Sash windows in Chipstead, between the Square and the lake

Chipstead lies just west of Sevenoaks in the parish of Chevening, close to the A21, A25 and M25. Chipstead Lake, also called Longford Lake, covers 30 hectares and was made by gravel digging in the 20th century. The George and Dragon on the High Street is a 16th-century coaching inn, and Chevening Halt on the Westerham branch served the village from 1881 to 1961.

Chipstead has two conservation areas. The village one has a 2011 appraisal, which traces the manor at Moat Farm, said to date from the 13th century, Chipstead Place, rebuilt in 1693 and largely demolished in 1932, 18th-century houses such as Crown House and Home Farmhouse, and estate cottages on the Square built in 1841. Its streets include the High Street, Chevening Road, Homedean Road, Stairfoot Lane and Mill Lane.

The appraisal calls brick laid in lime mortar the main local material, sometimes with blue headers, alongside random and coursed ragstone with stone galleting in the joints, painted render and stucco, clay tile hanging, plain clay and Kent peg tiles, and occasional slate. It says the commonest windows on the older, more modest houses are white-painted timber side-hung casements, and that many properties have traditional sash windows of varying dates.

Chipstead Common is the second conservation area, mostly open common land bordered by Chipstead Lane. Its older buildings date mainly from the 19th century: a brick terrace with slate roofs and contrasting brick quoins round the windows, Rock House in ragstone with a columned portico, and a Grade II pair in white weatherboarding.

What this means for a sash job

We have not found an Article 4 direction covering windows in either area. For an unlisted house with sashes of varying dates, the survey is the place to decide which pattern to restore, since not every window on the front may be original. Brick quoins and galleted ragstone deserve a frame set well back in the reveal so the stonework stays the feature.

Background: Chipstead on Wikipedia.

Planning a frontage in Chipstead? Ask for a survey or call 01732 900157.