Roofs from a medieval village and a 1950s neighbourhood.
Ifield joins an old village, where the church nave roof dates from the Middle Ages, to a new-town neighbourhood planned by 1954. Before any price, we find out which kind you have.
St Margaret's has a medieval crown-post nave roof with a particularly high, steep pitch. Pitch changes how a roof sheds water and how safely we can reach it, so we look at both before choosing how to work on any steep slope.
Steeply pitched tiled roof
Meeting House Cottage in Langley Lane is a timber-framed open-hall house of about 1475 and is listed Grade II*. On a building like that, a repair follows the existing materials, and any bigger change goes to the council first.
Old tiled roof over a timber frame
Detailed planning of the new-town neighbourhood was completed in 1954 and it was virtually complete by 1957. Concrete (Finlock-type) gutters were used on some 1950s houses, so the eaves get as close a look from us as the slope above them.
Gutter and fascia at the eaves
Map of Ifield and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Ifield is an old village and neighbourhood on Crawley's north-west side, still open to fields on the west and south-west in 1985.
Ifield: our notes
Three chapters on how old and new Ifield sit side by side, what listing means for a roof, and how the village conservation area shapes a bigger job.
Stage 01 · Background
Ifield is an old village and a 1950s neighbourhood joined together, so neighbouring roofs can have very different histories.
Ifield is really two places that grew into one. There is the old village, with its church, its mill pond (made by damming Ifield brook above the village, and once a hammer pond) and houses that go back centuries. Then there is the new-town neighbourhood, whose detailed planning was completed in 1954 and which was virtually complete by 1957. The county history says that neighbourhood extended to the old village, so the two sit close together, and a roofer cannot guess the roof from the road name alone.
Preparing for a bigger job
Often yes, and the first job is to establish what is up there. Hand-made clay tiles, machine-made clay, concrete and slate each behave differently. The Building Research Establishment's 60-year minimum for clay is often repeated, but a conservation journal warns it tells you little about old peg tile. Each tile's condition counts for more than any date. We look at how many tiles are sound, how many are flaking at the surface, and whether the nail holes have worn through. If most of a slope is sound, we replace the failures with reclaimed or matching tiles and leave the rest alone. Slate is the other covering you may meet on older buildings. Well maintained, it can last 100 years or more, and a slipped slate can be a failed nail or hook rather than a failed slate, so we check the fixings before anyone condemns the covering.
On houses from the neighbourhood, we look at the gutters as carefully as at the slope. Concrete (Finlock-type) gutters were used on some 1950s houses. The RICS defects record warns that leaking joints have led to serious decay in many of them, yet it adds that a careful look can sort the gutters that need big replacement work from those that will last if they are looked after. Removal, it says, should not be taken for granted. So we examine the joints, the lining if there is one, and the timber and brickwork beneath, and we say plainly whether lining, repair or replacement fits. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page explains the options.
Between the slope and the gutter sits the pitched roof itself, with its battens, underlay and fixings. Whatever its age, our pitched roofing work begins with a survey of that whole assembly, and the photos you receive show your own roof, never a stock picture of someone else's.
Stage 02 · Heritage
Ifield has Grade I and Grade II* buildings, and on those the first question is who must agree to a repair.
Three Ifield buildings stand high on the national list. The Parish Church of St Margaret is listed Grade I, Ifield Quaker Meeting House is listed Grade I, and Meeting House Cottage in Langley Lane is listed Grade II*. A great many Ifield homes sit outside the list altogether, but anyone who owns a listed house, or helps look after one of these buildings, needs to know how the system works.
For a listed house, the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act makes unauthorised works an offence where they alter what makes a listed building special. In practice that means listed building consent from Crawley Borough Council, and whether a particular repair affects character is the council's judgement, not ours. Ask its conservation and planning team before you order tiles, and send them photographs of the problem. If you are unsure whether your house is listed, search the national list online or ask the council to confirm it.
