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Roofers in Lower Beeding

Lower Beeding grew up in St Leonard's Forest, where the High Weald meets the Low Weald. We survey the roofs, tile-hung walls and chimneys of its cottages and churches, then show you what we found.

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Lower Beeding's hung-tile cottages, slate churches and forest-edge roofs

  • A tile-hung cottage wall

    Tile-hung walls and brick cottages

    Early 19th-century cottages in the parish were typically two storeys of sandstone, brick or hung tiles. Where tile-hanging runs up to a roof edge or a chimney, lead soakers and flashings are all that keep the junction dry.

  • A slate roof beside lead

    Sandstone and purple-slate churches

    Holy Trinity, built in 1840, is of local sandstone, while St Saviour at Colgate, built in 1871, has brick walls under purple slates.

    Read more about Sandstone and purple-slate churches

    A slate is thin, so on these roofs it is usually the nail that gives way first.

  • A moss-covered tiled roof

    Roofs under forest trees

    The parish covers most of the former St Leonard's Forest. Roofs near woodland catch fallen leaves and hold moisture for days, so valleys, gutters and shaded slopes are the places we study hardest.

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

The Lower Beeding planning picture

Planning authority
Horsham District Council
Councils
Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
None listed for Lower Beeding village; the Crabtree conservation area lies within the parish
Article 4
No direction confirmed for the village; ask Horsham District Council
From central Worthing
20.7 road miles, north, about 30 minutes by car

Forest roofs

Sandstone, hung tile and forest shade

Three roof problems that grow out of how Lower Beeding's cottages, churches and woodland fit together.

Chapter one

Tile-hung cottages and rat-trap brick walls

Where a hung-tile or brick wall meets a roof, the junction does the work, and it is usually where the water gets in.

The Victoria County History describes the early 19th-century cottages of the parish as typically two storeys high and built of sandstone, of brick (sometimes laid in rat-trap bond) or with hung tiles. Tile-hanging dresses a wall in rows of overlapping clay tiles, each row fixed to battens, so that the wall sheds water as a roof would. Rat-trap bond lays bricks on edge to leave a hollow inside the wall, which saves brick but lets a leaking joint feed water into the void. Wherever a roof ends against one of these walls, the join becomes the weak point of the whole house.

At a glance

  • Hung tiles are nailed in rows to wall battens
  • Rat-trap bond leaves a hollow inside the wall
  • Soakers carry water from wall tiles to roof tiles

1.1 Where hung tiles meet the roof

Tile-hanging stops at the eaves, at a verge (the sloping edge of a roof at a gable) and wherever a chimney or dormer cheek rises through it. At each of those points water has to pass from the wall tiles onto the roof tiles without pooling behind either. Lead soakers, small bent sheets of metal laid in with each course, do that job at the edges, and a lead apron does it along the foot of the wall. When a soaker has slipped, or been nailed through, the stain tends to turn up on a bedroom ceiling some distance from the fault, and it can pass for condensation. We start at the junction instead: one tile comes up beside it, and we look at the soaker, the battens and the timber behind.

1.2 Old frames and chimneys

Iron working after about 1550 brought more houses to the parish, with forge houses recorded by 1602, so some roofs here may sit on very old frames. An old frame moves over the centuries, and the movement can show at the roof as a sagging ridge, a chimney with a slight lean or tiles that no longer lie flat. Before we propose a new covering we look at the timbers beneath and photograph what we see. On a cottage chimney we look at the flaunching (the mortar bed that sets the pots in the top of the stack), the pointing in the stonework or brick, and the lead around the stack's base. Our chimney repairs page explains what stack work involves, and every leak is traced back before anything is priced.

Tracing a leak at a tile-hung junction

  1. Look outside We photograph the eaves, verge and chimney junctions from the ground and the ladder before anything is touched.
  2. Lift one tile A single tile beside the junction comes up, so the soaker, the battens and the timber behind can all be seen.
  3. Follow the stain Any mark inside the house is matched back to a junction, because damp rarely sits under the fault.
  4. Quote in writing The repair and its single total price come together on paper, beside the photographs of your own roof.

Chapter two

Holy Trinity, St Saviour and slate roofs

Two Victorian churches show what the parish built with, and how slate roofs fail at the nail before they fail at the stone.

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

Two churches show the parish's building materials. Holy Trinity, built in 1840 as the parish church of Lower Beeding, is of local sandstone, and the village grew up around it. St Saviour at Colgate, built in 1871, has walls of red, white and blue brick under a roof of purple slates. Slate is split stone, hung from battens by nails in overlapping courses. Its life is long, with Checkatrade putting it anywhere from 50 to 200 years and saying most examples easily pass 100, but the fixings are the weak link, so a slate roof that has stood for a century has often lost nails before it has lost slates.

At a glance

  • Holy Trinity is of local sandstone, built in 1840
  • St Saviour has purple slates, built in 1871
  • Natural slate lives 50 to 200 years, nails permitting
New lead valley between two slate roof slopes
New lead valley between two slate roof slopes

2.1 Nail sickness, tingles and when to re-slate

Once the nails rust, slates slip a little and then drop. A single slipped slate can often be held by a tingle, a small metal clip nailed to the batten and bent up over the slate's lower edge. That is a sound repair for a few slates and a poor one for a roof where slates are sliding everywhere. Cupa Pizarras explains that BS 5534 indicates a minimum pitch of 20 degrees for 500 mm natural slate at a 115 mm headlap, and that hooks are not suited to pitches under 25 degrees, so a low slate roof over a porch or extension needs particular care. We count how many slates have moved, and where, before recommending repair or re-slating, and our slate roofing page explains both routes.

