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Roofers in Sidlesham

Sidlesham lies on the Manhood Peninsula beside Pagham Harbour, with an early 13th-century church, thatched cottages and a quay that once served a tide mill. Its roofs are tile, thatch and slate.

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Three kinds of Sidlesham roof, and how they age

  • A clay-tiled church roof

    St Mary's clay-tiled roofs

    St Mary's dates to the early 13th century, is listed Grade I and has clay-tiled pitched roofs. Old clay weathers unevenly, so a repair means matching size, colour and curve, not buying whatever fits.

  • A thatched cottage and chimney

    Thatch, flint and colour-washed brick

    The Victoria County History notes that thatched roofs are common in the parish, on cottages walled in flint rubble, colour-washed brick or cobbles.

    Read more about Thatch, flint and colour-washed brick

    Beside thatch, flashings, valleys and chimneys deserve the closest look.

  • A Welsh slate roof

    Welsh slate at the Quay

    Welsh slate reached Sidlesham Quay after the railways expanded in the mid-19th century, alongside Caen stone, Bembridge limestone, flint and beach cobbles.

    Read more about Welsh slate at the Quay

    On a slate roof it is usually the fixings that tire first.

Street map of Sidlesham, west of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Protected status around Sidlesham

Planning authority
Chichester District Council
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation areas
Sidlesham Church and Sidlesham Quay
Grade I church
St Mary's, with clay-tiled pitched roofs
Article 4
Chichester District Council can confirm for a given address
From central Worthing
25.9 road miles, west, about 36 minutes by car

Sidlesham roofs

Thatch, tile and slate by the harbour

How thatched neighbours, quayside slate and old smallholding sheds shape what a roof here needs.

Chapter one

Working beside thatch near Pagham Harbour

With thatch covering many roofs in the parish, a tiled or leaded repair often sits right beside reed or straw.

The Sidlesham Church conservation area appraisal says thatch covers many roofs in the village, and the Victoria County History calls thatched roofs common in the parish. Cottages are walled in flint rubble, colour-washed brick or cobbles, and the appraisal adds that local red clay provided the bricks and the roof tiles. A group of buildings here might therefore hold a thatched cottage, a clay-tiled extension and a brick chimney within a few metres of each other. Every junction between those materials is a place where water can slip through, and the roofs next to the thatch are where our work lies. Sea weather off the harbour tests all of them, driving rain pushing sideways into joints that a sheltered site would never wet. A small leak at a tiled extension can soak the thatch beside it, which is why we trace the source before suggesting a repair.

At a glance

  • The appraisal says thatch covers many roofs here
  • Local red clay supplied bricks and roof tiles
  • Flue clearances grow near thatch
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing
Victorian terrace chimney stacks with spalled bricks and old lead flashing

1.1 Where tile meets thatch

A lean-to or extension in tile that butts against a thatched wall needs a flashing dressed up the wall, and a gutter or valley that drains clear of the thatch instead of onto it. Overflow keeps thatch wet, and wet thatch decays. We look at where each outlet discharges, how the lead is dressed (lead is the soft grey sheet metal used for flashings and valleys) and whether the junction can move as two different roofs settle at their own pace. A junction that cannot move is one that cracks, so the detail matters more than the material.

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

1.2 Chimneys beside straw

Approved Document J gives flue outlet heights for solid fuel appliances, and it asks for larger clearances where a roof is thatched. For a flue breaking out within 600mm of the ridge, the outlet stands at least 600mm above the ridge line, and thatch raises the figures further. Where a cottage has a wood-burner, the stack, the flashing and the flaunching (the mortar crown that seats the pots) are checked against the document before we alter anything. Where a stack leans or its joints have eroded, repointing may be enough; where bricks have spalled, a rebuild may be the right answer, and MyBuilder's typical UK range for chimney repointing is £500 to £2,000. Our chimney repairs page covers stacks in more detail, and photographs of each stack go into your written quote.

Flue outlet clearances, solid fuel appliances

Flue within 600mm of the ridge
At least 600mm above the ridge
Flue elsewhere on the roof
At least 2300mm horizontally from the roof surface, and either 1000mm above where it meets the roof or as high as the ridge
Flue near an openable rooflight
At least 1000mm above the opening
Thatched roof
Larger clearances apply

Source: Approved Document J, 2010 edition incorporating 2010, 2013 and 2022 amendments, Diagrams 17 and 18

Chapter two

Clay tile at the church, slate at the Quay

Two conservation areas hold two sets of building materials, and for both the safest repair copies the roof you already have.

Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards
Stacks of new handmade clay plain tiles on scaffold boards

St Mary's Church dates back to the early 13th century and is listed Grade I. Its pitched roofs are clay-tiled, and the Victoria County History dates the main roof perhaps to the 13th century. Clay that old does not weather evenly: surfaces craze, edges flake and tiles of different ages sit side by side. A replacement tile should match in size, colour and curve, or the patch stands out for decades and may change how the slope sheds water. St Mary's is still in regular worship, so the Church of England's faculty system, and not the council, governs its roofs. Hips and ridges on a tile roof like this take the weather first, and we check they are fixed to the current standard, BS 5534, which no longer relies on mortar alone to hold them.

At a glance

  • St Mary's, Grade I, has clay-tiled pitched roofs
  • Welsh slate reached the Quay in the mid-19th century
  • Two conservation areas cover church and quay
Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof
Knapped flint wall meeting the eaves of an old clay tile roof

2.1 Slate and stone at the Quay

At Sidlesham Quay, the council appraisal records that Welsh slate arrived after the railways expanded in the mid-19th century, joining Caen stone, Bembridge limestone, flint and beach cobbles. The quay served the great tide mill that Woodruffe Drinkwater built on Pagham Harbour in 1755, which stopped working when the harbour was reclaimed in 1876. In MyBuilder's guide, Welsh slate often passes the hundred-year mark, though that holds only while its fixings do. Slates are hung from nails through holes near the head, and when those nails tire a sound slate slips out of line. The cure is to re-fix the good slates and replace only those that have cracked or flaked. Valleys and abutments fail first: the lead lining a valley can crack, and slates beside a chimney depend on their soakers, folded lead pieces slipped under each course where it meets the stack.

