What Godstone is built of, and what that does to the glazing
Timber frame and leaded casements in the old heart of Godstone; post-war housing along the A22 and at South Godstone, where the sealed units went in together and are failing together. JM Glass & Glazing are glaziers in Godstone for both ends of that (matched quarries and releaded panels at one, misted units and roof lanterns at the other), twelve miles out from our Waddon workshop in Croydon, CR0 4JT.
Godstone grew around two centres rather than one. Church Town sits up by St Nicholas and the almshouses; Godstone Green, with its pond, is the wide open space the village is known for. Both were made conservation areas in 1972. The oldest building here, the Old Packhouse, is 15th-century timber frame, and brick doesn't really arrive until the 18th century. St Nicholas was heavily restored by George Gilbert Scott in 1872-73, and the St Mary's almshouses beside it are his too, in Victorian Tudor Gothic.
Around those two cores you get Victorian and Edwardian cottages, then interwar and post-war housing strung along the A22 and out at South Godstone, and then (once you're into the Green Belt), modern detached houses, barn conversions and equestrian properties on large plots. The glazing splits sharply along those lines. In the middle it's heritage work in frames that are staying. On the edges it's ordinary replacement glass and whatever comes off the latest extension.
Round the Green: leaded casements, small panes and secondary glazing
On a timber-framed or listed frontage you're not swapping a window, you're mending glass. Cracked quarries come out of a leaded panel and get matched; bowed panels are taken out, flattened and releaded. Where the real complaint is draught and heat loss, secondary glazing behind the original is usually the answer the building and the council will both accept, because the outside stays exactly as it was. Slim double-glazed units will go into sound timber casements where the rebate takes them, and we'll say on site if it won't.
South Godstone and the A22: misted units, patio doors and lanterns
The post-war stretches along the A22 and the housing at South Godstone are straightforward replacement territory. Sealed units fitted through the eighties and nineties are reaching the end of their life together, so the misted pane you've spotted is rarely the only one on the way out. Further out, off Tilburstow Hill and The Enterdent, it changes again: rear extensions, garden rooms, wide sliding doors and roof lanterns, on houses where the glass is the biggest thing arriving on site.
- Misted and blown units. We measure the failed unit, have it made and swap the glass. Frame, hinges and handles stay put. Sealed unit replacement is the job we do most in RH9.
- Broken and cracked panes. Glass replacement in timber, aluminium and uPVC, single or double glazed, including the odd sizes older cottages throw up.
- Glass cut to size. Toughened, laminated, obscure, low-iron and mirror, cut for shelves, table tops, cabinet fronts, greenhouses and stable doors.
- Window repairs. Hinges, handles, locks and beading on windows that are worth keeping rather than replacing.
- Showers, balustrades, splashbacks and mirrors. Frameless enclosures, glass balustrades, splashbacks and made-to-measure mirrors for the barn conversions and refits out in the Green Belt.
Roof lanterns and glass roofs are worth a line of their own here, because so many of these houses have had something built on the back. Edge Building Products made us their Installation of the Month for July 2025 after we refurbished a roof light with 44 shaped double-glazed units set into Edge 50mm capped aluminium glazing bars. Shaped glass in an existing bar system is slow work and not everyone will take it on. We're rated 5.0 on Google.
Godstone's trade is small but real. The High Street around the Green carries the Londis post office and newsagents at number 61, Godstone Emporium at number 100, a barbers, a cafe and the old inns on the Green itself. Beyond the village there's Godstone Farm and Playbarn, Fairalls builders' merchants, Godstone Vineyards, the garden centres and nurseries, and the roadside trade that sits around M25 junction 6 and the A22 and A25 crossroads.
A shop front is a different job to a house, and in Godstone it is a heritage job as well. Most of those frontages stand on listed or locally listed buildings inside a conservation area, so a broken pane is not an invitation to put a big frameless sheet in. We board up the same evening where we can, measure once it's safe, and match what was there when we come back to fit the new glass. The same goes for door panels and internal screens in the units and yards along the A22.
Church Town and The Green, what conservation area status means for your windows
Both areas were designated in 1972. Church Town is small, around three hectares. The Green is bigger at roughly seventeen. Inside either one, and on any listed building anywhere in the parish, the council will look hard at what goes into an opening, and Lagham out at South Godstone is a Grade II* medieval manor house and a scheduled ancient monument, which is about as protected as a building in Surrey gets. Reglazing an existing frame is a much simpler conversation than replacing the frame itself, which is one reason glass work so often beats a full window order in these streets.
