Chapter one
The Grade II church and its timber-clad spire
A tower with a timber belfry and a spire is a different kind of roof job from a house, and the consent route differs too.
St Augustine of Canterbury Church is built of red brick, and its nave went up in 1858 to a design by the Habershon practice. The tower came later, with a timber belfry and a spire covered in thin tiles of split or sawn wood, and the building received Grade II listed status in 2006. A spire of this kind is a steep roof whose hips, the sloping ridges at each corner, climb to a single point. Everything on it is exposed to the weather: the boarding under the covering, the wooden tiles and their fixings at each hip, and the finial at the top. From the ground the faults hide, and a ladder only goes so far, so a proper look needs access that suits the height, planned before anyone climbs. A tower is no place for improvisation either: a temporary fix that traps water does more harm than none, so any make-safe we do up there is built to be undone.
At a glance
- The nave dates from 1858, to a Habershon design
- The tower, belfry and spire came later
- Grade II listing dates from 2006
1.1 Where the tower meets the nave
Water finds its way into a church most readily where a tower rises out of a lower slope. The seal there is a lead flashing, a thin strip of lead bent over the join, and it has to stay tight to the brickwork with its upper edge locked into a chase, a groove cut into a mortar joint. Behind it, a gutter has to run clear, or the overflow soaks the wall. When the lead lifts, the water tracks inside the masonry and surfaces indoors a good way from the break, which is why we follow it back before quoting anything. Timber under a belfry and spire also needs checking from inside the tower, since a roof can look sound while the boarding beneath it is wet.
1.2 Who decides what may be done
A Church of England building still used for worship sits under the ecclesiastical exemption. Roof work there follows the Church's faculty process rather than the council's listed building consent. Once a church shuts for worship, the exemption stops and ordinary consent applies, and a scheduled monument always needs consent from the Secretary of State. A listed house in the village follows a different path again, with Mid Sussex District Council as the body to ask. We would never start on a listed roof without knowing which route applies. If you look after the church as a churchwarden or parish officer, we can photograph the roofs from the ground and from the tower and send you a plain written list of what we see. Our lead roofing page explains how flashings are dressed and what lead codes mean.
How a spire roof gets inspected
- Access first We plan safe access to the belfry and spire before anyone sets foot on them.
- Lead and hips Each hip, course of wooden tiles and flashing is checked for splits, lifted edges and corroded fixings.
- Timber below We look at the boarding and framing from inside the tower for damp and rot.
- Photograph Every defect is photographed so the parish sees exactly what we saw.
