Villages near Dorking

Heritage windows in Leigh: the green, Dawesgreen and the Weald farmhouses

Leigh is a small Weald village and parish between Reigate, Dorking and Charlwood. Its post town is Reigate, but it lies within Mole Valley district, so its planning questions go to Mole Valley District Council.

The village

The centre is a village green with an old well head and pump, the parish church of St Bartholomew, and The Plough pub. The Seven Stars stands at Dawesgreen, and there are further old buildings at Shellwood Cross. Leigh appears to have been a centre of the Wealden iron industry, and Elizabeth I exempted the village from a ban on charcoal-making so that smelting could continue there. The houses are mostly detached and semi-detached, a mix of old farmhouses and cottages and later homes.

Conservation area and listed buildings

The Leigh conservation area covers about 13 hectares round the green. It contains eight listed buildings: St Bartholomew's church and Leigh Place, both Grade II*, and, at Grade II, the barn at Leigh Place, The Plough Inn, The Priest's House, Scholars, the well head on the green and a K6 telephone kiosk. Dawesgreen and Shellwood Cross have further listed buildings outside the conservation area. Leigh has no Article 4 direction, so an unlisted house can normally replace windows with similar-looking ones without permission. Check your own address with Mole Valley's property lookup.

What usually fits

Listed houses and barns need timber, by consent. Unlisted cottages and farmhouses suit flush casements in a muted colour, with bars that follow the old pattern; small panes look better than one large sheet of glass on a low Weald elevation. The later detached houses suit flush casements, or steel-look aluminium for a garden room. Old farmhouses often have openings that are out of square, so every window is measured individually at survey.

See flush casement windows or timber windows. Background: Leigh on Wikipedia.