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Roofers in Easebourne

Easebourne stands across the River Rother from Midhurst, at the gate of Cowdray Park, beside a Grade I church and the remains of a priory. Our surveyors photograph each fault.

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Three Easebourne roofs and the faults to look for

  • A tiled church roof and tower

    St Mary's, once the priory church

    The church of St Mary stands at the gate of Cowdray Park, with a rubble tower and tiled roofs.

    Read more about St Mary's, once the priory church

    Where tile meets rubble, the flashing and the pointing around it decide whether that join stays dry through a wet winter.

  • An old stone building roof

    The priory remains

    Considerable remains of the priory survive south of the church, including the 13th-century east range. Buildings this old need a surveyor who reads the whole fabric, timbers, walls, lead and gutters together, never the tiles alone.

  • Mixed-age tiles on a village roof

    Houses mended by the estate

    The Cowdray Estates reconditioned the old houses, and in places rebuilt them. Expect roofs of several ages on one house, with squared stone rubble walls and brick-dressed windows, as on the house inscribed 1666.

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

Before you re-roof in Easebourne: the record

Planning authority
South Downs National Park Authority
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Easebourne Conservation Area (South Downs National Park Authority, Chichester conservation area maps)
Article 4
None listed for Easebourne on the National Park Authority's Article 4 directions page
Listed church
Church of St Mary, Grade I (Historic England list entry 1277103)
From central Worthing
27.2 road miles, north-west, about 41 minutes by car

Easebourne roofs

Priory stone and Cowdray Park gates

Three roofing questions from a village that the Cowdray Estates have repaired for generations.

Chapter one

Rubble walls, priory remains and St Mary's tiles

Roofs beside rubble stone depend on the join with the wall, and on knowing which consent route governs which building.

Easebourne's church of St Mary was once the priory church as well, and it stands at the gate of Cowdray Park. The Victoria County History gives its tower as rubble and its roofs as tiled, and Historic England lists it Grade I. South of the church, considerable remains of the priory survive, among them a 13th-century east range. A roof beside walls like these has a demanding task. It has to stay tight against rough stone, where no two blocks present the same face, and it has to go on looking right from the park gate.

At a glance

  • St Mary's has a rubble tower and tiled roofs
  • Priory remains include a 13th-century range
  • Church, house and closed church follow different consent routes

1.1 Why rubble is harder to flash than brick

The line where a roof slope meets a wall is where a roof is most likely to let go, and rubble makes it worse. Lead flashing bridges that join, but it cannot sit flat on stones that bulge and dip, so it is cut into the wall's mortar joints and then pointed over. We probe the pointing around old lead, because crumbled mortar behind the lead lets water find a route behind it and down the stonework, and the stain surfaces on a ceiling several feet from the cause. That is why a damp patch is where we start asking questions, not where we start repairing.

1.2 What the tiles ask for

On a long tiled roof, the first signs of age are slipped tiles, cracked tiles and daylight showing through at the ridge when you look up from the loft. We count them, test the nails and battens beneath, check the underlay where we can reach it, look at how each hip and valley has been finished, and photograph what we find, so the quote rests on pictures of your roof and not on guesswork. Our pitched roofing page describes how a tiled slope is stripped and re-laid when repair is no longer enough.

1.3 Which route for which building

Not every old building follows the same consent path. A Church of England church still in use for worship sits outside listed building consent, under the ecclesiastical exemption, and goes through the Church's faculty process. A church that has closed needs consent from the planning authority, and so does a listed house once the work goes past like-for-like repair. Easebourne's planning authority is the National Park Authority, which leaves applications from its Chichester district area to Chichester District Council. We ask early which applies, because it shapes everything from the choice of tile to the timing of the job. The photographs from the survey go into whichever application is needed, so the decision-makers see the actual roof.

Consent route for roof works to a listed building

BuildingRoute for works
Parish church in use (Church of England)Church of England faculty process
Roman Catholic church still used for worshipIts own approval procedure
Closed or redundant churchListed building consent from the planning authority
Listed houseListed building consent where the work goes beyond like-for-like repair
Source: Ecclesiastical Exemption Order 2010; Department for Culture, Media and Sport guidance, fetched October 2026

Chapter two

Reading a roof the estate has mended for years

A house repaired across generations rarely has one roof, so the survey begins by sorting which parts belong together.

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

The Victoria County History records that Easebourne's old houses have all been more or less reconditioned, or in some cases rebuilt, by the Cowdray Estates. For a roofer, that one line says a great deal. A house mended again and again across generations seldom has a single roof. It has several, laid at different times by different hands: one slope in tiles of one age and colour, another slope in something newer, and a later extension tied in at an awkward angle. We start by working out which parts belong together, because a fault at the join between two eras is a fault in both.

At a glance

  • Old houses were reconditioned or rebuilt by the estate
  • Clay tiles are often replaced after 40 to 60 years
  • A single total price follows the survey
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

2.1 How long old tiles last

MyBuilder puts clay tile replacement at 40 to 60 years in, and Marley quotes a minimum life expectancy of 60 years from the Building Research Establishment. Those are typical ranges, never promises. The Building Conservation Directory is blunter about historic peg-tile roofs, saying the 60-year figure is clearly not a reliable guide for them. We therefore examine your tiles one by one, lifting a sample and looking at the peg holes and the battens, and then tell you plainly whether the roof has years left in it.

