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Roofers in West Hoathly

West Hoathly stands on a high ridge of the High Weald, where sandstone walls carry Horsham slabs and red tiles. We survey roofs like these and show you what we find on yours.

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Three kinds of roof on the West Hoathly ridge

  • Stone slabs on an old roof

    Horsham slabs on pre-1800 buildings

    The 2009 conservation area appraisal records Horsham stone on the roofs of some pre-1800 buildings in the village: heavy sandstone slates, graded by size from the gutter line up to the ridge.

  • Red tiles beside stone slabs

    St Margaret's and the Priest House

    St Margaret's has walls of local sandstone and roofs covered partly with Horsham slabs and partly with red tiles.

    Read more about St Margaret's and the Priest House

    The Priest House, a 15th-century timber-framed house, was recorded as tiled. Mixed coverings call for mixed repairs.

  • A hipped Weald roof

    Sandstone walls and Weald clay

    The appraisal says the sandstones and clays of the High Weald formed the building materials, and Philpots Quarry still produces very fine sandstones.

    Read more about Sandstone walls and Weald clay

    Walls like these carry roofs whose ridges, hips and valleys all need keeping sound.

Street map of West Hoathly, north-east of central Worthing, with a pin on the town.

Rules that sit over a West Hoathly roof

Planning authority
Mid Sussex District Council
Councils
Mid Sussex District Council and West Sussex County Council
Conservation area
West Hoathly Conservation Area, designated in December 1972, covering the southern part of the village
Landscape
High Weald National Landscape, a nationally designated landscape
Listed example
St Margaret's Church, Grade I, with Horsham slabs and red tiles
From central Worthing
29.9 road miles, north-east, about 45 minutes by car

Weald ridge roofs

Stone, tile and timber on the ridge

Three roofing subjects that come from what the village was built of, and where it stands.

Chapter one

Horsham slabs on a High Weald ridge

The older roofs around the church were laid in stone slates, and the rules for mending them differ from those for tiles.

Horsham stone-slates are flaggy sandstones, split into thick and uneven slabs, and Mid Sussex District Council's appraisal of West Hoathly's conservation area records them on some pre-1800 buildings. They are laid in diminishing courses, which simply means the slabs get smaller course by course up the slope. The Association's guide names two methods. Double lap is the usual one, each slab overlapping the course below. The other, found only on Horsham stone roofs, lays the slabs in a single layer and seals the joints with thin Welsh slate shadows bedded beneath them in mortar.

At a glance

  • Horsham stone roofs some pre-1800 buildings here
  • A roof's own slabs are reused ahead of others
  • Slabs shrink course by course up the slope

1.1 Reuse comes first

For slipped or split slabs, the Association's guide ranks reuse of the roof's own stone first. They are lifted by hand, sorted by size and set back on sound battens, the timber strips that carry them. Slabs salvaged from elsewhere come a distant second, since buying them feeds the stripping of historic roofs. Fresh Horsham slates, where obtainable, should make up the numbers. Reports from 2019 describe roofing slabs as scarce, so asking early whether a match exists is sensible. Our Horsham stone roofing page goes through the steps.

1.2 What the frame has to carry

Horsham District Council's own appraisal remarks on the steep pitch of these roofs and the strong timbers that carry their weight. That is a reason not to treat a stone roof as an ordinary one: nobody should swap it for a lighter or heavier covering without the frame being looked at. The Association leans towards keeping double lap, or restoring it, in every case where that is feasible. A change from single to double lap alters the loads, so building control approval is needed, or a church faculty, and a listed building also needs consent from the local authority.

At the survey we examine the fixings, the battens and rafters under the slabs, and the flashings at chimneys and walls. Mortar added over the decades can trap water behind stone, so we look for that too. You receive pictures of your roof alongside the written quote, so nothing is left to guesswork.

What a Horsham slab roof involves

Stone
Flaggy sandstone that splits into slabs (Stone Roofing Association)
Layout
Slabs diminish in size from the eaves upward
First choice for repairs
Reuse the roof's own slates
Slates from other buildings
A distant second to reuse
Supply
Described as scarce in 2019 reports

Source: Stone Roofing Association, Horsham Stone Roofs; Stone Specialist, 31 July 2019

Chapter two

St Margaret's, the Priest House and the conservation area

A Grade I church and a 15th-century house show the village's age, and why roof work here begins with the question of consent.

Sandstone farmhouse and barn with Horsham stone roofs in the Sussex Weald
Sandstone farmhouse and barn with stone roofs in the Sussex Weald

St Margaret's, a Grade I church with a nave dating from about 1090, has walls of local sandstone and roofs covered partly with Horsham slabs and partly with red tiles. Roof repairs for it route through the Church's faculty system while it is open for worship, and closure would bring back the normal listed-building controls. The Priest House, a 15th-century timber-framed house presented to the Sussex Archaeological Trust in 1935, was recorded as tiled when the Victoria County History described it in 1940, so what it carries today is for a survey to confirm. Between them, these two buildings show the range of roofs a Weald village can hold: stone, clay and timber all in one lane.

At a glance

  • St Margaret's nave dates from about 1090
  • The southern part became a conservation area in 1972
  • The village lies in the High Weald landscape

2.1 A conservation area and a landscape designation

The southern part of West Hoathly became a conservation area in December 1972, and the High Weald landscape designation applies to the village as well. Putting the same material back seldom brings in a planning application, and the 2009 appraisal text mentions no Article 4 direction, but a change of covering is a different question. Mismatched materials on a listed house are a consent issue. A call to Mid Sussex District Council's planning officers settles it before anything is ordered. Dormers follow stricter rules on land like this, which our roof planning permission guide explains.

