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Roofers in Lodsworth

Lodsworth lies above the River Rother between Midhurst and Petworth, inside the South Downs National Park, with a sandstone church, a thirteenth-century manor house and a conservation area of its own.

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Three Lodsworth roofs, from ashlar church to brick cottage

  • A tiled roof beside a stone wall

    A sandstone church under tile

    St Peter's is built of local sandstone ashlar, roofed with tile, and listed Grade II*. Ashlar means squared, finely cut blocks, so the edge of a roof meets a flat, tight wall face rather than rough rubble.

  • A roughcast wall under a tiled roof

    A manor house from the thirteenth century

    The Manor House dates from two periods of the 13th century, built of sandstone under roughcast, with later brick and a modern tiled roof.

    Read more about A manor house from the thirteenth century

    It is listed Grade II*, so any roof work there starts with consent.

  • A brick house with clay tiles

    Houses from the brickfield years

    Extensive brickfields worked on Lodsworth Common in the later 19th century, so a house from those decades may well be brick under clay tile.

    Read more about Houses from the brickfield years

    A survey confirms what each roof is made of before we advise.

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

Before you re-roof in Lodsworth: the record

Planning authority
South Downs National Park Authority
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Lodsworth conservation area, as mapped by the National Park Authority for Chichester district
Article 4
A direction made on 9 June 2021 covers land adjoining Lodsworth House and has no roof restriction
Listed examples
St Peter's Church and the Manor House, both Grade II*
From central Worthing
24.4 road miles, north-west, about 41 minutes by car

Lodsworth roofs

Rother-side sandstone, brick and tile

What the church, the manor house and the common's old brickfields mean for a roof today.

Chapter one

Where the roof meets Lodsworth's sandstone

Lodsworth's oldest buildings have stone walls, and the junction of tiled roof with stone wall is our first place to look.

St Peter's church is built of local sandstone ashlar, which means squared and finely dressed blocks, and roofed with tile. It is listed Grade II*. The Manor House, south of the church, dates from two periods of the 13th century and is also Grade II*: sandstone under roughcast, with later brick and a modern tiled roof. Both show how much of an old village roof is decided by the wall it ends against. Where roughcast meets a roof, the render should stop short of the tiles so water can drain clear, since render carried down onto a covering holds damp against it. A tiled slope sits on timber, but its edges finish at masonry, and the junction with that masonry is where we expect many leaks to begin, not under the tiles themselves.

At a glance

  • St Peter's is sandstone ashlar under tile
  • The Manor House is Grade II*, partly roughcast
  • Lead flashings seal a roof to a stone wall
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

1.1 Where roof meets stone

Where a slope butts a sandstone wall, the seal is a lead flashing let into a cut in the mortar joint and lapped over the tiles. On ashlar the joint runs straight and shallow, so the lead sits neatly. On roughcast it is harder to see where water travels, because the render can crack and let rain in behind it, and a stain inside the house may sit well away from the true entry point. We check the lead's fixing into the wall, the pointing above it and the gutter beneath, in that order. Lead is long-lived, with MyJobQuote putting flashings at over 80 years, but only while it is held tight and the wall behind it is sound.

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

1.2 Consent for the church and the manor

Roof work at St Peter's is decided inside the Anglican Church, through the Church's faculty jurisdiction, and not through the council's listed building process, because the church is still used for worship. That route covers listed building consent only: the government's guidance for places of worship says planning permission is still needed for development that affects the exterior. For the Manor House, consent comes from the planning authority. Park Authority guidance separates two things. Everyday maintenance and modest repairs made on the spot, copying what exists, can go ahead without listed building consent. Consent is needed once old fabric is changed or replaced and the building's special interest is affected. We quote a roof like that only once we have read what is on it and confirmed the route. Our lead roofing page covers flashings, valleys and gutters in lead.

What people sayEvery repair to a listed roof needs listed building consent first.

What is truePark Authority guidance exempts everyday maintenance and modest on-the-spot repairs; consent is needed once old fabric is replaced and special interest is affected.

Roofer on a chimney scaffold repointing an old brick stack

Chapter two

A brickfield-era house and its ridge

The common's Victorian brickfields point to houses of one age, and that age shows first at the ridge, the verges and the fixings.

The Victoria County History records extensive brickfields on Lodsworth Common in the later 19th century. That says nothing about any single house, and it is the survey, not the history, that tells us what a roof is made of. What it does suggest is a period when brick and clay tile were close at hand, which makes a roof from that era more than a century old. On roofs of that age the first things to fail are seldom the tiles. They are the ridge bedding, the pointing along a verge, the edge at which a slope stops beside a gable wall, and the nails holding each course, so a survey begins along the top and down the edges.

