Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury has a wealth of listed buildings, in fact over 2,500 including the World Heritage Site of Canterbury Cathedral which attracts tourists worldwide as the seat of the spiritual head of the Church of England for almost five centuries.

There are many beautifully preserved buildings throughout Canterbury including cottages and churches.   Canterbury has too many listed buildings to detail here including the Grade I Canterbury Castle, as well as possibly less obvious listed buildings such as Canterbury Prison and even telephone kiosks and a horse trough!  All of these beautifully preserved buildings make Canterbury the beautiful city that it is, a popular tourist destination and of course a beautiful city to live in.

For a Listed Building Surveyor Free Phone 0800 298 5424

If you are buying a property in Canterbury, particularly a listed building, you need expert advice from a Listed Building Surveyor.  All our surveyors are members of the RICS and ISVA and have years of experience surveying listed buildings.

Owning a Listed Building

Owning a listed building comes with a level of responsibility over and above what you normally have when you have an ownership of a building which will mean that you will need to get to know and understand listed building regulations and requirements to some extent (as well as getting to know someone who knows them in detail) and build a good relationship with the Conservation Officer.  Most things need approval/guidance from conservation officers.

Example Canterbury Survey - Open Hall House

We have been fortunate to survey a magnificent Grade II 17th Century Open Hall House near Canterbury.    This is a typical layout of Open Halls.

The parlour was an area for the owner/lord of the manor to sleep and live, etc.  The Open Hall was a communal area where people came to eat, sleep and do business/get paid and listen to the Lord of the Manor/Owner/Judge and Jury.

 

Open Hall Example

Open Hall House Example

Open Hall central fire/chimney

The Open Hall would have originally had a central fire without a chimney where smoke would rise into the roof timbers (there normally would have been no first floor level, these were added at a later date).  It seems strange to say that chimneys were invented but nevertheless they were, they started with a smoke hood which in many cases were built in part out of timber.

Smoke staining to timbers

Smoke hood defined

This would have directed the smoke upwards and through a hole in the roof.  This was before we had chimneys.

Listed Building Survey

As well as Open Hall Houses Listed buildings come in all shapes and sizes.  Owning a listed building with features and character obviously has benefits as well as being a part of history that you are looking after for future generations.  When carrying out work to listed buildings we always believe it is important to keep as much of the history as possible and in our experience this is normally fairly easy providing you have builders that understand and know what they are dealing with on older properties as usually the older materials tend to be the better quality materials.

If you own a listed building in Canterbury and would like advice from a chartered surveyor we can help you.  If you are purchasing a listed building in Canterbury it is imperative that you have a listed building survey carried out to highlight any problem areas the property has.  Our experienced surveyors are here to help, give us a call for a friendly chat!