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Roofers in Ewhurst

Ewhurst lies below the Greensand hills on Wealden Clay, with a tiled church spire, two conservation areas and Horsham slate at Baynards. A Watertight survey photographs whatever is wrong up there.

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Three parts of Ewhurst's roofscape, and where they fail

  • A steep tiled spire

    The tiled spire at St Peter and St Paul

    Ewhurst church is topped by a tiled broach spire, a tapering spire rising from the tower walls. A spire is steep, so each tile depends on its nails, and the ridge lines take the wind.

    Read more about The tiled spire at St Peter and St Paul

    On steep tiling we look at the fixings first.

  • Horsham slabs on a roof

    Horsham slate at Baynards

    The Victoria County History (1911) describes Baynards as a brick house on Sussex marble foundations, under a roof of Horsham slates, both sourced locally.

    Read more about Horsham slate at Baynards

    Those heavy sandstone slabs shrink in size from eaves to ridge, and a repair has to follow suit.

  • Oak rafters in a loft

    Wealden clay, oak and the Greensand slope

    Wealden Clay underlies the greater part of the parish, in what was old forest where, says the same history, oak grows with great vigour.

    Read more about Wealden clay, oak and the Greensand slope

    Wherever a roof is framed in oak, the timbers get inspected along with the covering.

Street map of Ewhurst, north of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Checking against the planning map

Planning authority
Waverley Borough Council
Councils
Waverley Borough Council and Surrey County Council
Conservation areas
Ewhurst (designated 1970) and Ewhurst Green (designated 1974), both appraised in December 2016
Article 4
No direction is named for Ewhurst on Waverley's conservation area page
Church
Dedicated to St Peter and St Paul; Anglican parish church
From central Worthing
28.2 road miles, north, about 42 minutes by car

Ewhurst roofs

Spire, slate and Wealden clay

Three roofing puzzles that come from how Ewhurst was put together and where it stands.

Chapter one

Tiled spire and rebuilt nave at Ewhurst church

Much of the church was rebuilt in 1838 and 1839, yet its nave roof dates from the late 16th century and its spire is tiled.

Ewhurst's church of St Peter and St Paul has had a hard history for a village church. The Victoria County History records that most of it was rebuilt in 1838 and 1839, after its central tower collapsed during repairs and brought down much of the chancel. The nave is the least altered part, dated to the 12th century, with a nave roof of the late 16th century. The tower carries a tiled broach spire, the tapering kind that rises straight from the tower walls without a parapet. A building rebuilt after a collapse makes a plain point about roofs. Whatever the covering, the first question is what holds it up, and the survey starts there.

At a glance

  • The nave roof dates from the late 16th century
  • The tower is topped by a tiled broach spire
  • An Anglican church in use follows its own faculty route

1.1 Why steep tiling puts the fixings first

A spire is about as steep as a tiled roof gets. Water leaves it quickly, which helps, but gravity tugs at every tile and the wind leans on the whole surface at once. Wienerberger's guidance gives each single-lap tile a mechanical fixing of its own, with the fixing plan written for the site, weighing location, altitude and local wind exposure. Plain tiles hang from battens, narrow strips of timber running across the rafters, and are nailed course by course, so on a steep slope we test the nails and battens before we judge the tiles. At a ridge or hip, BS 5534 now expects screws or clips as well as bedding, since the 2014 revision of that standard, a mortar bed alone is no longer the whole fixing for them. Our ridge tile repairs page explains the options.

1.2 Access and consent on a church roof

Reaching a spire calls for a purpose-built scaffold, and any scaffold standing on or over a public footway needs the highway authority's licence, which the scaffold firm obtains. Ewhurst church belongs to the Church of England. While an Anglican church remains in use, the ecclesiastical exemption applies, and works to a listed one are approved through the Church's own faculty process, not through listed building consent. Before anything is planned, the parish is the first call, not the council. The same thinking suits a private house in the village with a steep tiled gable or a tall chimney: scaffold, access and fixings are settled before a single tile is lifted, and your written quote arrives after the survey.

How we read a steep tiled roof

  1. Ground view From road and garden we look up the slope for lifted tiles, bowed ridge lines and slipped verge tiles.
  2. Closer look Where a ladder reaches, we lift one tile to see how the nails and battens behind it have fared.
  3. Loft check Daylight along the ridge or brown tide marks on the rafters show where water has been finding a way in.
  4. Photographs Each fault is photographed on your roof, and the pictures travel with the written quote.

Chapter two

Horsham slate and two Ewhurst conservation areas

Ewhurst has two separate conservation areas, and Baynards shows what a local Horsham slate roof looks like.

Sandstone farmhouse and barn with Horsham stone roofs in the Sussex Weald
Sandstone farmhouse and barn with stone roofs in the Sussex Weald

Waverley Borough Council lists two conservation areas in the parish: Ewhurst, designated in 1970, and Ewhurst Green, designated in 1974. Appraisals for both were adopted on 13 December 2016. A conservation area changes the questions to ask before work begins, not the weather the roof must endure. Renewing a roof in the identical material seldom raises a planning question, because the house looks no different once it is done. Caution starts where the material changes, say from clay tile to slate, and where the house is listed. No Article 4 direction for Ewhurst appears on Waverley's conservation area page, yet we would still phone Waverley's planning team before swapping materials in either area. Roof windows and dormers are judged by separate tests, set out in our roof planning permission guide.

