Sandwich · 19.9 road miles north-east
Roofers in Sandwich
A Grade I church, a Grade I Barbican, the St Barts and Walled Town conservation areas and a scheduled gate share the old town, and Dover District Council has a rule of its own for replacing a roof covering. The survey starts with your address, then turns to the roof itself.
- Parish church
- Church of St Peter, Grade I, looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust, so listed building consent applies
- Replacing a covering
- Dover District Council wants approval for a new covering, even if this is just like for like
- Street scaffold
- Kent County Council licence, £52 per week for 2026 to 2027; we arrange it with our scaffolder
- Drive from Folkestone
- 19.9 road miles, about 31 minutes by road
Behind Sandwich's old gates: three faults, three verdicts
What we found
Cracked mortar along a ridge, the covering below tight
What it fairly needs
Re-bed the ridge or fit a dry-fix one, and leave the rest alone.
What we found
Brown ring on a bedroom ceiling beneath a valley
What it fairly needs
Lift the lining and read the valley before any price is set.
What we found
Soft fascia boards along a rear eaves run
What it fairly needs
Replace the boards and rehang the gutter to drain.
The fair ledger
Walled town, Barbican and Fisher Gate: what your Sandwich roof asks first
St Barts and the Walled Town are conservation areas, the church and the Barbican are Grade I, the Fisher Gate is a scheduled monument, and Dover District Council has its own bar for new coverings. Every entry closes on a repair, replace or check stamp.
Entry 01Walled Town
St Barts and the Walled Town: two boundaries, one address check
Dover District Council names Sandwich - St Barts and Sandwich - Walled Town as conservation areas, and only its published boundaries can say whether your house sits in one.
Boundary first, roof second
Dover District Council publishes 57 conservation areas across its district on its heritage pages, and two of them are in Sandwich: Sandwich - St Barts and Sandwich - Walled Town. Near the old centre a house can fall inside a line, sit right on it or stand just outside, and the council alone settles which. So the address is looked up first and the quote written second, because the answer decides which questions follow.
Re-covering a house in the ordinary way is still normally permitted development inside a conservation area, though an Article 4 direction can remove further rights. Dover's list includes a Sandwich Article 4(2) direction, confirmed on 27 January 1998, and a separate direction for the Salutation. Dover says directions of this kind may cover "alteration to the roof of a dwelling" on any part of a home fronting a road, waterway or open public space. It does not set out what each Sandwich direction removes, so check with Dover District Council for your own address before work is booked.
Bigger alterations are covered in our planning permission guide. Whatever the council tells us is written beside the quote, and the repair-or-replace question gets answered in the loft on the same visit.
Two addresses, two routes
House inside a boundary
Ask Dover first
Hip tile loose, address outside
Re-bed it
Battens soft along a slope
Strip and re-batten
Myth: Living in a conservation area means every repair needs a form.
Fact: Ordinary re-roofing is normally permitted development there; the extra questions come with larger alterations or an Article 4 direction, which Dover District Council confirms for each address.
Entry 02Like for like
A new covering in Sandwich begins with a call to Dover
Dover District Council counts a replacement covering as approval work even when the new one matches the old, and Sandwich sits inside its district.
What Dover's building control team asks
On its building control pages, Dover District Council puts "replacement of roof coverings on pitched and flat roofs even if this is just like for like" among the work needing approval. Installing roof lights is on that list too. A Sandwich house falls in Dover's district, so a full re-roof is put to the council's own building control team before the first scaffold pole goes up. Work that leaves the covering in place is sorted out separately, slope by slope.
Building control comes either from the council's own team or from a registered approver. For a Sandwich address we go to Dover District Council's team, and the question never travels to another district. The reply is noted in writing, so the scaffold date, the order of work and the quote rest on one answer.
The Planning Portal gives a national test as well. Its thresholds are 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, below which an application is not normally needed, and a covering 15 per cent or more heavier needs approval. In Sandwich the council's rule is the stricter one, so it is asked first. Our roof replacement page covers the work itself, and its eaves diagram shows what a re-cover meets at the roof edge.
The roof edge, where a new covering ends
- Fascia board
- Gutter run
- Underlay lapping into the gutter
- Soffit and vent
A re-cover reaches the eaves, so fascia, gutter and soffit are read on the same visit.
What sets the price
- How much covering is replaced
- What the battens underneath need
- Whether the council wants approval first
- Scaffold on the road or the drive
One written total price
Three listed or scheduled neighbours
On Historic England's list the Church of St Peter (list entry 1343813) and The Barbican (1069655) are both Grade I. The Fisher Gate (1005184) is a scheduled monument near the centre of Sandwich, and under section 2 of the 1979 Act on ancient monuments, unauthorised works to it are an offence.