At a glance

  • Brickfields worked on the common in the later 19th century
  • Roofs of that age pre-date mechanical ridge fixing
  • Dry-fix ridge systems are tested to BS 8612

2.1 Ridges the modern way

Under BS 5534 as revised in 2014, a bedding of mortar no longer carries the ridge or hip tiles by itself; a fixing goes into the timber beneath as well. A roof laid before that change usually depends on bedding alone, and after a century of frost and wind that bedding is the weak point. The other route is dry-fix: a ventilated roll runs along the ridge, the tiles clip down onto it and no mortar is used. The test specification for them is BS 8612:2018. Mortar is not banned, and original ridge tiles in good order are washed, bedded afresh and fastened down again instead of being thrown away. MyBuilder's typical UK range to re-bed or replace ridge tiles is £300 to £600 (updated 21 August 2026). Our ridge tile repairs page sets out the choices.

2.2 The nails and battens beneath

Clay tile on a house of this age hangs by nails from timber battens, and either can fail before the clay does. We lift a tile or two in several places, test the nails by hand, check the battens for softness and look at whether any underlay, the membrane under the battens, was ever laid. A roof that fails those checks across several slopes is a candidate for re-roofing. One with a single weak valley is not, and that is the job we recommend. Either way, the photographs of your roof and the written quote reach you together. The gutters along the eaves get the same attention, because one that spills behind the fascia board soaks the rafter ends and can be misread as a leak in the roof itself.

Chapter three

Roof work inside the National Park

Lodsworth is in the South Downs National Park, and that changes who you ask, though not how a good roof is built.

Because Lodsworth lies inside the National Park, ask the South Downs National Park Authority, or Chichester District Council acting on its behalf, who handles planning for your address. The Park and the conservation area do not stop a roof being repaired. Putting back a matching covering is generally not development, because the law leaves out works that leave a building's outward look substantially as it was. What changes is the care taken with materials, and the extra step of confirming first when a roof window, dormer or change of covering is on the cards. Adding a roof window or dormer is governed by separate rules in the Park, so settle that question before scaffolding is booked. Our roof planning permission guide covers them.

At a glance

  • The Park is article 2(3) land for planning
  • The 2021 Article 4 direction has no roof restriction
  • Building Regulations are unchanged inside the Park
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs
Row of concrete sectional garages with weathered grey corrugated roofs

3.1 The 2021 Article 4 direction

One direction is on record for the village: it was made on 9 June 2021 for land adjoining Lodsworth House. It removes permitted development rights for gates, fences, walls and other enclosures, and for the temporary use of land for up to 28 days a year. It has no roof restriction, so it is a matter for a boundary wall, not a re-roof. If you are planning a new fence or wall on that land, that is the point to ask the Authority.

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

3.2 Repair, replace and what it costs

Re-roofing a house in the Park is judged by the same Building Regulations as anywhere else. Under the Planning Portal guidance, building control is normally not needed when work touches less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof; above them approval is needed, and Part L can bring an energy-efficiency upgrade with it. A registered building control approver or the council's team can check the work, and where it is notifiable we handle the notification. The law gives bats and nesting birds protection. Droppings or a nest in the eaves would pause the job while we take advice, which is why the loft and eaves are checked before a tile is lifted. Cost depends on what the survey finds, how easily the roof can be reached and which covering goes back, so the written quote follows the visit. Our roof repairs page covers the smaller jobs, from a slipped tile to a cracked flashing.

Typical UK costs for village roof work

  • Moderate roof repair£500 to £1,000
  • Chimney repointing£500 to £2,000
  • Scaffold, two-storey house£850 to £1,200
  • Gable re-roof, semi£5,000 to £8,000

Your own figure is a single written total that arrives after the survey; check that every quote you receive says whether the price covers VAT and scaffolding. Source: MyBuilder roof repair, chimney repair, scaffolding and new roof price guides, updated 21/08/2026.

Roofing work for Lodsworth's stone, brick and tile

Lodsworth roof questions, from the manor to the common

Can a Lodsworth cottage roof be recovered with matching tile?

Generally yes. Work that leaves a building's outward look substantially unchanged is outside planning control, so a matching covering does not usually trigger planning permission. The cautions are listed buildings and any Article 4 direction. Because the village is in the National Park and has a conservation area, we confirm the position with the planning authority before a covering changes.

Does the Article 4 direction at Lodsworth House affect my roof?

No. The direction, made on 9 June 2021, applies to land adjoining Lodsworth House and removes rights for gates, fences, walls and other enclosures, plus temporary use of land for up to 28 days a year. It contains no roof restriction. Roof work still has to respect the conservation area and the National Park, and any listed building rules, so ask before changing materials.

Who authorises roof work on St Peter's church?

St Peter's is Grade II* listed and a working Church of England church, so changes are made through the Church's faculty system under the ecclesiastical exemption rather than the council's listed building consent. Planning permission can still apply where development affects the exterior. The parish and its architect lead that process; we supply a survey and photographs of the roof.

How can I tell if a late-Victorian Lodsworth roof needs a repair or a new roof?

The survey decides. We lift tiles in several places, test nails, check battens for softness and see whether the underlay survives. Problems in one area, a ridge or a valley, point to repair. Rusted fixings and tired battens on every slope point to re-roofing. We show the difference in photographs of your own roof and recommend the smaller job when it properly solves the problem.

Roofers near Lodsworth

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