Replacement windows in Hadlow for weatherboarded and brick village houses

Hadlow sits in the Medway valley on the road from Tonbridge to Maidstone, and its skyline belongs to the tall Gothic tower of Hadlow Castle, built for Walter Barton May and listed Grade I.

The High Street conservation area

The conservation area was first designated in 1972, and its appraisal was adopted in February 2011. The council has an update under way. It covers the High Street and Maidstone Road, The Square, Church Lane, Court Lane, Carpenters Lane, School Lane and the castle grounds. St Mary's Church, in local ragstone rubble with a shingled tower, is Grade II* listed, and the old brewery maltings in yellow stock brick are one of the village's main landmarks.

Materials and windows

The appraisal names white weatherboard and orange-red brick as the main materials, with mathematical tiles on some upper storeys and cream render here and there. It says white-painted wooden sashes or casements predominate, and that many original sashes were swapped for casements in the twentieth century. Where windows are replaced on the High Street, it suggests "more traditional symmetrical casement windows" would suit the area better.

That gives a clear brief for most Hadlow houses. On a weatherboarded or brick cottage, a white flush casement with evenly sized opening sashes either side of a fixed pane, or two matched sashes, matches what the appraisal asks for. On a house that still has its Victorian sashes, keep sashes. The appraisal also notes considerable replacement of doors and windows in The Freehold, so it is worth looking at what survives along the row before choosing.

Flats and listed buildings

The maltings and the Style Place brewery buildings have been converted to homes. Flats usually need planning permission for new windows, and the listed parts need listed building consent too.

Background on the village: Hadlow on Wikipedia.