Holy Cross church of 1140
The church was built in 1140, extended between 1180 and 1195, and restored by the Victorians in 1863.
Roofers in Binsted
Roofs on malmstone, hop kilns and barns near Alice Holt Forest
Binsted is a village near Alice Holt Forest, largely inside the South Downs National Park, with a church from 1140 and converted hop kilns. Each roof gets its own survey.
Binsted's church, school and hop kilns
The malmstone school
The village school and headmaster's house of 1874 to 1875 are coursed local malmstone with decorative windows and bargeboards.
Hop kilns at Kings Farm
A barn and three brick hop kilns opposite Kings Farm now serve as homes, one inscribed 'D Inwood 1857'.
Map of Binsted with Bentley, Holybourne, Alton, Rowledge marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Binsted, north-east of Alton by Alice Holt
Binsted lies north-east of Alton near Alice Holt Forest, with Farnborough 15.1 road miles to the north-east of it.
About 15.1 road miles south-west of Farnborough · East Hampshire District Council and Hampshire County Council.
Binsted, park rules and village record
Roof work in a National Park village
Which three bodies matter for a Binsted roof job, what East Hampshire's conservation area leaflet records about the church, school and hop kilns, and how the National Park boundary and Hampshire's scaffold rules affect repairs.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Park, district and county: three bodies | Park plans, district inspects, county licenses |
| 02 | A church of 1140 and kilns of 1857 | Church of 1140, kiln of 1857 |
| 03 | The 1982 conservation area and Park boundary | 80% of the area inside the National Park |
Chapter 01 of 03
Park, district and county: three bodies
| Task | Body |
|---|---|
| Planning decisions | South Downs National Park Authority |
| Building control checks | East Hampshire District Council's own team |
| Scaffold licence on the highway | Hampshire County Council |
| Civil parish | Binsted |
| Road distance from Farnborough | 15.1 miles, measured from the A325 |
Binsted splits its paperwork three ways. The South Downs National Park Authority is the planning authority for the village, East Hampshire District Council provides building control through its own team, and Hampshire County Council licenses scaffold on the roads. Nobody else is involved, but each has its own office and timetable, and a roofer who has met all three knows which to ask about what. Binsted is 15.1 road miles from Farnborough on the A325 measure.
What building control wants to know
No percentage for re-roofing appears in East Hampshire's pages, which leaves the Planning Portal's pair of limits, 25 per cent of the envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, as the guide. A covering that adds 15 per cent in weight is the separate trigger, with approval and a structural check. On older stone and tile buildings the weight question is the one to watch, because a heavier tile on a lightly built roof can turn a re-roof into a structural job.
A registered building control approver is the private alternative. We say at the survey which road a job should take.
Scaffold, as Hampshire words it
On Hampshire County Council's page, the scaffolding firm files the licence form for its customer. Hampshire County Council wants ten clear working days from filing to start, and its tariff is £211.90 for the first 2 weeks, then £72 for every further 2. Nothing can be extended, so an overrunning job means a new filing. Poles that stay on private land fall outside the scheme.
Compare quotes on what they include. A figure that omits scaffold, VAT or the cost of taking old material away will look lower than one that carries them. Ours is one written total after the survey.
East Hampshire's leaflet notes that the lanes in the conservation area generally have no paths or kerbs, so a footway licence is not always the question. We look at the approach on the first call and at the frontage on the day of the survey, then tell you whether the scaffold would stand on the lane or on your own ground, which decides how long the paperwork takes.
A roof that is leaking today is first covered over temporarily, and the proper repair is planned around the licence and the weather.
Chapter 02 of 03
A church of 1140 and kilns of 1857
Dates in East Hampshire's Binsted leaflet
- 1140year the church of the Holy Cross was built
- 1180-1195years of the church's extension
- 1857date inscribed on a hop kiln
- 1874-1875years the village school was built
East Hampshire's guidance leaflet for the Binsted conservation area records a layered village. The church of the Holy Cross was built in 1140, extended between 1180 and 1195, and restored by the Victorians in 1863. Until 1854 it belonged with Kingsley to the Alton ecclesiastical area, and Binsted became a separate parish in 1926. The village school and headmaster's house, built between 1874 and 1875, are of coursed local malmstone with decorative windows and bargeboards.
A church of 1140 shows how long a village's buildings can last when they are looked after.
Hop kilns and barns
Opposite Kings Farm stand a barn and three brick hop kilns, now converted to homes, with an inscription on one kiln reading D Inwood 1857. Hops were an important industry in the parish for centuries. A hop kiln may be round, with a conical roof, or square, with a pyramid roof, and converting one to a home leaves unusual roof shapes. Conical and pyramidal roofs have no ridge and no simple valley, so their repair needs a different hand from a plain gable.
