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Roofers in Partridge Green

Partridge Green grew around a road junction and a railway station, so its roofs run from Victorian villas to mid-century bungalows. We read each one for age, fixings and where water really gets in.

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Where Partridge Green roofs wear first

  • A shallow hipped villa roof

    Railway-era Italianate villas

    Some grander Italianate stuccoed houses in South Street date from the railway-era growth. That style usually carries shallow roofs and wide eaves, so we look hard at the slate fixings, the hips and the gutters running behind the stucco.

  • A hipped bungalow roof

    Mid-century houses and bungalows

    Many houses and bungalows went up north of the High Street in the mid twentieth century. Roofs of that age are often hipped, with a small chimney and a later flat extension, so ridge, hip and flat-roof joints are where we start.

  • A flint wall meeting a roof

    A flint church of 1890

    St Michael and All Angels was built in 1890 of flint with stone dressings outside and exposed red brick inside.

    Read more about A flint church of 1890

    Flint walling is sealed to a roof by lead flashing, so the pointing around it matters as much as the lead.

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

What to look up before a Partridge Green re-roof

Planning authority
Horsham District Council
Councils
Horsham District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
None listed for Partridge Green on Horsham District Council's page
Article 4
Status to be confirmed with Horsham District Council
Parish church
St Michael and All Angels, built 1890
From central Worthing
12.3 road miles, north, about 23 minutes by car

Partridge Green roofs

From the station road to the churchyard

The village was built in stages, and each stage left roofs with their own habits.

Chapter one

Railway-era villas on South Street and the High Street

The line opened in 1861, and the houses that followed it have slate, stucco and wide eaves that want regular attention.

Partridge Green began as houses scattered beside a strip of waste land, and around 1840 the road junction had about six buildings. Then the Horsham to Shoreham railway opened through West Grinstead parish in 1861, with a station at Partridge Green, and the village changed. After the railway and the inclosure of the green in 1872, building went up fast, and by 1909 it ran along most of the High Street. The grander Italianate stuccoed houses in South Street belong to that growth. Roofs from that building boom have passed their hundredth year, and their condition comes down to three things: the covering, the way it is fixed, and the lead at every junction. A survey here is largely a matter of reading those three against each other.

At a glance

  • The railway through the parish opened in 1861
  • Building ran along most of the High Street by 1909
  • Italianate houses in South Street date from this growth

1.1 What a shallow slate roof asks of its fixings

Italianate houses are usually designed with low-pitched hipped roofs and wide overhanging eaves, and where a roof of that period is slated, pitch matters a great deal. Cupa Pizarras reads BS 5534 as setting a floor of 20 degrees for natural slate, assuming a 500 mm slate, a 115 mm overlap and moderate exposure, and it rules out hook fixings on anything shallower than 25 degrees. On a shallow roof, then, the headlap (how far each course of slates laps over the one beneath) and the method of fixing are what we look at first. Slates that have moved are often held by nails that have rusted at the head, and the stone itself may be perfectly sound.

1.2 Hips, valleys and the gutters behind the stucco

A hipped roof has far more ridge-line and valley than a plain gable, and every junction is a joint in lead or mortar. Behind a stuccoed front, a leaking gutter or a cracked render joint can feed water into the wall below the roof, and the damp then shows on a ceiling a metre or more from the cause. Wide eaves also hide trouble: a gutter can sag or fill with moss for years before anyone sees it from the ground. We trace the water from the stain back up the slope, and the repair is sized to the fault we find, not to the bill we could produce. Our slate roofing page explains how slates are fixed, replaced and re-laid on old battens.

How we survey a railway-era roof

  1. From outside We scan the street and garden sides for slipped slates, lifted ridges and gutters holding water.
  2. In the loft Daylight at the slope, damp battens and staining around the chimney breast tell us where water has travelled.
  3. The lead Valleys, hips and flashings are traced for splits and lifting edges.
  4. The record Each fault is photographed, so your written quote points to what we saw.

Chapter two

Mid-century bungalows north of the High Street

Houses and bungalows spread north of the High Street in the mid twentieth century, and their roofs now call for decisions.

Row of post-war hipped bungalows with tiled roofs on a Worthing street
Row of post-war hipped bungalows with tiled roofs on a street

The Victoria County History records that many houses and bungalows were built north of the High Street in the mid twentieth century. A bungalow roof has more working parts than its size suggests: four sloping faces, hips at the corners, a ridge, often a short chimney and, almost always, a flat-roofed extension added later. Each of those is a place where water can get in, and each ages at its own rate. With every room directly under the roof, a small leak reaches a ceiling quickly. Whether the tiles are clay or concrete we establish on site, because the answer changes both the expected lifespan and the repair.

At a glance

  • Many houses and bungalows went up north of the High Street
  • Hips and ridges are mechanically fixed now
  • Concrete tiles are often given 30 to 60 years
Edwardian semis with concrete tile roofs, brick chimneys, rooflights
Edwardian semis with concrete tile roofs, brick chimneys, rooflights

2.1 Where a 1950s or 1960s roof stands now

Concrete tiles are often given 30 to 60 years, and MyBuilder says they typically need replacing after 30 to 50. That puts a mid-century roof near the far end of its range. The range is a guide, not a verdict, and what matters is how the roof is behaving. Tiles that have slipped in a single patch point towards a repair. Fixings failing right across the slopes, brittle battens and perished underlay suggest recovering. The ridge and hips deserve a close look in either case. Since the 2014 revision of BS 5534 they are held by a screw or clip as well as the bedding, and the alternative is a ventilated dry-fix ridge, a system covered by BS 8612.

