Roofs on old farms and listed cottages at the Brighton road fork.
Ansty is a hamlet on the Brighton road with farmhouses dating from about 1450 and several Grade II listed homes. We inspect first, share photographs of what is there and write down one total.
Anstye Farm, at the fork of the Brighton and Bolney roads, is a house of the 15th century that still shows its two-bay hall. A roof on a frame this old is judged from the timbers outward.
Old timber-framed house with tiled roof
Butler's Farm dates from about 1450, and more of its timber framing is exposed outside. Where the frame shows, so does any movement, which is why we look at the walls as well as the covering.
Exposed timber frame under a roof
Mount Noddy Cottage, The Old Cottage and The Ancient Farm are all listed Grade II. Listing changes what a repair may touch, so we check what applies to your house before we plan the work.
Cottage roof with a brick chimney
Map of Ansty and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Ansty is a hamlet on the Brighton road, south-west of Cuckfield and south of Crawley, in the old parish of Cuckfield.
Ansty roof notes
Three short chapters on Ansty's farmhouses and their frames, the listed cottages around them, and the Mid Sussex and West Sussex steps on a bigger job.
Stage 01 · Hamlet
Ansty's oldest houses stand where the Brighton and Bolney roads divide, and their roofs rest on frames that are about 500 years old.
Ansty is a hamlet on the Brighton road, south-west of Cuckfield and part of the old parish of Cuckfield, which is why the Victoria County History describes it in its Cuckfield chapter and spells the name Anstye. Anstye Farm, at the fork of the Brighton and Bolney roads, is a 15th-century house that keeps evidence of a two-bay hall with a two-storeyed wing at its west end. Butler's Farm, about 500 yards to the south-west, also dates from about 1450 and began the same way.
It means the order of the survey changes. On a modern estate house the covering tells most of the story. On a house like Anstye Farm the structure comes first: the roof timbers, the wall plates they sit on (the timbers laid along the top of a wall) and the tops of the walls themselves. A frame that has stood for 500 years has moved and settled, so a roof line that is not perfectly straight may be perfectly sound. We look for the movement that is recent, such as a sagging slope, open joints or damp timber under a leaking valley, and we photograph it for you.
On an Ansty survey
Each Ansty roof is identified on the day, tile by tile, rather than guessed from the street. Published figures give a frame of reference only. Clay tiles carry a Building Research Establishment minimum of 60 years, but the figure is said to be a poor guide for old peg tile. Marley gives concrete tiles about 60 years with no guarantee attached. Lead flashing is quoted at more than 80 years in one cost guide, while mortar, nails and underlay can fail sooner. On a chimney, the lead and the flaunching, which is the mortar cap holding the pots, are where we start; our chimney repairs page explains that work.
After the survey you receive a plain account of each fault, what it is likely to do if left, and one total in writing for the repair. If the answer is a few tiles and some pointing, the quote will say that and nothing more. Our pitched roofing page sets out how tile, batten and underlay repairs are done.
Stage 02 · Listed homes
Mount Noddy Cottage, The Old Cottage and The Ancient Farm are all listed Grade II, and listing shapes what a roof job may touch.
Mount Noddy Cottage has been on the National Heritage List for England at Grade II since it was first listed on 11 May 1983. The Ancient Farm and The Old Cottage are Grade II as well. Three listed homes in one small hamlet is reason enough to ask about listing before we name a price.
Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 says that works for the alteration or extension of a listed building in any manner that would affect its character must be authorised. In plain terms, if the work changes how the house looks or is made, you need listed building consent from Mid Sussex District Council. A repair in the same material, laid in the same way, is far less likely to raise the question, but the council decides, and you should ask it before booking. Keep the reply. Our post on planning permission for roof work explains how the ordinary householder rights sit alongside a listing.
