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Roofers in Singleton

Singleton lies in the Lavant valley on the road from Chichester to Midhurst, inside the South Downs National Park, with 17th-century houses, thatched cottages, flint walls and a Grade I parish church.

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Three Singleton roofs, from chimney stack to flint church

  • A tiled roof with a chimney stack

    Seventeenth-century houses and their stacks

    The village houses are described as unpretentious and mainly 17th-century, with typical chimney stacks. A stack is the brickwork rising through the roof, and the lead and pointing around its base are the usual weak spots.

  • A thatched cottage beside tiles

    Thatch beside tile

    Some roofs here are thatched, including a tiny cottage north of the church with flint-faced mud walls that may be medieval.

    Read more about Thatch beside tile

    Beside a thatched neighbour, a chimney or tile repair has to be planned with care.

  • A flint wall under a tile roof

    A flint church under tile

    The parish church is flint rubble, partly plastered, with freestone dressings, some brick patching and a tile roof.

    Read more about A flint church under tile

    It is listed Grade I. Where flint walls meet a roof, the lead-lined joints need regular checking.

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

Roof rules to check in Singleton

Planning authority
South Downs National Park Authority
Councils
Chichester District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
Singleton Conservation Area, inside the National Park
Article 4
None for Singleton
Listed example
Singleton's parish church, Grade I, flint walls under tile
From central Worthing
24.4 road miles, west, about 36 minutes by car

Singleton roofs

Stacks, thatch and flint in the valley

How old chimneys, neighbouring thatch and a Grade I church shape what a roofer does in Singleton.

Chapter one

Seventeenth-century houses and their chimney stacks

Old cottages have prominent stacks, and the lead and pointing around each one decide whether the ceiling below stays clean.

The Victoria County History describes Singleton's houses as unpretentious and mainly of the 17th century, with typical chimney stacks. For a roofer the stack is the main event on a cottage like that. It is brickwork rising through the slope, and where it meets the tiles there are four joints to seal: a back gutter, which is a short lead channel taking water round the upslope side of the stack; an apron across the low side; and stepped flashings, lead let into the mortar courses, up each flank. Any of the four can let rain through, and the water may then run down inside the chimney breast to a ceiling far from the fault.

At a glance

  • Village houses are described as mainly 17th-century
  • The base of a stack is a common leak point
  • Chimney repointing is typically £500 to £2,000
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet
Lead-lined valley where two clay-tiled roof slopes meet

1.1 Pointing, lead and flaunching

Three things age on a stack. The pointing between the bricks loosens as frost and rain work at it. The lead around the base lifts or splits. And at the very top, the flaunching, the sloped mortar collar around the pots, cracks and lets rain run down beside the flues. We start from a ladder and the loft, looking at the stack from outside and from inside, and each fault is recorded in photographs for the written quote. MyJobQuote says lead flashing can last over 80 years, which is why re-using sound lead and repointing round it is often the right call. A stack leaning or with brick faces flaking away is a different conversation, and we say plainly when a rebuild beats another repair.

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

1.2 Reading the loft

The loft shows what the outside hides. Water tracks along timber, so a dark stain on a rafter or the chimney breast, or daylight at a gap beside the flue, points back to the joint that failed. On a low cottage roof with a large stack, the stack can take up much of the survey, because every course of brick and every fillet of lead gets looked at. Where the rest of the roof is sound, a stack repair is the whole job, and we do not suggest more.

1.3 Chimneys beside thatch

A thatched roof next door changes how a chimney is handled. Approved Document J, which covers flues, asks for larger clearances at a flue outlet near thatch, so a stack beside thatched eaves is not simply rebuilt to the old height by guesswork. Our chimney repairs page explains pointing, flaunching and rebuilds, and our lead roofing page covers the flashings.

Typical UK costs for a chimney stack

  • Lead patch repair£150 to £250
  • Lead replacement, no scaffold£350 to £460
  • Chimney repointing£500 to £2,000
  • Stack rebuild£2,000 to £10,000+

After the survey, the figure for your own stack arrives in writing as one total; check whether a quote covers VAT and scaffolding. Source: MyBuilder chimney repair guide, updated 21/08/2026; MyJobQuote lead work guide, 22/09/26.

Chapter two

The flint church and flint-faced cottages

Flint and mud walls tolerate little water, so how a roof sheds rain matters more than it looks.

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

Singleton's parish church is built of flint rubble, partly plastered, with freestone dressings and some brick patching, and it carries a tile roof. Its listing is Grade I. North of the church stands a tiny cottage with flint-faced mud walls and a thatched roof that may be medieval. Flint itself is hard, but the lime mortar between the stones is the part that gives, and open joints let rain in behind a flashing. The core of walls like these does not cope well with being wet again and again. So on a flint or mud-walled building the roof has two jobs: keep rain out, and throw water clear of the wall. The gutter, the eaves and the roof edge matter as much as the tiles above them.

