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Roofers in Ditchling

Ditchling lies below the Beacon inside the South Downs National Park, with Georgian brick, older timber-framed houses and a flint church. We survey the roof and show you what we find.

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Timber frames, the High Street and St Margaret's knoll

  • A timber-framed cottage roof

    Timber-framed houses on the High Street

    Several timber-framed houses of the 16th and 17th centuries survive among the High Street's Georgian brick. Old frames settle over centuries and the roof follows, so we check rafters, battens and every joint where covering meets chimney or wall.

  • Clay tiles beside a stone slab roof

    St Margaret's tiles and Horsham slates

    The county history describes St Margaret's, on its knoll, as flint-walled, with tiled roofs and some Horsham slates among them.

    Read more about St Margaret's tiles and Horsham slates

    Where tile and stone sit side by side, each needs its own repair, the stone relaid in courses that shrink towards the ridge.

  • A flat extension beside a pitched roof

    Brick fronts hiding later additions

    Behind Georgian brick and later shop fronts, a High Street building can hide pitched roofs, flat extensions and valleys side by side.

    Read more about Brick fronts hiding later additions

    Water tends to find the joins where a canopy, extension or back wall meets the main slope.

Street map of Ditchling, north-east of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Ditchling: the designations on file

Planning authority
South Downs National Park Authority
Councils
Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Ditchling, with Ditchling Cottage Homes, on the South Downs National Park Authority's list
Article 4
1972 direction covering High Street, South Street and parts of Lewes Road, West Street and East End Lane; it names dwelling alterations, garden buildings and enclosures, and roofs are not named separately
Listed examples
St Margaret's church and Anne of Cleves House, both Grade I
From central Worthing
16.8 road miles, north-east, about 24 minutes by car

Ditchling roofs

Beacon slope, High Street and church knoll

Three roofing questions that come from where Ditchling stands and what it is built of.

Chapter one

Timber frames behind Georgian brick

Behind some of Ditchling's brick fronts stands a frame several centuries old, and a roof that has learnt to follow its bends.

The county history says Ditchling's High Street shows chiefly Georgian brick and later shop fronts, yet several timber-framed houses of the 16th and 17th centuries survive along it. Wings Place, known as Anne of Cleves House, faces the church; it is mainly an Elizabethan timber-framed house and is listed Grade I. A frame that old has settled, bowed and been re-pegged over the centuries, so the roof laid across it is seldom flat or square. Tiles cut for a straight roof sit badly on a wandering one. The first sign of trouble is usually where something straight, such as a chimney or a wall, meets something crooked.

At a glance

  • Several 16th and 17th-century timber-framed houses survive
  • Chimney and wall joins fail before slopes do
  • Lead suits the crooked lines of an old frame

1.1 What the loft visit covers

We go up through the hatch with a torch and a camera. Rafters are examined for movement and for rot at their feet, where a failed gutter may have soaked them. Battens are pressed for softness. The underlay, the waterproof sheet laid beneath the tiles, is checked for tears and for chinks of daylight. Where a chimney rises through the slope we study its flashing and its flaunching, the sloped mortar bed around the pots that sheds rain. Pictures from the loft go beside pictures from outside, so you can follow the path the water took and not only look at the stain. We name the likely cause plainly and say how far the damage has spread. The written quote follows, giving one total price for the work.

1.2 Extensions, canopies and valleys

Behind a brick front and a shop-front canopy there are usually later additions: a back extension, a flat roof, a valley where two pitches meet. Each join is a place for water to enter, and lead is the usual answer. Leadworx calls Code 4 the standard choice for general flashing, with heavier codes kept for large roofs and heavy duty. On an old frame the lead is dressed to the actual line of the wall, not a drawn one. Our lead roofing page explains the codes, and our roof inspections and surveys page describes the visit in full.

Inside the loft of an old Ditchling house

  1. Rafters We look for movement, rot at the feet and old repairs in the timber.
  2. Battens We press along them for soft spots before judging the covering.
  3. Underlay We look for tears, daylight and damp patches under each slope.
  4. Junctions We trace chimney, wall and valley joins, where water most often starts.

Chapter two

Listed buildings, the Park and the 1972 direction

St Margaret's, Anne of Cleves House and the old meeting-house each follow a different consent route, and the Park Authority decides on planning.

Sussex flint church with a sweeping Horsham stone roof and lichen-covered slabs
Sussex flint church with a sweeping stone roof and lichen-covered slabs

Ditchling lies inside the South Downs National Park, so the South Downs National Park Authority, not Lewes District Council, handles planning matters. Three buildings set the tone. St Margaret's stands on a knoll in the middle of the village and is listed Grade I. Anne of Cleves House faces it and is also Grade I. The old meeting-house in East End Lane dates from 1740 and is listed Grade II. Roofs on buildings of this rank are rarely a job for a quick quote; they start with a conversation about consent.

At a glance

  • St Margaret's and Anne of Cleves House are Grade I
  • A 1972 Article 4 direction covers High Street streets
  • The Park Authority decides planning matters here
Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village
Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village

2.1 Which route applies

The route depends on who uses the building. St Margaret's is an Anglican church still holding services, which brings it under the ecclesiastical exemption, and works go through the Church's faculty system instead. Unitarian and Free Christian congregations are not among the denominations that benefit from that exemption, so for a building of that tradition listed building consent comes from the planning authority. For a private listed house, the Park Authority says everyday maintenance and small like-for-like repairs carried out in situ need no listed building consent, whereas work that changes or entirely replaces historic fabric, and so alters the character of the building, does. The table below lays each route out in turn.

Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village
Old clay tile roof over a flint wall in a downland village

2.2 The 1972 direction

An Article 4 direction made on 13 November 1972 and approved on 13 February 1973 covers High Street, South Street and parts of Lewes Road, West Street and East End Lane. It was made under the 1963 order and removes the right to enlarge, improve or alter a dwellinghouse within cubic-content limits, to put up buildings in the garden incidental to the house, and to build gates, fences and walls. Roofs are not named separately. Whether a roof change in those streets needs an application is therefore a question for the Park Authority before work starts, not an assumption either way. A repair that restores what was there counts as maintenance, which does not usually need permission. Roof windows and dormers follow different rules inside the National Park, covered by our roof planning permission guide.

Consent routes for three Ditchling buildings

BuildingStatusRoute for roof works
St Margaret's churchGrade I, Church of England, in useChurch faculty system under the ecclesiastical exemption
Anne of Cleves HouseGrade IListed building consent from the Park Authority for works affecting character; like-for-like repairs in place excepted
Old meeting-house, East End LaneGrade II, Unitarian and Free ChristianListed building consent from the planning authority; not an exempt denomination
Houses in the 1972 direction streetsDwellings, Article 4 areaAsk the Park Authority before altering the roof
Source: Ecclesiastical Exemption Order 2010; government guidance on the exemption; South Downs National Park Authority, fetched October 2026

Chapter three

Horsham slates and the slope to the Beacon

The county history records Horsham slates among the tiles of St Margaret's, and the Beacon slope adds its own demands on any roof fixing.

St Margaret's has flint walls with sandstone dressings, and the county history of 1940 describes its roofs as tiled, with some Horsham slates in the mix. Horsham slates are thin sandstone slabs, laid in courses that shrink from large at the eaves to small at the ridge. For the Stone Roofing Association the first step is putting the roof's original slabs back. Slates lifted from other buildings are a poor second, since demand for them fuels the destruction of old roofs on other sites, and if some cannot be avoided their origin should be confirmed as legitimate. Where slabs have split beyond use, suitable new Horsham slates should make up the shortfall, and limestone must not be set in among the sandstone.

At a glance

  • St Margaret's has tiled roofs with some Horsham slates
  • The roof's own slabs are reused first
  • Ditchling Beacon rises to 813 feet
Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof
Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof

3.1 Relaying a stone roof

Relaying begins with lifting the slabs and sorting them by size, because the courses depend on it. The battens or boards beneath are checked before a single slab goes back. Wherever possible the Association would rather see double lap slating kept or brought back. Moving between single and double lap changes the load on the roof, so a structural review and building control approval follow, with listed building consent from the local authority on a listed building. Reports in 2019 described a supply crisis for Horsham roofing slabs, which is one reason owners ask us to save every sound slab. Our Horsham stone roofing page covers lifting, sorting and relaying.

Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof
Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof

3.2 Up the slope

The parish is a long, narrow strip about six miles from north to south, climbing to 813 feet at Ditchling Beacon. A roof beside the church and a house far up the slope do not stand in the same place, and Wienerberger asks that tile fixings be specified for the site, allowing for location, altitude and local exposure. Below 30 degrees of pitch, Marley warns, the slope facing the wind can meet severe suction. On a tiled roof anywhere in the parish we work from that site schedule, and on ridges we follow BS 5534, which no longer leaves mortar to do the job alone.

Horsham stone repair rules of thumb

First choice
The roof's own slabs go back first (SRA)
Slabs from other buildings
Avoid where possible (SRA)
Shortfall
Suitable new Horsham slates (SRA)
Mixing stone
Never limestone with sandstone (SRA)
Lapping
Keep or restore double lap where possible (SRA)

Source: Stone Roofing Association, Horsham Stone Roofs, 2009; Stone Specialist, 31 July 2019

How we can help a Ditchling roof

Roof questions from the High Street to the Beacon

Can Horsham slates on an old Ditchling roof be relaid instead of replaced?

Relaying is the first choice. The Stone Roofing Association ranks a roof's original slabs above any alternative, so we lift them, sort them by size and set them back in courses that shrink towards the ridge. Splits are made up with suitable new Horsham slates, and slates stripped from other buildings are avoided where possible. On a listed building, ask the Park Authority about consent before work begins.

Does the 1972 Article 4 direction stop me re-covering a Ditchling roof?

The direction removes rights for enlarging, improving or altering a dwellinghouse, for garden buildings and for enclosures, and it does not name roofs separately. Replacing like with like is maintenance, which is rarely development. Altering the shape or the material is different, so put the question to the South Downs National Park Authority first. Our survey photographs give everyone a plain record of the roof as it is today.

Do I ask Lewes or the Park about a roof in Ditchling?

Planning in this part of the Park rests with the South Downs National Park Authority, so that is where questions about consent, a conservation area or a listed building go. Lewes District Council and East Sussex County Council remain the councils for other services. Building control sits apart from planning, and when a job needs an application we explain the route and prepare the notification.

What happens at a survey of a timber-framed Ditchling house?

We inspect the roof from outside, then go into the loft to check rafters, battens, underlay and every joint around the chimney. Photographs are taken as we go. We trace any damp to its source before quoting, and recommend the smallest job that properly fixes it. You receive the pictures with a written quote giving one total price, so you can see each fault on your own roof.

Roofers near Ditchling

Tell us about your roof

Describe what is happening and we will call you back to arrange a visit.

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