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Roofers in Fletching

Fletching centres on a church that dates from the twelfth century, with village houses around it in the High Weald. We follow each leak back to its start and send photographs of your own roof.

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Three Fletching roof settings and what each asks of a roofer

  • Lead flashing along a wall

    The church and the Sheffield Mausoleum

    The church of St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin dates from the twelfth century, and the Sheffield Mausoleum is attached to its north transept.

    Read more about The church and the Sheffield Mausoleum

    Wherever one roof ends against another building's wall, the lead flashing along that seam is what we check first.

  • An older tiled house roof

    Houses inside the conservation area

    Fletching and Splaynes Green is a conservation area. Whatever covering a house here carries, whether tile, slate or stone, a survey names it before anything else, because repairs inside the area ought to follow the covering already there.

  • Moss on a shaded roof slope

    Roofs under High Weald trees

    Fletching lies in the High Weald National Landscape, near an entrance to Sheffield Park. Where trees overhang a roof, fallen leaves block valleys and gutters, and shade keeps moss damp, so those are the places we clear and inspect first.

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

What the planning records show for Fletching

Planning authority
Wealden District Council
Councils
Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Fletching and Splaynes Green, one of 33 designated by Wealden in March 2017
Article 4
Nothing listed for Fletching; Wealden's one listed direction covers Rotherfield
Parish church
Twelfth-century Anglican church of St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin
From central Worthing
28.5 road miles, north-east, about 43 minutes by car

Fletching roofs

From church transept to Splaynes Green

Three roofing questions drawn from Fletching's old church, its conservation area and its High Weald setting.

Chapter one

A church transept, a mausoleum and lead flashings

Where the Sheffield Mausoleum joins the north transept, two roofs meet a wall, and lead flashing decides whether it stays dry.

Fletching appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Flescinge, and the parish church of St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin dates from the twelfth century. The historian Edward Gibbon is buried in the Sheffield Mausoleum, which is attached to the church's north transept; he died while staying with his friend John Baker-Holroyd, 1st Earl of Sheffield. Whenever a newer structure leans against an older wall, the roofer inherits the hardest detail on the building: a slope or flat top that runs into a vertical face. Water has to be led away along that seam, and the strip that does the leading is the flashing, usually lead pressed into the wall and over the covering.

At a glance

  • The Sheffield Mausoleum is attached to the north transept
  • Lead sheet is sold by code, which means thickness
  • Code 4 is the usual choice for general flashings
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing

1.1 How a flashing lets go

Lead expands and contracts with the seasons. Over decades it can crack along a fold or creep out of the joint it was tucked into, and the mortar gripping it can crumble. Once that happens rain slips behind the lead and into the wall, and the damp patch shows indoors some way from the actual fault. That is why we trace the water back before quoting anything. Against an old wall we also inspect the pointing around the lead, because fresh lead set into loose mortar will not stay put.

Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing

1.2 Choosing the lead code

Lead sheet is sold by code number, which is a thickness. Leadworx puts code 4 forward as the standard for everyday flashings and code 5 as suited to general and vertical use on pitched roofs, with code 6 for large roofs and code 3 recommended only for soakers, the small folded pieces that sit under tile courses beside a wall. We match the code to the length of the run and the exposure of the seam, and photograph the joint before and after. Works to the church itself go through the Church of England's faculty process under the ecclesiastical exemption. The same junction problem turns up on house extensions, porches and bays, which is where our work lies, and our lead roofing page explains dressing and replacement in more detail.

Lead codes for flashings

Code 3, 1.32 mm
Soakers only
Code 4, 1.80 mm
General flashing work
Code 5, 2.24 mm
General, vertical and pitched
Code 6, 2.65 mm
Large roofs

Source: Leadworx, Lead Sheet Codes Explained; Royston Lead, fetched October 2026

Chapter two

Splaynes Green and the Fletching conservation area

A designation covers how a place looks as a whole, so a roofer here begins with a record of what is already on the building.

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

Wealden District Council designated 33 conservation areas in March 2017, and Fletching and Splaynes Green is one of them. The designation is about the way a place looks as a whole, roofs included, which is why a roofer working there starts with a record of what is already on the building. From the church to the cottages beside it, every roof is photographed from the ground and from the ladder before a quote is written.

At a glance

  • Wealden designated 33 conservation areas in March 2017
  • No Article 4 direction is listed for Fletching
  • A changed covering is the point to ask the planners

2.1 Putting back what was there

Stripping a worn covering and laying the same type again is generally treated as maintenance, not development, so it seldom calls for a planning application. The caution starts once clay tile is replaced with concrete, or slate with something lighter, because that alters how the building looks. Wealden's conservation area page lists a single Article 4 direction, for Rotherfield, and none for Fletching, so the village's permitted development rights have not been withdrawn that way. Even so, a short conversation with Wealden's planning team costs nothing when a covering is about to change.