At a glance

  • The parish church is Grade I listed
  • Its walls are flint rubble, partly plastered
  • A tiny cottage has flint-faced mud walls and thatch

2.1 What water does at the edge

A cracked gutter joint or a blocked downpipe turns a trickle into a steady soaking at one spot, and an uneven flint face leaves a dressed lead flashing very little margin to sit tight. We check the lead's tuck into the wall, the state of the pointing above it, and whether the roof edge overhangs enough to drop water well away from the face. If a wall is already damp, we follow the moisture to its source ahead of any quote, because the stain inside is often several courses from the real entry point. While a roof is open we keep the wall covered, so a repair does not add to the problem. Plaster over flint sheds water well while it is sound and traps it once it cracks, so flashings are checked against the render as well as the stone. On the church's tile roof the dangers are the same as on a house, but the walls are tall and the ridge is long, and the access needed often accounts for a large part of the cost of the job.

2.2 Who agrees the work on a listed church

Because the church remains in Anglican worship, its roof falls under the Church's faculty jurisdiction through the ecclesiastical exemption, not under the council's listed building consent. Should the church ever close, that exemption would end and consent would apply. Government guidance adds that the exemption does not remove any need for planning permission where the exterior is affected. We supply the survey and photographs of the roof for whoever leads the application.

The parish church in brief

Walls
Flint rubble, partly plastered, with freestone dressings
Repairs
Some brick patching
Roof
Tile
Listing
Grade I
Route for roof work
The Church's faculty system while in use for worship

Source: Victoria County History, Sussex vol. 4 (1953); National Heritage List for England, entry 1354576; Department for Culture, Media and Sport guidance on the ecclesiastical exemption, fetched October 2026

Chapter three

Singleton roofs inside the National Park

A conservation area and the National Park both cover the village, yet neither stands in the way of a sound, matching repair.

Singleton sits in the Chichester part of the National Park, where the South Downs National Park Authority has Chichester District Council deal with planning on its behalf, so the district council is the one to contact. No Article 4 direction covers Singleton, so permitted development rights are not withdrawn here, though the conservation area and the Park still call for care over materials. Where scaffolding stands on the public highway it needs a licence, which the scaffold firm applies for from West Sussex County Council, and the county asks for 10 working days' notice, so access on a narrow village lane is worth settling early. A repair that leaves a building's outward look unchanged is not development, so a covering that matches the old one is generally fine. A switch of material, a new roof window or a dormer is a different matter, and our roof planning permission guide explains where to start.

At a glance

  • No Article 4 direction covers Singleton
  • Building Regulations apply as they do elsewhere
  • Fox Hall at Charlton dates from 1730
Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside
Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside

3.1 Older buildings, several layers of repair

Fox Hall at Charlton, in the parish, was built in 1730 by the Duke of Richmond as a lodge for the Charlton Hunt. A roof of that age rarely carries one generation of work. We often find stone, clay and concrete repairs side by side, and the survey records which is which before a plan is made. Photographs taken at the survey let you compare each layer for yourself, and let the planning authority see what exists before a change of covering is proposed. Where a tiled roof joins a thatched one, we agree the junction with whoever looks after the thatch, since each covering sheds water differently.

Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside
Loft room with two roof windows seen from inside

3.2 Building Regulations on a Singleton re-roof

The Planning Portal's guidance is that re-covering normally escapes a building control application while it affects under 25 per cent of the total building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. Go beyond either limit and approval applies, with an insulation upgrade under Part L possible. Approval is also needed for a covering that adds 15 per cent or more to the weight. Either a registered building control approver or the council's team can sign off the work, and where it is notifiable we handle the notification. Our pitched roofing page sets out a full re-roof, from stripping the old covering to fixing the last ridge tile.

A survey visit in Singleton

  1. Walk the outside Stacks, verges and eaves are viewed from the lane and from a ladder.
  2. Check the loft Daylight, damp staining or soft timber inside shows where water has been entering.
  3. Photograph faults Photographs of every defect go in with the quote.
  4. Advise We advise a repair when it properly fixes the cause, and a re-roof only when it does not.

Roofing work for Singleton's stacks, tiles and flint

Singleton roof questions, from thatch to Grade I

Can a tiled roof or chimney be repaired beside a thatched cottage in Singleton?

Yes, with careful planning. Flues near thatch need bigger clearances under Approved Document J, so a stack is not simply rebuilt to its old height. We agree the junction between the tiled and thatched roofs with whoever looks after the thatch, and we photograph the details before work starts, so everyone agrees what is there.

Does the lack of an Article 4 direction make a Singleton re-roof easier?

It means no direction removes permitted development rights, but the conservation area and the National Park remain. A matching covering is generally outside planning control. A different covering, or a new dormer or roof window, is another question. Planning here is handled by Chichester District Council for the National Park Authority, so ask the district council before changing anything on a listed building or switching materials.

How do you keep a flint-faced mud wall dry during a roof repair?

We keep the roof covered while it is open, sheet over any exposed section at the end of each day, and sort the gutter and eaves first so water leaves the wall edge cleanly. A mud core softens when wet repeatedly. If the wall is already damp, we trace the water to its entry point before recommending any work.

When does a Singleton chimney stack need rebuilding rather than repointing?

Repointing suits a stack whose bricks are sound and straight. A leaning stack, or one with faces flaking away, usually needs rebuilding. MyBuilder puts repointing at £500 to £2,000 and a rebuild at £2,000 to £10,000 or more, and the stack's height and how easily it can be reached move the final figure. Our survey photographs show which route your stack needs.

Roofers near Singleton

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