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Roofers in Cocking

Cocking lies at the north foot of the South Downs, at the head of Cocking Gap, with a Grade I church. Every fault we find on a roof here goes into photographs for you.

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Three Cocking roofs and where each one lets water in

  • A tiled roof beside a stone tower

    A tiled church with a stone-slate tower

    The Victoria County History records tile roofs on the church, except the plastered malm tower, which carries stone slates.

    Read more about A tiled church with a stone-slate tower

    Two coverings on one building call for two skills: slipped tiles are a ladder job, while heavy stone slates are lifted, graded and laid again by hand.

  • Tiled roofs below a chalk down

    Houses below Cocking Hill

    The Chichester to Midhurst road drops steeply from Cocking Hill to the village, which sits at the foot of the Downs.

    Read more about Houses below Cocking Hill

    On a sloping site, water reaches gutters, valleys and lead flashings fast, so those details matter more than the tiles themselves.

  • An old timber-framed roof

    The medieval Manor House

    The Manor House, north-west of the churchyard, is of medieval origin, probably 15th-century. Timbers that old have moved over the centuries, so we check sag, bearing and laths before judging the covering.

    Read more about The medieval Manor House

    Old roof voids can also hold bats.

Street map of Cocking, north-west of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Heritage and planning notes for Cocking

Planning authority
South Downs National Park Authority
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Cocking Conservation Area, shown on the South Downs National Park Authority's Chichester maps
Article 4
None listed for Cocking on the National Park Authority's Article 4 directions page
Listed church
Cocking Church, Grade I (Historic England list entry 1026062)
From central Worthing
27.2 road miles, north-west, about 40 minutes by car

Cocking roofs

Below Cocking Hill, at the Gap

Three roofing questions for a Downs-foot village with a Grade I church at its centre.

Chapter one

Tile, stone slate and a Grade I church

A church roofed in tile with a stone-slated tower shows how differently two old coverings age, and why each needs its own repair.

A church was already standing at Cocking by 1086, and the present building is listed Grade I. The Victoria County History describes flint walls with ashlar dressings, mostly Henley sandstone, and a tower of local malm rock, plastered. Its roofs are tile, apart from the tower, which wears stone slates. For anyone looking after an old roof in the village, that pairing is a useful lesson. Tiles and stone slates are laid differently, wear differently and fail differently, so a survey has to treat them as two separate problems, even when they sit on the same building and share the same gutters.

At a glance

  • A church stood here by 1086
  • Church roofs are tile; the tower is stone slate
  • Cocking Church is listed Grade I

1.1 Where a tiled roof meets a flint wall

Flint walls are rough, so a lead flashing, the metal strip dressed over the join between roof and wall, has to follow every bump and hollow. Along each wall we see whether the lead still sits in a raked mortar joint, not simply stuck on with sealant, and whether any gap lets rain run in behind it. Water that enters at a wall junction often appears as a damp patch well away from the real fault, so we follow the water upstream before we quote anything. Our photographs of the junction are attached to the written quote, and you can look at the problem on your own building.

1.2 Stone slates are a different trade

Stone slates are thick, heavy and normally laid in diminishing courses, with the biggest at the eaves. When one splits, the answer is rarely a like-for-like replacement from a merchant's shelf. Reuse comes first in the Stone Roofing Association's Horsham guidance: put back as many of the roof's own slates as can be saved. The same logic suits any old stone roof. We take the slates off, grade them by size and lay the sound ones again, keeping the graded piles together so that new work matches old. Where the roof is a tower, access and weight are part of the plan from the first visit.

1.3 Church or house, the consent differs

Where a parish church is still in use for worship, the Church of England's faculty system governs works to it, under the ecclesiastical exemption, and not the council. A listed house is different. The South Downs National Park Authority draws the line between upkeep and change: routine care and small in-situ repairs need no listed building consent, but work that replaces historic fabric outright or alters the building's character does. Before we plan work on a listed Cocking roof, we ask which of those two situations applies.

What people sayA Grade I listing means no roof repair can be done without listed building consent.

What is trueRoutine upkeep and small repairs in matching materials need no consent; replacing historic fabric or altering the building's character does.

Chapter two

Re-roofing inside the National Park

Cocking sits inside the South Downs National Park and a conservation area, so a change of covering starts with a call to the planners.

Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards
Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards

Cocking lies within the South Downs National Park, and the National Park Authority is the planning authority. For the Chichester part of the Park, though, the Authority sends residents to Chichester District Council, which deals with applications on its behalf, so the district planners are the first call. There is also a Cocking conservation area. For a plain repair, with the same tiles or slates put back as they were, planning permission is not normally needed, because work that does not materially affect a building's external appearance is not development in law. The care comes when the covering itself changes, such as swapping clay tile for concrete, or when the building carries a listing. Roof windows and dormers have their own planning tests on protected land, which our roof planning permission guide sets out, so we do not repeat them here.