Two things we'll say plainly. Planning here is Tandridge District Council, not Croydon, which catches people out. And we're not on a self-certification scheme, so we can't sign off a replacement window or door under Building Regulations ourselves. Where a job needs that, it goes through Tandridge building control and we fit to what's specified. Almost everything we do in Godstone is glass into a frame you already own, which never comes near it.
Getting to Godstone from Waddon, honestly
We work out of 24 Waddon Close in Croydon, CR0 4JT. Godstone is about twelve miles from the yard: Purley Way down to Purley, the A22 Godstone Road through Kenley and Whyteleafe as far as Wapses Lodge, then over the top of the Downs and down Godstone Hill into the village. Half an hour or so when the roads behave.
So we won't pretend we're round the corner. There are glaziers closer to you than we are, and for one small pane in a shed you should probably use one. What we come out to RH9 for is work worth the trip: a full set of failed units, a stair or terrace balustrade, a shower enclosure, a lantern, a shop front, a house full of leaded casements that need mending rather than replacing. We do emergency call-outs out here too, and we aim to make a property safe the same day where we can. If we can't get to you we'll tell you on the phone instead of leaving you waiting. Worth mentioning the lanes as well: The Enterdent and the roads up Tilburstow Hill are narrow, and large panes get carried in by hand, so tell us about the access before anything is cut.
Glazing services we provide in Godstone
The work here divides between old glass that needs mending and new glass for an extension or a refit. These are the jobs we're asked for most across Godstone and South Godstone.
Areas near Godstone
We also cover Coulsdon, Caterham, Woldingham, Reigate, Redhill, Oxted. See every area on our areas covered page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, but we'll be straight with you about the distance. Godstone is about twelve miles from our base at 24 Waddon Close: Purley Way to Purley, then the A22 through Kenley and Whyteleafe to Wapses Lodge and down Godstone Hill. Half an hour or so. It's a trip out rather than a local call, so ring us and we'll tell you honestly whether your job is worth us coming.
Check with Tandridge District Council first. Both areas have been conservation areas since 1972 (Church Town at about three hectares, The Green at roughly seventeen), and there are listed buildings in each. Replacing frames there usually needs consent and a like-for-like specification. Reglazing the frame you already have is far less likely to. We aren't registered to self-certify window replacements.
Usually one of three things. The panel gets releaded and the cracked quarries matched, so it looks the same afterwards. Or secondary glazing goes in behind the original, which leaves the outside untouched and is often what a conservation officer prefers. Or, if the timber rebate is deep enough and sound, a slim double-glazed unit. We'll look and tell you which applies.
Yes, and that's normally the right answer at South Godstone and along the A22. A misted pane means the sealed unit has failed, not the window. We measure the existing unit, have a new one made and fit it into the same frame. The window looks unchanged and it costs a fraction of a full replacement. If the frame itself has gone, we'll say so.
Yes. Toughened, laminated, obscure, low-iron and mirror, cut to your sizes: shelves, table tops, cabinet fronts, greenhouse and stable door panes, and replacement panels for doors. If you already know the measurements, ring them through and we can price it over the phone, which saves us both a twelve-mile trip for a survey.
Call 020 8680 8334 or 07956 138 582 and tell us what's happened. Godstone is a proper drive from us rather than round the corner, so we won't promise you a time we can't keep. We aim to make a property safe the same day where we can, board up first, then measure and fit the new glass once it's made.
Most leaded panels can be mended rather than replaced. A cracked quarry comes out and gets matched to what's around it; a panel that has bowed is taken out, flattened and releaded, then put back in the same frame. Round Church Town and the Green, both conservation areas since 1972, keeping the original panel is far simpler than arguing for a new one. Where the complaint is draught rather than damage, secondary glazing behind the original leaves the outside untouched.
Only the glass. That is usually the right answer here anyway: on the post-war stretches along the A22 and at South Godstone the misted pane you have spotted is rarely the only one due to go, and swapping units into frames you already own is quicker and far cheaper than a window order. Inside the Green and Church Town conservation areas, changing frames means consent from Tandridge. If a frame has rotted through, you need a window company, not us.