Kingston lies about two miles south of Lewes under the Downs and inside the South Downs National Park, so the South Downs National Park Authority decides planning here. The village has three distinct kinds of house, and each suits a different window.
The Street and the conservation area
The old village runs along The Street past St Pancras Church, a Norman church with a Tapsel gate, and the Juggs, a pub in a converted cottage. Lewes District Council first designated the Kingston conservation area in 1972, and the Authority reviewed it in 2021, keeping the existing boundary. Its appraisal counts 23 listed entries in the historic village, with the church at Grade II* and the rest at Grade II.
The appraisal is useful reading before choosing windows. It says knapped flint is the most characteristic material, with brick used for corners and for window and door openings, alongside weatherboarding, render, tile-hanging and clay tiles. Sashes were used on higher-status buildings and casements on more modest ones, with the casements sitting flush with the frame and slim glazing bars. It notes a few horizontally sliding sashes, which are more usual in the north and the Midlands than in Sussex. Joinery was originally painted.
There is no Article 4 direction in Kingston. The 2021 appraisal said one would be considered only if losses of traditional features became a significant problem, and found that at present they were not. So an unlisted cottage keeps its permitted development rights for windows of similar appearance, and a listed one needs listed building consent from the Authority.
Kingston Ridge and the 1960s houses
Above the village, substantial houses were built on Kingston Ridge between the 1930s and the 1950s. In the early 1960s family houses were built on former orchard land, known locally as the estate, with St Pancras Green laid out beside them, serving the growth of the University of Sussex. These newer houses take flush casements, a bay where the original had one, and composite doors.
What usually suits
Flush casements with slim bars for flint cottages, in uPVC where the house is not listed and timber where it is; sashes only where the house was built with them. Wikipedia has more on Kingston near Lewes.
An example from Kingston
Illustrative example of a typical job
Whole house in flush casements with a bay on Kingston Ridge
House: A 1930s detached house on Kingston Ridge, assumed here to be outside the Kingston conservation area and not listed.
Spec: Nine uPVC flush casements, 1000 by 1200, a three-unit uPVC flush canted bay, and a composite front door.
Typically £15,500 to £27,000, supplied and fitted, including VAT.
Kingston is inside the National Park. If your house is inside the village conservation area, talk to the Authority before choosing frames.