At a glance

  • The National Park Authority is the planning authority
  • No Article 4 direction is listed for Cocking
  • Re-roofing limits are 25 and 50 per cent
Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside
Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside

2.1 No Article 4 direction on the list

An Article 4 direction takes away rights that owners would otherwise hold. The National Park Authority's list of directions has no entry for Cocking. A list is a starting point and not a promise about your particular house, so we suggest a quick check with the planning team before any change of material is agreed.

Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside
Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside

2.2 Building Regulations on a re-roof

The Planning Portal's test for skipping a building control application has two parts: under 25 per cent of the building envelope affected, and under 50 per cent of the roof. Cross either line, add structural alterations, or pick a covering 15 per cent or more heavier, and approval applies; an upgrade to the roof's insulation under Part L may then follow. Your building control body is either the council's team or a registered building control approver, and where the work is notifiable we handle the notification for you.

2.3 Scaffold, bats and nesting birds

Where scaffolding would stand on the public highway, the scaffolders apply for a licence from the county council, and ten working days' notice is required, so our programme allows for that wait. Roof voids can hold bats and eaves can hold nests; both are legally protected, so we look for signs before stripping starts.

Before a Cocking re-roof begins

  1. Survey We climb, lift tiles and photograph the faults on your own roof.
  2. Consent check We confirm whether the house is listed or the covering is changing.
  3. Building control We explain whether the work is notifiable and handle it.
  4. Scaffold The scaffolders request a highway licence if one is needed.
  5. Written quote After the survey you receive one total price in writing, with your photographs.

Chapter three

Gutters, valleys and lead at the Gap

At the foot of a steep hill, the details that carry water away decide whether a Cocking roof stays dry through a long winter.

The road into Cocking falls from the hill to a village standing near 200 feet, with the houses set against the Downs. A roof in that position handles plenty of run-off from its own slopes, and the strain falls on the water channels: valleys, where two slopes meet and drain together, hidden gutters behind parapets, and the back gutters behind chimneys. When a valley liner splits or a gutter sags, water spills into the wall or the roof timbers, and the stain inside appears a metre from the fault. So we start at the top and work down, following the water, and we photograph each finding for your quote.

At a glance

  • Valleys and gutters meet the water first
  • Code 4 lead suits everyday flashings
  • Ridges are fixed mechanically since the 2014 BS 5534 revision
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

3.1 How lead is chosen

Lead sheet comes in numbered codes, each a different thickness. Code 4, at 1.80 mm thick, has become the standard for everyday flashings, while code 3 is for soakers only, the small lead pieces that interleave with the tiles beside a wall. Code 5, at 2.24 mm, is for walls and pitched work generally, and code 6 handles bigger roofs. We pick the code for the position, not for its price, and dress it into the joint so it holds in a gale. Our lead roofing page explains how it is laid.

Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

3.2 Gutters that clear the water

A gutter needs a gentle fall towards its outlet. Manufacturers typically recommend roughly 1:600 to 1:350 depending on the system, with brackets no more than 900 mm apart. When a gutter overflows, the usual causes are a fall that has slumped, a joint that has opened, or an outlet choked with debris, and each has a different cure. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page covers the choices. If a repair is all the roof needs, repair is what we recommend, and our roof repairs team does the work.

3.3 Ridges and hips

BS 5534 was revised in 2014, and it now expects every bedded ridge and hip tile to carry a mechanical fixing as well, so mortar on its own no longer counts. On an older Cocking roof bedded in mortar and nothing else, that is the first upgrade we look at.

Lead sheet codes for Cocking flashings

Code 3 (1.32 mm)
Soakers only
Code 4 (1.80 mm)
Everyday flashing work
Code 5 (2.24 mm)
Walls and pitched work
Code 6 (2.65 mm)
Large roofs

Source: Leadworx; Royston Lead, fetched October 2026

What we do on Cocking roofs

Cocking roof questions, from the Gap to the churchyard

Can the stone-slated church tower and tiled roofs in Cocking be repaired in the same way?

No. Tiles are replaced one by one and fixed to the battens, while stone slates are taken off, graded by size and laid again in diminishing courses, reusing what is sound first. A split slate may be replaced with a matching one. We assess each covering separately, photograph the faults, and set out the work in a written quote.

Does Cocking being inside the South Downs National Park change who I ask about roof work?

Partly. The National Park Authority is the planning authority, but in the Chichester part of the Park it directs residents to Chichester District Council, which handles applications for it. So questions about changing a covering, or about a listed house, start with the district planners. Straight repairs in matching materials seldom need a planning application. Before work starts we talk through what applies to your roof and photograph the covering as it stands.

Is there an Article 4 direction on Cocking roofs?

None is listed for Cocking on the National Park Authority's Article 4 directions page. Such a direction would remove specific permitted development rights, so it matters mainly when a covering is changing. Because a list can change, we suggest a quick check with the planning team before swapping materials, and we keep to the existing tiles, slates or stone wherever we can.

Why do old ridge tiles in Cocking need more than fresh mortar?

BS 5534, revised in 2014, expects bedded ridge and hip tiles to be mechanically fixed too, with clips or screws into the timber below. A dry-fix system is the alternative, tested to BS 8612:2018. Where your original tiles are sound, we re-bed and fix them back instead of buying new ones.

Roofers near Cocking

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