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

2.2 Repair or re-roof

Where the trouble sits in a single valley or on one slope, a repair in place will often do. When the failure runs across the whole roof, with nails rusted through and the underlay gone, a new covering is the sounder spend. If a new covering would be much heavier or lighter than the old one, the Planning Portal suggests asking a structural engineer or surveyor beforehand, and approval is needed where the weight rises by 15 per cent or more.

2.3 What the cost depends on

Access, your choice of covering, how large and how complicated the roof is, and whatever lies beneath the old tiles all move the price. When you compare prices, ask each firm whether VAT and scaffolding are in the total. The figures below are typical UK guide figures from a published source. Our prices are good and fair, and our written figure reaches you once the survey is done.

Typical UK costs for common tiled-roof repairs

  • Repoint ridge or hip tiles£200 to £400
  • Re-bed or replace ridge tiles£300 to £600
  • Moderate roof repair£500 to £1,000
  • Storm damage fixes£500 to £1,500

The price for your roof arrives as a single written total once we have surveyed it. Source: MyBuilder roof repair and slate roof price guides, updated 21/08/2026.

Chapter three

Gutters and trees at the Cowdray Park gate

Village roofs next to parkland collect more than rain, so the gutters and valleys need as much attention as the slopes.

Easebourne lies inside the South Downs National Park, and the National Park Authority holds planning powers, with Chichester District Council dealing with applications from this corner of the Park on the Authority's behalf. There is an Easebourne conservation area, and no Article 4 direction is listed for the village on the Authority's page. Repairs in the same materials are rarely a planning matter, but a different covering may be, and so may a listed building. Dormers and roof windows are judged under separate planning tests on protected land, set out in our roof planning permission guide.

At a glance

  • Easebourne is inside the National Park
  • No Article 4 direction is listed here
  • Manufacturers suggest a fall near 1:600 to 1:350
Lead-lined roof valley between two clay-tiled slopes, a few leaves caught in it
Lead-lined roof valley between two clay-tiled slopes, a few leaves caught in it

3.1 Leaves, moss and blocked outlets

A house near parkland tends to catch whatever blows off nearby trees, when trees overhang. Leaves and seed pods pack into valleys and gutter outlets, then hold moisture against the tiles and timber beneath. The result is moss, overflow and wet fascias. We clear and flush gutters on a survey, so we can see whether water flows to the outlet or pools along the run. Manufacturers typically recommend a gentle fall of roughly 1:600 to 1:350, with brackets no more than 900 mm apart, and a gutter that has sagged below that will hold water however clean it is.

Lead-lined roof valley between two clay-tiled slopes, a few leaves caught in it
Lead-lined roof valley between two clay-tiled slopes, a few leaves caught in it

3.2 Valleys and back gutters

A valley carries the water of two slopes, so it fails first and fails hardest. Where the liner has split, or the lead is thin and creased, we recommend a new liner, not another patch of sealant. Our lead roofing page covers the codes and the laying. Behind a chimney, the back gutter is another place where leaves and debris gather unseen, and our gutters, soffits and fascias page covers the roofline in full.

3.3 Building control, once more

Once a re-roof affects 25 per cent of the building envelope or 50 per cent of the roof, building control approval comes into play, and so does any structural alteration. Your route is the council's team or a registered building control approver, and we file the notification when the work calls for one. Bats and nesting birds are protected too, so a roof void or eaves gets a look before anything is stripped.

Our gutter and valley check in Easebourne

  1. Clear We remove leaves and debris from outlets, valleys and the lead behind chimneys.
  2. Flush We run water along each gutter to see where it pools or escapes.
  3. Inspect We photograph split liners, open joints and lifted lead for your quote.
  4. Advise We recommend a repair where one will hold, and a new run where it will not.

From repair to re-roof in Easebourne

Easebourne roof questions, from the priory to the park gate

Why is the join between a tiled roof and a rubble stone wall so often the leak in Easebourne?

Rubble is uneven, so lead cannot lie flat against it, and the pointing that holds the lead tends to crumble. Water then finds its way behind the stonework and surfaces as a stain far from the join. We check the lead and the mortar together, photograph both, and repair the junction properly, not just seal over it.

Do I need consent to repair the roof of an old Easebourne house?

For like-for-like repairs to an unlisted house, planning permission is not normally needed. A listed house needs consent for work that goes beyond like-for-like repair, and although the South Downs National Park Authority is the planning authority, applications from Easebourne go to Chichester District Council, which acts for it. Ask the district planners first. We will also photograph the roof as it stands, which gives the officers a clear record of what is there today.

How do I tell whether my Easebourne roof has years left?

Age alone does not decide it. Typical life for clay tiles runs from about 40 to 60 years, but old peg-tile roofs can differ. We look for slipped and cracked tiles, corroded nails, soft battens and tired underlay, then tell you whether a repair will hold or the roof is failing across every slope.

Can leaves from Cowdray Park trees cause a leak?

Indirectly, yes. Leaves block valleys and gutter outlets, water backs up under the tiles, and the timber beneath stays wet. The leak appears at the ceiling, not at the blocked outlet. Where trees overhang a roof, regular clearing and a check of the valleys and back gutters usually prevent it.

Roofers near Easebourne

Tell us about your roof

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  • Photographs of what we find
  • A written quote with one total price
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