Edwardian semis with concrete tile roofs, brick chimneys, rooflights
Edwardian semis with concrete tile roofs, brick chimneys, rooflights

2.2 Repair, re-cover and the paperwork

The Planning Portal sets the line for re-covering without a building control application at less than 25 per cent of the total building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof. Where the new covering would be 15 per cent or more heavier, approval applies; a larger job may also bring a thermal upgrade under Part L. Where work is notifiable, we handle the notification. The written quote comes as one total after the survey, so check that any figure you compare it with says whether VAT is in it. If the flat extension at the back is the real culprit, we say that instead of re-roofing the pitched part. Its covering, falls and upstands have their own lives, and a failing one can look like a failing main roof from the room below. Our roof replacement page walks through a full re-cover from scaffold to clean-up.

Typical UK costs for a bungalow roof

  • Moderate roof repair£500 to £1,000
  • Chimney repointing, bungalow£200 to £700
  • Dry ridge, typical job£500 to £1,000
  • Hipped re-roof, semi£8,000 to £12,000

These come from national guides; ours are good and fair, and arrive in writing as one total after the survey. Source: MyBuilder chimney, dry ridge and new roof price guides, updated 21/08/2026.

Chapter three

Flint, a Victorian church and the Low Weald

St Michael and All Angels has stood since 1890 in the Low Weald, and its walls show how flint and a roof should meet.

St Michael and All Angels was built in 1890 of flint with stone dressings outside and exposed red brick inside, the Victoria County History records. Partridge Green stands in the Low Weald by the Adur's western branch, and a church of this size is a useful teacher, because flint buildings of every scale present the same few questions. The covering sheds the rain, the gutters carry it clear, and the junction between roof and wall is where the lead flashing has to stay tight. Cottages, outbuildings and extensions in flint pose exactly those problems on a smaller scale. On a building mended in stages, we look at which repairs were made in matching material and which were not, since mismatched repairs weather differently and often fail first.

At a glance

  • St Michael and All Angels dates from 1890
  • It is flint outside and red brick inside
  • Worship buildings in use have a separate consent route
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing

3.1 Flint, pointing and lead

Flint is uneven, and the joints between the stones are where a flashing, the lead band that seals roof to wall, is pushed in. If the mortar has eroded or the lead has lifted, rain slips behind the flashing and runs down inside the wall, and the first sign may be a brown stain on a bedroom ceiling a fair way from the junction. We check the pointing along every roof-to-wall line, press the lead to see whether it has come loose and note where each gutter spills. A downpipe that discharges against a flint wall keeps the wall wet and washes out the mortar, so we follow every one down to its outlet.

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

3.2 Churches, consent and wildlife

St Michael's belongs to the Church of England, and for as long as it is in use, the ecclesiastical exemption sends roof work through the Church's faculty process in place of the council. That is not true of every place of worship: the exemption covers a short list of denominations, and it falls away when a church closes. A homeowner in Partridge Green deals with Horsham District Council instead. A roof re-covered in matching material is generally outside planning control, but listing or a change of covering alters that. Wildlife law protects roosting bats and nests in use, so an old tiled roof is checked for both before any stripping begins. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page covers the drainage side. Whatever the building, the site is swept and left clear when the job ends.

What people sayAny church roof in use needs the council's consent before it is repaired.

What is trueOnly churches in current use by the Anglican, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed denominations qualify; a church that has closed, or one of another faith, falls under ordinary consent.

Our roofing work around Partridge Green

Partridge Green roof questions, from the station road to the church

How do you check a shallow Italianate roof in South Street?

We start with the pitch, because slate has a minimum, then the fixings, the hips and the gutters behind the stucco. Inside, we look for daylight and damp battens. A leak on a house of that kind often begins at a hip or a cracked render joint a metre from the stain, so we work back up the slope from the stain, and the photographs go with your written quote.

Is a 1960s Partridge Green bungalow roof due for replacement?

Not automatically. Concrete tiles are often given 30 to 60 years, so a roof of that age is near the end of the range and deserves a proper survey. We count slipped tiles, test the battens and check the underlay and ridge. A few faults in one place usually mean a repair, while failure across every slope points to a re-cover. You hear which, and the reasons.

Who approves roof repairs at a church like St Michael's?

While worship continues there, the Church of England's faculty system applies under the ecclesiastical exemption, not the district council. The exemption covers only named denominations and ends when a church closes. For a house in the village, ask Horsham District Council if the building is listed or you plan to change the covering, since matching repairs are normally outside planning control.

Do flint walls in Partridge Green change how a roof is repaired?

They change the junctions. Lead flashing has to tuck into a mortar joint, and flint gives an uneven face, so the pointing has to be sound before the lead goes back. We rake out failed joints, re-dress the lead and check that gutters do not spill onto the wall. That sort of attention often separates a repair that lasts from one that reopens within a winter.

Roofers near Partridge Green

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
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