2.2 Listed buildings and the church

Where a building is listed, consent can be required for repairs that do not use matching materials, so the first thing to establish is its status, not the price. While the church of St Andrew and St Mary the Virgin stays in Anglican use, its works follow the Church's own faculty route. Danehill's Holy Trinity Chapel was built as a chapel of ease to Fletching's church, and Danehill became a separate parish in 1850, which shows how closely the two villages were tied. Our roof planning permission guide sets out the rules for roof windows and other changes that sit outside a plain re-roof.

2.3 Living things in old roof voids

Bat roosts and occupied nests are legally protected, and an old void can hold either, so we look as soon as the first tiles come up. If we find any, work on that section waits until the right steps have been taken. We keep the photographic record with the quote, so you hold evidence of the roof's condition before and after.

How a change of covering is checked

  1. Identify We name the existing covering from the ladder, the loft and the ground.
  2. Photograph Each slope and junction is recorded before anything is lifted.
  3. Ask Wealden's planning team is consulted if the material will change.
  4. Match New tiles, slates or stone follow the size, colour and coursing already there.

Chapter three

Leaves, moss and gutters under High Weald trees

Shade and falling leaves wear a roof in particular places, and knowing where saves a re-roof that was never needed.

Fletching lies in the High Weald National Landscape, near an entrance to Sheffield Park, so trees can stand close to a house. Where branches reach over a roof they drop leaves into valleys and gutters, and their shade keeps a slope damp long after the sun has dried a clear one. Moss follows. A mat of it can raise a tile's lower edge, hold water against the clay and wash silt into a gutter until it overflows behind the fascia.

At a glance

  • Valleys collect what the whole roof sheds
  • Jet washing can harm delicate old tiles
  • Large re-covers can need a building control application

3.1 Where the trouble starts

A valley is the first place we look, because it collects whatever the whole roof sheds. Gutters and downpipes come next: leaves block the outlets, standing water rots the board behind and the overspill darkens the wall below. Guttering makers advise a slight slope towards the outlet, from about 1:600 to 1:350 depending on the system, with supports no more than 900 mm apart, so a gutter that holds water along its length may simply have sagged on its brackets. Refixing it can cure what clearing alone does not. Flat porch and extension roofs hold litter on their surface, where it can pond and wear the covering. None of this calls for a new roof. A clear-out and a few replaced tiles often settle it, and we recommend more only when the survey shows more is needed.

3.2 Cleaning and its limits

MyBuilder warns that high-pressure water can harm delicate tiles, and manual scraping is the gentler route for old clay. We scrape and brush, then look at what the moss was hiding. Our roof cleaning and moss removal page explains the methods, and the gutters, soffits and fascias page covers clearing and replacing the roofline.

3.3 When the whole roof is renewed

A full re-cover brings Building Regulations into play once it passes the Planning Portal limits of 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof. Reaching either means an application to a registered building control approver or the council's team, and a thermal upgrade under Part L may follow. A heavier covering needs a weight check before the new material is chosen, and standard-rate VAT applies, so ask whether each quote includes it.

Where leaves and moss collect on a roof

Roof partWhat gathers thereWhat we check
ValleyLeaves and silt from two slopesFlow, and the lead lining beneath
Gutter and downpipeLeaves, moss and gritOutlets, joints and the fall
Shaded slopeMoss on damp tilesLifted edges and loose nails
Porch or flat roofLeaf litter that pondsThe surface and its upstands

Services we offer Fletching owners

Fletching roof questions, from the transept to the lane

Where does water usually get in beside a church transept roof like Fletching's?

Along the seam where the lower roof meets the higher wall. The lead flashing there can crack, lift or lose its grip on crumbling mortar, and rain then runs into the wall instead of off the roof. The mark inside may sit a long way from the cause. We follow the water back, photograph the joint and replace or re-dress only the length of lead that has failed.

Does Fletching and Splaynes Green Conservation Area limit what I can put on my roof?

Re-laying the same type of covering generally needs no planning application. The caution starts when the material changes, or when the house is listed. Wealden lists no Article 4 direction for Fletching, but its planning team can confirm what applies to your address. We record the roof as it now stands, with photographs, first, so anyone assessing a change can see what is there now.

Is it safe to pressure wash moss off a roof beside the trees at Sheffield Park?

MyBuilder warns that jets of water can harm delicate tiles, so on older clay we prefer scraping and brushing. The aim is to remove the moss without driving water under the laps or stripping the surface. Afterwards we check the tiles beneath for cracks and the valleys for blockage, and we tell you if cutting back overhanging branches would protect the roof.

Will a full re-roof of a Fletching house need a building control application?

Possibly. The Planning Portal's limits are 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof: staying under both normally means no application. Passing either, adding a covering 15 per cent heavier or more, or altering the structure brings approval into play. Either a registered building control approver or the council's team handles it, and we manage the notification wherever a job triggers one.

Roofers near Fletching

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