Home / Our base
Where we are
4 Fort Cottages, Westerham Hill.
Our office and fabrication buildings stand on the crest of the North Downs above Westerham, on Betsom's Hill, the highest ground in Kent, with Biggin Hill to the north and the Surrey border a field away. Every staircase, balustrade and gate we make starts here.
The address, in full
Steel Stairs and Gates
4 Fort Cottages, Westerham Hill
Westerham, Kent TN16 2ED
Telephone 07861 936 888 · info@steelstairsandgates.co.uk
Fort Cottages take their name from the Victorian fort that stood on this crest. Betsom's Hill Fort, also called Westerham Fort, was built in the 1890s as one of the thirteen London Mobilisation Centres of the London Defence Positions scheme, a ring of stores and gun positions on the North Downs meant to protect the capital from invasion. The scheme was wound up and the fort sold off in 1907. Part of it was demolished, the remainder was later used as workshops, and the houses built on the site took the name Fort Cottages.
The cottages stand on the A233 Westerham Hill road, about a mile south of Biggin Hill and a mile and a half north of Westerham town centre, in the Sevenoaks district of Kent. Betsom's Hill, at 251 metres the highest point in Kent, is the ground we stand on. Westerham Heights, the highest point in Greater London, is a few hundred yards along the road where the A233 crosses the county boundary, and the point where Kent, Surrey and Greater London meet is on the north-west side of the hill. The North Downs Way runs along the ridge.
What happens here
A premium steel staircase and architectural metalwork company with over 32 years' experience, Steel Stairs and Gates has worked from this hill for years, and the workshop has grown with the business.
The house is the office, where drawings are produced, quotations written and jobs planned. The outbuildings behind it are the workshop: steel is cut, welded and dressed here before it goes to the galvanisers and the powder coaters, then comes back to be loaded for fitting. Because the whole process is on one site, a customer who wants to see their stair before it is installed can do exactly that.
What we make here
Most of what leaves the yard is a steel staircase: straight and dog-leg flights, spiral staircases, external access stairs and fire escapes for flats and commercial buildings. The same benches turn out gates and railings, balustrades and balconies. The nearest jobs are on our doorstep in Westerham and Biggin Hill; the furthest are an hour away in South London.
Why the location matters to you
From the top of Westerham Hill, Bromley, Croydon, Orpington and the South London suburbs are twenty to thirty minutes away, Sevenoaks and Oxted about the same, and the whole of the ten-mile circle around Warlingham is within easy reach. Surveys are free for that reason: we are never far from the job.
Finding us
- From Bromley or Biggin Hill: follow the A233 south through Biggin Hill; Fort Cottages are on the hill top before the road drops into Westerham.
- From Westerham or Sevenoaks: take the A233 north out of Westerham up Westerham Hill; the cottages are near the summit.
- From Surrey (Oxted, Caterham, Warlingham): the A25 to Westerham, then north on the A233.
Visits are by appointment so that someone is out of the workshop to meet you. Directions in Google Maps.
Aerial view
The house and the outbuildings from above
4 Fort Cottages seen from above: the house at the front, the workshop buildings and the yard behind it, on the crest of Westerham Hill.
Drag the live satellite view to look around, or switch to the road map below.
Free quote
A photo, a rough height and a few words. Priced today.
Attach a phone photo of the spot, or a drawing, tell us roughly how high, and we ring back the same working day with a figure. Architects and builders can attach a PDF or email a tender package instead. Once you like the figure we survey free of charge, anywhere within reach of Westerham Hill.