Heritage terms in plain English
On a listed roof, the sensible order is consent first, scaffold second.
No. St Margaret's holds Church of England services, and that Church is one of the exempt denominations, so work on it goes through the Church of England's faculty system and not through listed building consent. The Quaker Meeting House is different again: Quakers do not benefit from the exemption, so listed building consent applies there. A church roof is specialist work with its own approvals, and the parish takes advice before any quote is agreed.
What we can do is the careful work that sits under those rules. On old frames, we look for movement in rafters and wall plates before anyone disturbs the covering, check the pitch for safe access, and keep ladders and scaffold clear of masonry. Old roofs often rely on lead for the joins around chimneys and abutments, and a well detailed lead flashing may outlast most of the tiles around it, with 80 years or more quoted for lead, so a split or lifted piece is often a repair, not a renewal. Our lead work page covers codes, thicknesses and where each is used. Before work begins we put in writing which parts of the job need consent, who is asking for it and what happens to the start date while the council decides.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Some of Ifield sits inside a conservation area, so check where your address falls before planning more than a matching repair.
The national planning dataset maps part of Ifield within the Ifield Village Conservation Area, and Crawley Borough Council publishes the area on its own conservation pages. The boundary can be hard to judge from the street, so the safest step is to ask the council which side of it your house falls on. A repair in matching materials is rarely the issue. The questions begin when someone wants to change what the roof looks like.
A conservation area counts as designated land under the planning rules, and that alters what can be done without applying, above all where a dormer would change a roof's outline. We do not give planning advice; Crawley's planners do. Our answer on re-roofing in a conservation area sets out what to raise with them, so read it before paying for drawings.
Ifield rules to check first
It does once the work is large. Crawley Building Control, the borough's own service, lists among the domestic work needing approval the repair or replacement of more than 25% of the surface of a roof. On a big re-roof we phone the team first and only then settle a start date, and you see the outcome in the quote. Changing the covering can also matter: the Planning Portal wants approval where a new covering adds 15 per cent or more to the weight, and it advises speaking to a structural engineer or surveyor first. We weigh any swap of covering against that advice before it goes in the price.
A roof of any age can shelter bats or nesting birds, and both are protected. Every bat species and its roosts are fully protected, and the Wildlife and Countryside Act makes intentional harm to an active nest a crime. If the survey shows bat droppings or a nest with birds using it, work waits while we agree the next steps with you, because the timing may have to move. Scaffold standing in your garden or on your drive needs no highway licence. Scaffold that has to occupy the pavement does, issued by West Sussex County Council, with 10 working days' notice. To begin, email your address with a picture of the trouble spot, and we will check it against the conservation area map before we visit, so the survey can cover the questions that matter on your street.
Usually, yes, because condition matters more than age. The usual 60-year clay tile figure says little about old handmade peg tile. We count the sound tiles, replace the failed ones with reclaimed or matching tiles and leave a sound slope alone. If the house is listed, ask the council about consent before any tile is ordered.
Not for a matching repair, which rarely raises an issue. A different tile, colour or roof shape is another matter if your house is inside the boundary, which is not always obvious from the street. Crawley Borough Council's planners will confirm where your address sits; send them photographs with the question, and keep their answer with your survey notes.
Consent is required wherever the work would alter what makes a listed house special, and the council decides whether a repair does. Swapping a handful of broken tiles for identical ones may fall outside that, but do not assume. Ask Crawley Borough Council's conservation team before you order materials, and keep our survey photos to show them exactly what is wrong.
Not automatically. Concrete (Finlock-type) gutters were used on some 1950s houses, and leaking joints are the known weakness. RICS says removal should not be assumed, because careful examination can separate gutters that need replacing from those that stay sound if managed well. We inspect the joints and any lining, then recommend repair, relining or replacement.
Send your road, a photo of the roof or gutter and the house's age if you know it, and we will plan the survey.
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