New lead valley between two slate roof slopes
New lead valley between two slate roof slopes

2.2 Consent for a church roof

Holy Trinity is an Anglican church, and while it stays in use, work on it goes through the Church's faculty system rather than listed building consent, under the ecclesiastical exemption, and the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed churches have exemptions of their own. Once a church is shut for good the exemption ends and listed building consent from the council applies. Historic England lists Holy Trinity at Grade II, so the first step on any church roof is to ask who approves the work. For an ordinary house, the question is simpler: ask Horsham District Council whether your address is listed or inside a conservation area, then match the slate or tile that is already there.

Natural slate facts for a Lower Beeding roof

Typical life
50 to 200 years, most over 100 (Checkatrade)
Welsh slate
Often passes a century in service (MyBuilder)
Minimum pitch
20 degrees for 500 mm slate with 115 mm headlap (Cupa Pizarras, BS 5534)
Hook fixings
Not below 25 degrees (Cupa Pizarras)

Source: Checkatrade slate roof cost guide, September 2026; MyBuilder slate roof cost; Cupa Pizarras; fetched October 2026

Chapter three

Moss, leaves and the shade of St Leonard's Forest

Trees keep slopes damp and fill gutters, so a Lower Beeding roof earns a closer look than the same roof in open country.

Lower Beeding parish covers most of the former St Leonard's Forest, so a good many roofs stand close to trees. Trees shade slopes, and shaded slopes stay damp. Moss and lichen settle where tiles stay wet, and a thick moss mat holds rainwater against the clay or slate instead of letting it run off. Leaves and needles pack into valleys and gutters, and when a gutter fills, water spills over the edge, behind the fascia and down the wall. A woodland house needs its gutters cleared more often than one in open ground, and each clearance is a chance to check the roof edge for what overflow has done. Whoever clears them should look at the fascia boards and the wall below as well, because water that spills for a whole winter leaves marks there first. Fascias that have been wet all winter are worth probing with a screwdriver tip, since soft timber tells you how long the overflow has been running.

At a glance

  • Shaded slopes stay wet longer
  • Pressure washing may damage delicate tiles
  • No village conservation area is listed for Lower Beeding

3.1 Cleaning without damage

MyBuilder notes that a pressure washer can harm fragile tiles, and on clay or old slate we would rather brush or scrape the moss away by hand and treat what remains. Cleaning is not repair. If the tiles underneath are cracked, water was coming through before the moss arrived and will still come through afterwards, so we look for faults while the roof is clear. Our roof cleaning and moss removal page covers methods and aftercare, and the chart below gives national guide figures for common cleaning jobs.

3.2 Planning checks in a forest parish

Lower Beeding falls under Horsham District Council for planning. The council's conservation list shows no Lower Beeding village conservation area, though the Crabtree conservation area lies inside the parish, and no Article 4 direction is confirmed for the village. So the check is short: ask the Horsham District planning team whether your address is listed or in a conservation area before you change a covering. Near woodland, bats and nesting birds are likely neighbours, and both are protected, so we look before lifting anything. The Planning Portal sets a building control line at 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, and a re-roof within both limits is not normally notifiable in that way.

Typical UK costs for roof cleaning

  • Tile roof cleaning£400 to £750
  • Pitched roof cleaning£450 to £850
  • Slate roof cleaning£500 to £1,000
  • Replacing guttering, per metre£30 to £70

Cleaning on your own roof is priced after we have seen it, and the figure reaches you as one written total. Ask whether access equipment is inside any other firm's price. Source: MyBuilder roof cleaning and gutter replacement price guides, updated 21/08/2026.

Roofing services for Lower Beeding's cottages and church roofs

Lower Beeding roof questions, from hung tile to forest shade

Can the hung tiles on a Lower Beeding cottage wall stay in place when the roof beside them is redone?

Usually yes, provided they are sound. The wall tiles are separate from the roof covering, but the two meet at the eaves, verge and chimney, so those junctions are opened up and the lead soakers renewed or re-dressed. We lift tiles carefully beside the junction, check the battens behind, and replace only the broken tiles with ones that match, so the wall keeps its look.

Is there a conservation area to check before re-roofing a house in Lower Beeding village?

The Horsham District Council conservation list shows none for the village itself, though the Crabtree conservation area lies in the parish. No Article 4 direction is confirmed for Lower Beeding, so the safest step is a call to the Horsham District planning team to confirm that your address is neither listed nor in a conservation area. If it is neither, matching the existing covering normally sits outside planning control.

Can a purple slate roof like St Saviour's at Colgate be repaired slate by slate?

Yes, while the slates themselves are sound. Slipped slates are re-hung or held with tingles, and broken ones are replaced with slates of matching thickness and colour. The survey shows whether the nails are failing across the whole slope; if they are, a repair only buys a short time and re-slating is the better route. We show you photographs of the nail heads and slipped courses so the choice is yours.

Do the trees of St Leonard's Forest change how often a Lower Beeding roof needs looking at?

They can. Shaded slopes stay wet, so moss and lichen build up faster, and falling leaves and needles fill valleys and gutters. A check after leaf fall, from the ground or by survey, catches overflowing gutters before they soak the wall. Where overhanging branches rub tiles or drop debris, we point it out in the survey and leave the choice about the tree with you.

Roofers near Lower Beeding

Tell us about your roof

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

  • Photographs of what we find
  • A written quote with one total price
  • Or call 01903 299063

10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.

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