if yours will. Renewals go in five working days before a permit ends. If no pole touches the highway, no permit is needed.
A Chilham roof or gutter worrying you? Send photos.
A few photographs and the road name get things moving, and one written total price follows once the survey is done.