At a glance

  • Ewhurst was designated in 1970, Ewhurst Green in 1974
  • Both appraisals were adopted on 13 December 2016
  • Baynards has a Horsham slate roof, per the 1911 history

2.1 What Baynards shows about Horsham slate

The Victoria County History, published in 1911, describes Baynards as a brick house on foundations of Sussex marble, with a roof of Horsham slates, both sourced locally. Horsham slates are thick, flaggy sandstone, graded from big slabs low on the slope to small ones near the top, which is what diminishing courses means. Under the Stone Roofing Association's advice, a roof's own stone-slates are reused before anything else, and stone stripped from other buildings is best avoided. Where new Horsham slates can be found, they should fill any gap. A 2019 report spoke of a crisis in supply, so stone repairs are planned early. Our Horsham stone roofing page covers lifting, sorting and relaying.

2.2 Strong timbers under heavy stone

A roof of stone slabs leans hard on the carpentry beneath. A conservation appraisal published by Horsham District Council notes that such roofs are steeply pitched and rest on strong timbers built to bear the weight. So rafters, purlins and wall plates, the horizontal timbers that pass the load into the walls, get a proper look before anyone judges the slabs. The Stone Roofing Association adds that alterations to a listed Horsham roof need listed building consent, granted by the council. Bats that roost in lofts and birds that nest under eaves are protected by law; we watch for both ahead of any stripping.

What people sayLiving in a conservation area means every roof repair needs a planning application.

What is trueLaying the same covering again generally falls outside planning control; what to check is the building's listing and any Article 4 direction.

Chapter three

Hill-foot weather and the repair-or-replace decision

Ewhurst stands below Pitch Hill and Ewhurst Hill, so the survey weighs exposure as well as age before it recommends a repair or a re-roof.

Ewhurst sits below the Greensand hills of Pitch Hill and Ewhurst Hill, and the north of the parish climbs onto them, with Coneyhurst Hill alongside. A roof on the rising ground and a roof on the clay floor of the old forest meet the weather differently, so a fixing plan has to answer to the site, not the street name. Marley warns of severe suction on a windward slope where the pitch is below 30 degrees, and Wienerberger ties its site-specific fixing specification to location, altitude and local wind exposure. When a house is re-roofed here, the tile maker is asked for the specification that suits that exact spot, and every fault found goes into photographs for the written quote.

At a glance

  • One failing spot usually means a repair
  • Tired nails and battens across the house point to a re-roof
  • Ask whether a quote has VAT and scaffolding in it
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.1 Repair or re-roof

The survey settles it. When damage clusters around a valley, a chimney flashing or one slope, the answer is usually a repair. When nails have rusted and battens have tired right across the house, the answer is usually a re-roof. You get our recommendation and the reasoning, with pictures. If a single valley is the only trouble, that valley is mended and the rest is left alone.

Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.2 Building Regulations and the price

Under the Planning Portal's explanation, a repair or re-cover that affects less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof does not normally need building control approval. Pass one of those limits, or choose a covering adding 15 per cent or more to the roof's load, and building control approval is needed; Part L may then call for a better-insulated roof. You can take it to a registered building control approver or to the council's building control team, and where the work is notifiable, the notification is ours to make. The price turns on access, the covering you pick, how big the roof is and whatever the old tiles are hiding. VAT on a re-roof is normally charged at the standard rate, so ask whether any quote has VAT and scaffolding inside it. Our roof replacement page describes a full strip and re-cover. When the work is finished, the old covering and all other waste leave with us.

What roof work typically costs across the UK

  • Minor roof repair£100 to £300
  • Moderate roof repair£500 to £1,000
  • Storm damage fixes£500 to £1,500
  • Gable re-roof, semi£5,000 to £8,000

Your own number is set down on paper as a single total once the survey has been done. Source: MyBuilder roof repair and new roof price guides, updated 21/08/2026.

Roofing help for Ewhurst's tiled and stone roofs

Ewhurst roof questions, from Pitch Hill to Ewhurst Green

On a steep tiled roof near the Greensand slopes, what usually fails first?

Usually the fixings and the ridge, not the tiles themselves. Nails rust or work loose, battens soften where damp has sat, and bedded ridge or hip tiles lose their mortar. Each of those lets a tile slip or rainwater track inwards, so the stain indoors rarely sits beneath the cause. Ridge, verges and valleys get our attention first, then we lift a tile where a ladder reaches to see what holds the course.

Which council do I ask before changing roof materials in Ewhurst or Ewhurst Green?

Waverley Borough Council is the planning authority for both conservation areas, so its planning team is the place to ask before a covering changes, and to confirm whether your house is listed. Building Regulations are a separate track: your building control body can be the council's team or a registered building control approver of your choice.

What should I check in a quote for a steep re-roof in Ewhurst?

Look for the covering and fixings it names, and for a statement that VAT and scaffolding are included. A steep roof tends to need more scaffold and longer on site than a shallow one, and both push the price up. Our figure arrives after the survey as a single written total, with pictures of your own roof, and the site is left clear.

When does re-covering a Ewhurst roof need a building control application?

The Planning Portal's tests are 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof; a job under both normally needs no application. A job over either, or one using a covering at least 15 per cent heavier, brings approval, and Part L may ask for better insulation. We tell you which side your roof falls on and make the notification when one is due.

Roofers near Ewhurst

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