St Peter's is looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust, and secular controls cover buildings vested in the Trust, so work to its roof needs listed building consent from Dover District Council, and nobody prices work there until that is settled.
Listed status does not take permitted development away from roof work, but listed building consent under the Listed Buildings Act is needed as well once the work touches the building's character. Should a Sandwich house turn out to be listed, the quote holds back for the council's reply, which is then recorded alongside the price. Old metalwork at a chimney or parapet is where we look longest; see lead work and chimney repairs. A house beside a listed neighbour is judged on its own entry, so a neighbour's listing does not carry across a boundary wall. Listing status is open to public search through the National Heritage List, and we make that check before we price anything.
Entry 03Gates and church
St Peter's, the Barbican and Fisher Gate: who gives consent for what
Sandwich holds a Grade I church, a Grade I Barbican and a scheduled monument gate, so a roof beside one of them begins with the right question.
Does a house near the Fisher Gate need scheduled monument consent?
Scheduled monument consent is about works to the monument. A house nearby is judged on three separate points of its own: a listing, a conservation area boundary and any Article 4 direction. We ask Dover District Council about the address and write the answer beside the price.
Old gates settle who must be asked; the survey settles what is wrong with the roof.
Does your Sandwich roof need Dover's answer, or only a ladder and a look?
Send your Sandwich address with a photo of the problem. Dover District Council gets asked where it needs to be, each fault earns a stamp, and one written price is set against the work.
The drive up to Sandwich
Sandwich lies north-east of Folkestone, 19.9 road miles on the route we take, which is about 31 minutes at the wheel. At the 2021 Census Sandwich parish had 4,850 usual residents. Ground around the town centre sits in Flood Zone 3 on the Environment Agency's flood map, a label for land and no kind of roofing rule. One planned visit takes in slopes, gutters, stacks and loft together, so a Sandwich survey is not spread over several trips, and any question for Dover District Council travels with it.
Sandwich roofs, gates and scaffold, answered plainly
Short answers for a walled town with a church, a Barbican and Dover's own rule on coverings.
Can a patch of loose covering on a Sandwich roof be repaired without re-roofing?
Yes, where the battens and the covering around the patch are sound. The survey looks at how the loose area is held, whether its neighbours along the course are slackening, and what the loft shows from underneath: daylight, staining, damp timber. A local fault is a repair and the sound covering stays where it is. A fault running across a whole slope is shown to you, and the quote covers the larger job, with Dover's approval question asked first.
Does Dover District Council need to approve a new roof on a Sandwich house?
Dover's building control pages put replacement of roof coverings, "even if this is just like for like", among work that needs approval, so a Sandwich re-roof goes to Dover District Council's team first. The Planning Portal's national test is less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof, and Dover is stricter for a Sandwich address. A repair that leaves the covering in place is looked at separately, and the council's answer is written beside the price.
Is a licence needed for scaffold on a Sandwich street?
Yes, if the poles and boards would block the footway or the carriageway. The licence comes from Kent County Council, the authority for every Kent address, at £52 per week for 2026 to 2027, with each permit running for 7 calendar days. According to Kent County Council, the skip or scaffolding company should submit the application for you, and every application, renewals too, is due 5 working days before the licence begins. We arrange it with our scaffolder.
What do you look at in a Sandwich loft during a survey?
Torch in hand, we look along the roof timbers for pinpricks of daylight, water-stained wood and battens that flex, and we note the underlay wherever it shows. Chimney breasts get a damp check and the rafters a look for movement, and anything found is photographed. Outdoors, the ridge, hips, valleys and gutters are read from a ladder or the scaffold. Each part earns a stamp of its own, followed by a single written price.
Can lead flashing round a Sandwich chimney be mended while the stack stays up?
Yes, where the stack itself is sound. A lifted strip of flashing or a gap along a stepped edge is repaired in place once the lead and the pointing around it have been read. According to MyJobQuote, lead flashing that is correctly installed can last for over 80 years, which is why good lead stays and only a failed strip goes. Where the brickwork leans or the courses have shifted, the stack needs more than lead, and the quote says why.
Does Flood Zone 3 change how a roof in Sandwich is repaired?
Flood Zone 3 is the Environment Agency map's label for land near the centre of Sandwich, a classification of ground that has no bearing on roofing. A repair or a re-roof follows what the survey finds in the lead, the gutters and the timber under the covering. If the house is listed or inside a conservation area, those are the questions that change the order of work, and we ask Dover District Council about them before pricing, and record the reply.
Send us the worst corner of your Sandwich roof
You'll get one written total price.