The conversions matter to a roofer because roof windows and new openings have been cut through old roofs. Where a window or a rooflight has been fitted, the flashing around it is the first place we look. Our roof windows and skylights page explains how those details are repaired and replaced.
The leaflet says most of the cottages and houses are built of local malmstone, and a building of coursed stone has thick walls on which a roof sits. That solidity helps, but it means an old roof's eaves, gutters and wall tops are often the first part to suffer when a gutter leaks, because the water runs into the stone and takes years to dry. We test gutters and photograph the wall below any outlet that has overflowed.
Church and kiln
1140year Holy Cross church was built
1857date inscribed on a hop kiln
The school's bargeboards are the other detail to note. Bargeboards sit at the exposed edge of a gable, where wind and rain work at them, and old ones are timber that needs care. We photograph them before any work and say whether a carpenter should lead on the repair.
None of these records tells us what covers your roof, so we name the covering slope by slope, after a close look, and the written price follows from that.
Chapter 03 of 03
The 1982 conservation area and Park boundary
| Designation | In Binsted | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| National Park | South Downs, partly (80% of the 1.5 km area) | Designated land for planning |
| Conservation area | Binsted, designated 1982 | Changes to the look checked with the Park |
| Grade II listed | 2 and 3, The Street (NHLE 1302029) | Listed building consent |
| Grade II listed | Barn and stables east of Kings Farmhouse (NHLE 1338994) | Listed building consent |
About 80 per cent of the 1.5 km area around Binsted lies inside the South Downs National Park, and the Binsted conservation area was designated in 1982. A National Park counts as designated land, where some permitted development rights are removed, so a change to how a roof looks is best put to the Park Authority before a roofer prices it. A like-for-like repair is a different matter, and is the bulk of what a village roof needs.
The leaflet stresses open views from the churchyard and out to the countryside, and roofs are part of those views. A bright new tile among old, weathered ones shows from a distance. When we match tile for a repair, we look at colour and weathering as well as size, and we may suggest reclaimed stock for that reason.
Listings
Twelve listed buildings stand within 500 m of the village centre. They include 2 and 3, The Street, listed Grade II on 15 August 1985, and a barn and stables east of Kings Farmhouse and a barn south-east of it, both Grade II. Anything that would alter a listed building's character needs listed building consent, and a photographic record of the roof is the sensible opening move.
The figure80%of the 1.5 km area around the village lies inside the South Downs National Park80% inside the ParkSource: planning.data.gov.uk national-park layer, 1.5 km area test
A conservation area leaflet, such as the one East Hampshire publishes for Binsted, is written for owners as well as planners, and it is worth reading before you plan work. It sets out what gives the village its character, and a repair that respects those points is unlikely to cause difficulty. We read the leaflet before a survey, and we describe a roof's materials in its terms.
The church
Where the church of the Holy Cross is a working Church of England church, roof work follows the faculty route, not listed building consent from the Park Authority. Whoever commissions work should confirm the route with the church before a roofer is instructed.
Binsted is a village of lanes and old walls, and a repair that matches the existing roof, in tile, colour and ridge, keeps it looking as it should. The conservation area leaflet is the document the planners will have in front of them, so we read it too, and write our survey notes in a form that fits.
An unlisted house beyond the conservation area is simpler, though the Park designation still colours any change of appearance. Our chimney repairs page explains how stacks are repaired, which is often the first job on an older house.
Binsted roof questions, kilns, barns and the Park
The cone roof of my converted Binsted hop kiln leaks near the top: what could cause that?
A conical roof has no ridge, so water meets the top where the covering, the cowl or cap and any flashing join, and that joint is the likeliest culprit. We examine the cap, the covering around it and the flashings, photograph each, and tell you whether a patch or a refix of the top courses will hold.
Do I ask East Hampshire or the South Downs National Park about a new roof covering?
Both, for different reasons. The Park Authority decides planning, so a change of covering material goes to it first. East Hampshire District Council's building control team looks at the structure and the weight of the new covering. A like-for-like re-covering is simpler than either. We tell you which questions your job raises before it is priced.
How does Hampshire handle scaffold for a longer Binsted job?
Hampshire County Council issues the licence, with scaffolding companies applying for customers, ten clear working days ahead. Hampshire County Council's tariff is £211.90 for the first 2 weeks and £72 for each further 2, with no extensions, so a longer job needs a new application. We size the period from the survey.
Does the Holy Cross church roof need the Park Authority's consent for repairs?
For a church in Anglican use, repairs follow the faculty system through the ecclesiastical exemption, and listed building consent is not the route. Should another body use it, the consent route would differ. Whoever commissions work should confirm the route with the church before anyone is instructed to start, and keep a photographic record.
Alton's north-eastern villages near Binsted
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Binsted roofs, surveyed and photographed
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