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

2.2 Two conservation areas, one rule

Sidlesham has a Church conservation area and a Quay conservation area, and Chichester District Council's planning team can tell you whether an Article 4 direction touches your address. Repairs that match the existing roof seldom call for planning permission, though you should ask Chichester District Council before you change one covering for another, and ask it too whether your building is listed, since repairs that do not match a listed roof need listed building consent. Our slate roofing page explains re-fixing and replacement. Old roofs shelter bats and nesting birds, which the law protects, and an inspection for them comes before any stripping.

Coverings named in the Sidlesham appraisals and what we check

CoveringWhere it appearsFirst checks
Local red clay tileChurch area roofs, including St Mary'sCrazed faces, broken edges, mismatched patches
ThatchMany roofs in the parishTiled, leaded and brick details beside it
Welsh slateQuay area, after the mid-19th centurySlipped slates, tired nails, valley linings
Source: Chichester District Council, Sidlesham Church and Quay appraisals (2012); Victoria County History

Chapter three

Keynor Farm's smallholdings and their outbuildings

Smallholdings of the 1930s brought greenhouses, piggeries and sheds to Sidlesham, and outbuilding roofs of that kind raise their own questions.

In 1935 the Land Settlement Association bought Keynor Farm and other land in the parish for smallholdings, with greenhouses and piggeries. Which outbuildings from that scheme still stand on any given plot is something we find out by looking. Older sheds and workshops are often roofed in corrugated sheet, and HSE's advice is to treat any building that went up, or was refurbished, before 2000 as containing asbestos. Buildings put up for a working use often have light timber and thin sheeting, so before any roof is renewed we check that the purlins (the horizontal timbers that carry the sheets) are still sound enough to take what goes on top. A new covering on a tired frame is money wasted. A fibre-cement roof that has weathered but is not otherwise badly damaged can be removed as non-licensed work, provided it is handled carefully without breaking it up.

At a glance

  • The Land Settlement Association bought Keynor Farm in 1935
  • Assume asbestos in buildings built before 2000
  • Broken sheeting makes the work notifiable

3.1 If the sheeting is cracked

Substantially damaged or broken asbestos cement changes the category. The work becomes notifiable non-licensed work, with notice given before it starts. In HSE's words such roofs are always fragile, which is why nobody should step onto one. Large pieces are lowered by hand, never dropped or sent down a chute, waste goes into two wraps and is labelled, and the contractor completes the hazardous waste consignment note. If you suspect your own shed roof, leave it alone and send us photographs; we will say what we see and what the next step is.

3.2 Choosing what goes back

HSE's guidance asks whether the old sheets could be covered over instead of removed. We raise that at survey, because leaving fibre-cement undisturbed can mean less risk. Otherwise the choice is a new covering matched to the building's use: a livestock shed, a workshop and a garden store each put different demands on the covering. On a typical UK basis, MyBuilder gives asbestos garage roof removal as £350 to £1,295 for a single garage and £650 to £1,800 for a double, before the new roof goes on. Ask any firm what the figure covers, including disposal, and whether VAT is in it. Harbour weather is hard on a light roof, so the fixings and the edges are the details we photograph.

Handling a fibre-cement outbuilding roof

  1. Assume Treat sheeting on a pre-2000 building as asbestos cement until it is shown otherwise.
  2. Photograph Send close pictures of the sheets, fixings and any cracks before anyone goes up.
  3. Lift whole Whole sheets come off gently and are brought down by hand, not thrown.
  4. Consign Waste is bagged twice, labelled and moved under a consignment note.

Roof work in Sidlesham, by service

Sidlesham roof questions, from the Quay to Keynor Farm

How is a tiled extension flashed against a thatched Sidlesham cottage?

With a lead flashing dressed up the thatched wall and tucked into a joint, plus a gutter or valley arranged so water leaves clear of the thatch. Overflow onto thatch keeps it damp, so we check where every outlet discharges. The detail has to allow movement between two roofs of different ages, and we photograph it as we go so you can see what sits behind the finished edge.

Are Sidlesham Church and Sidlesham Quay covered by an Article 4 direction?

Chichester District Council holds the record of Article 4 directions, so ask its planning team to confirm that for your address. Either way, conservation area status on its own still calls for care. A repair that matches seldom calls for planning permission. Ask Chichester District Council before changing the type of covering, and confirm whether your building is listed. Send us the reply and we will price to match.

What should I do about a cracked fibre-cement roof on an old Sidlesham outbuilding?

Keep off it and send photographs. HSE says to presume asbestos is present where a building went up or was refurbished before 2000, and it treats asbestos cement roofs as fragile in every case. Careful removal of intact sheets is non-licensed work, but broken or substantially damaged sheeting makes the work notifiable. Disposal of asbestos waste needs a consignment note, which the contractor completes as the waste producer.

How long should a Welsh slate roof near the Quay last?

MyBuilder reports Welsh slate often outlasting a hundred years, and Checkatrade gives a range of 50 to 200 years for slate generally. Those are typical figures, not promises: they depend on workmanship, fixings and upkeep. A manufacturer's warranty is not a lifespan either. The survey, with its photographs, is what tells you how many years the existing slates are likely to have left.

Roofers near Sidlesham

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