2.2 Timber frames and roof edges

Old timber-framed houses are most at risk where roof meets wall. Rafter feet, the lower ends of the sloping timbers, and the wall plate they rest on rot when gutters leak, and the damage stays out of sight until a ceiling stains. We check those timbers from the loft, and from a ladder where we can reach. Where a roof joins a sandstone wall, a lead flashing is dressed into the joint between the stones, and a split or lifted edge there lets water behind it. Gutters and flashings that look minor from the ground can be what keeps a frame dry.

Legal protection covers roosting bats and occupied nests, so a roof like this is checked for both before stripping begins.

Roof coverings recorded in West Hoathly, and what we check on each

BuildingCovering recordedWhat we check
St Margaret's ChurchHorsham slabs in part, red tiles in partSlab fixings and the join between the two coverings
The Priest HouseTiled (as described in 1940)Ridge, hips and the rafter feet beneath
Some pre-1800 buildingsHorsham stoneCourse sizes, battens and any later mortar
Source: British History Online, Victoria County History of Sussex vol. 7 (1940); Mid Sussex District Council, West Hoathly Conservation Area Appraisal (2009)

Chapter three

A high ridge: weather, repairs and what they cost

The village sits on a ridge that reaches 600 feet just to the north, so fixing and repair choices have to suit an open site.

West Hoathly stands on a high ridge that reaches 600 feet just to the north of the village. A roof on high ground meets the weather differently from one tucked in a valley, and the way its tiles are held down should reflect that. Wienerberger expects each job to carry its own fixing specification, drawn up with the site's position, elevation and wind exposure in mind, and no single-lap tile is left without a mechanical fixing. Marley cautions that a pitch under 30 degrees leaves the windward slope open to strong uplift. BS 5534 expects ridge and hip tiles to have mechanical fixings beyond the mortar bed. Before we recommend a method we establish the pitch, the covering and where the house stands.

At a glance

  • The ridge reaches 600 feet just north of the village
  • Single-lap tiles take a mechanical fixing each, at least
  • Fixing plans weigh altitude and exposure

3.1 Repair or replace on a Weald house

A few slipped tiles and a rusted line of nails along one slope usually add up to a repair. A roof whose battens have turned soft and whose underlay, the membrane under the tiles, has perished is edging towards a re-roof. Your own roof decides which, not a rule of thumb. No building control application is normally needed, says the Planning Portal, if the work touches less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof surface is involved. The same Portal ties approval to a new covering whose weight is up by 15 per cent or more over the old, and suggests a structural check first, which matters on an old frame.

3.2 Working out the total

Pitch, access, the roof's size and the covering all feed into the price, and stone or slate sits towards the upper end of the national picture. The figures below are published guides from elsewhere, not our prices, and Checkatrade quotes its own before VAT. A re-roof attracts the standard rate, so find out whether VAT and scaffold are inside any price you hold. We leave the site clean once the job is finished. For a complete re-cover, see roof replacement; for the lead that seals chimneys and abutments, lead roofing.

Access can be the trickiest part on a ridge-top lane, where a van and scaffold lorry need somewhere to stand. We look at that on the survey, and the scaffold firm applies for any licence needed to work over the highway.

Typical UK costs for stone, slate and lead work

  • Slate recovering, per m²£100 to £180
  • Stone slate roof, per m² (not Horsham-specific)£160 to £210
  • Code 5 lead flashing, per metre£50 to £70
  • Lead patch on a chimney£150 to £250

These are published guides from elsewhere; a written quote with one total follows your own survey. Source: MyBuilder slate roof cost, updated 21/08/2026; Checkatrade slate and roof repair guides, 2026; MyJobQuote, 22/09/26.

What a West Hoathly roof might need from us

Questions about West Hoathly's stone and tile roofs

Can the slabs on a pre-1800 West Hoathly building be lifted, sorted and put back?

It can, and the Stone Roofing Association's guide favours exactly that: use the roof's own stone before anything else. Slabs come off by hand, are graded by size and relaid in diminishing courses over sound battens. Any shortfall is made good with fresh Horsham slates when obtainable, in preference to slabs stripped from somewhere else. A listed building needs consent from the local authority before the covering changes.

What does the High Weald landscape designation mean for a roof in West Hoathly?

It is a nationally designated landscape, and it brings stricter handling for dormers; the conservation area covers the southern part of the village as well. Putting back a matching covering is rarely a planning matter, though on a listed house different materials can call for consent. Check with the Mid Sussex planning team, and read our planning guide before you plan a roof window.

Why does a heavier covering matter on an old timber-framed house here?

A frame built for stone slabs or light tiles may not take extra load without strengthening. The Planning Portal says approval is needed once a new covering weighs 15 per cent or more above the old, and suggests asking a structural engineer or a surveyor first. Approved Document A calls strengthening a material alteration. We note the existing covering during the survey so the comparison can be made before any covering is chosen.

How are tiles fixed on an exposed ridge-top roof like West Hoathly's?

To a specification prepared for the particular site. Wienerberger says that weighs position, elevation and wind exposure, with a mechanical fixing in every single-lap tile at the least. Ridge and hip tiles get fixings beyond their mortar. Under 30 degrees of pitch, Marley cautions that the windward slope sees strong uplift, so we confirm the pitch first and choose the method after.

Roofers near West Hoathly

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