Listed-building terms
We start with photographs and a written description of the fault and the repair, so the council and you are reading the same facts. We note the tile or slate, its size, its colour and the way it is fixed, so a replacement can match. We avoid anything that adds weight to an old frame, and we say at the survey if a repair cannot be done without changing the look of the roof. In that case the sensible next step is a conversation with the council, with our description in hand, before anyone orders materials.
For these houses the listing is the first layer to think about, and the Mid Sussex planners will know if a conservation area boundary also takes in your lane. That is a short list of questions: is the building listed, which grade, and does the work alter its character. Answer those first and the rest of the job is plain roofing.
On a listed roof, the question to ask the council comes before the quote, not after.
Lead sheet is sold in numbered codes by thickness. Royston Lead's brochure lists codes 4, 5 and 6 for flashings, and recommends code 3 for soakers only, the small folded pieces that sit under each tile course against a wall. A flashing that has cracked at a bend, or lifted from the brickwork, is a common cause of a stain below a chimney. On a listed house we repair or renew the lead to match what was there, and photograph it before and after so the file shows exactly what changed.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Mid Sussex District Council covers planning and its own building control at Ansty, and West Sussex County Council licenses scaffold on public roads.
Ansty is outside the South Downs National Park, so planning stays with Mid Sussex District Council. The council also runs its own building control service. Conservation area status is settled address by address, so put your postcode to the Mid Sussex planning officers early. Whether an Article 4 direction touches your address is something only the planning team can confirm, and a short question to them settles it.
The Planning Portal frames re-roofing as two tests. First, is under 25 per cent of the building envelope affected, and under 50 per cent of the roof? If both are true, an application is normally not needed. Second, two triggers apply whatever the area: a new covering that adds 15 per cent or more to the weight of the old one, or one that would perform very differently in a fire. Both matter on an old frame, so we raise them at the survey. Our roof replacement page describes a full re-roof step by step.
Who to ask in Ansty
West Sussex County Council requires a licence before scaffolding goes up on a public highway. Its application window is a minimum of 10 working days, and a licence for one month is priced at £266. Ask when you book who applies; we work through it with the scaffolder and build the start date around it. Scaffolding on your own land, inside the garden or on a private drive, needs no highway licence, and we check which your house allows. We also plan a clear route for materials and waste, and tell you what to expect each day. On an old house with a narrow approach, we walk the route with you at the survey, because a long ladder, a scaffold delivery and a skip all need space, and the garden gets the care it deserves.
Old roofs can shelter bats, and the law protects the places where they breed and rest. Government guidance names roof repair as work that can affect them, so any sign found at survey stage stops the job until it has been talked through with you. To begin, send a photograph of whichever part of the roof concerns you, with your Ansty postcode, and we will suggest a time for the survey. A view of the chimney and ridge from the road is often enough for a first look.
Yes, but ask Mid Sussex District Council whether the work needs listed building consent before you book. Section 7 of the 1990 Act covers works that affect a listed building's character. We describe the fault and the repair in writing, with photographs of the tile or slate, so the council can answer with the facts in front of it.
Often, if the house is not listed. A change of covering at Ansty turns on listing, weight and fire performance, and also on whether your plot lies inside a conservation area, which the district council can confirm. A listed house is a different matter, so check with Mid Sussex District Council's planning team if either applies to your house, and keep their answer with the survey.
A look at the frame before the covering. We check the roof timbers, the wall plates and the tops of the walls for recent movement and damp, then the tiles, valleys and chimney. A roof line that is not perfectly straight can still be sound after 500 years. The photographs show you which signs are old settling and which need repair, so you are never asked to take a worry on trust.
Mid Sussex District Council runs its own building control service. Whether a re-roof needs an application depends on how much of the roof and the building envelope is touched, and whether the new covering is 15 per cent or more heavier or behaves differently in a fire. We raise it with them before a start date is fixed, and the written price shows the assumption.
Tell us where the roof is letting you down, add your Ansty postcode, and we will suggest a time for the survey.
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