Westerham is a small market town six miles west of Sevenoaks, with a population of 4,498 at the 2021 census. Henry III granted its market charter by 1227. James Wolfe was born here in 1727 and lived at Quebec House, and Churchill's home at Chartwell is just outside the town; statues of both men stand in the centre, Churchill's by Oscar Nemon on the Green.
The council's appraisal describes a town of orange and red brick, hanging tiles and clay roofs, with ragstone and brick boundary walls. Local red stock brick is the commonest material, often with decorative arches and blue headers. Timber-framed buildings are clad in tile hanging or painted weatherboarding, or rendered. Most buildings around the Green and Market Square date from the 18th and 19th centuries, often with older cores; Vicarage Hill is polite 18th and early 19th-century architecture; Stratton Terrace and New Street are Victorian terraces.
The appraisal says windows are either painted timber casements or sliding sashes, usually white, and that sliding sashes are common along Market Square. Victorian and Edwardian windows and doors often have leaded lights and coloured glass.
uPVC, and why there is no Article 4 direction
The appraisal is frank that a high number of houses in the conservation area have replaced their original windows with uPVC, and counts this as harmful. It considered an Article 4 direction to bring windows, doors and boundaries under control and decided against it for now, because the number of houses affected was low and the process is heavy on resources.
So an unlisted house in Westerham can have its sashes replaced like for like. The appraisal's point still stands: keep the opening size and the bar pattern, and on the Georgian fronts of Vicarage Hill consider an aluminium heritage sash for its slimmer frame. Many of the older buildings are listed, and for those, timber is the route, as in the example below.
Background: Westerham on Wikipedia.
Illustrative example of a typical job
Listed Georgian house near Westerham Green: six timber sashes
A listed Georgian brick house of the polite 18th-century kind the Westerham appraisal describes around the Green and up Vicarage Hill. Listed building consent is needed, and the conservation officer will expect timber.
- Six timber box sashes on weights and pulleys, six-over-six with slim putty-line bars
- Painted white, with slim double glazing only where consent allows it
- First coat of paint due around year three, then at regular intervals; the installer does not repaint, so this falls to the owner
From £15,900, supplied and fitted, including VAT