Roofs around a village green, a Grade II* church and scattered farms.
Leigh, near Reigate, is a small village around a green and a Grade II* church, with a conservation area over part of it. We survey the roof first, and one written price follows.
The Victoria County History recorded Horsham stone slabs on the church roofs in 1911. A listed church follows its own consent route, so the permission question comes first and the price comes after.
Stone slab roof on a church
In 1911 Leigh was a small cluster of houses by the green, with cottages at Dawes Green and scattered farms. An older cottage or farm building gets a careful look at its timbers and covering.
Cottage roof with a brick chimney
The Leigh conservation area covers some of the village, and Scholars and The Plough Inn are both Grade II. Before a roof changes its look, we ask Mole Valley's planning team.
Tiled village roofs and gardens
Map of Leigh, Surrey and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Leigh is a small village on the Wealden clay near Reigate, with brooks running into the River Mole.
Roofing Leigh, in stages
Three short chapters on how Leigh looked in 1911, how its listed buildings and conservation area shape a roof job, and the Surrey steps behind a larger one.
Stage 01 · Background
The Victoria County History describes a small cluster of houses by the green in 1911, which says little about the tiles on your own house.
Leigh grew up around its green. The Victoria County History, writing in 1911, found a small cluster of houses by the green and the church, cottages at Dawes Green and farms dotted across the parish. Shellwood Mill, out on the enclosed former Shellwood Common, was still working as a windmill, and the history called that a rare survival. Underfoot is Wealden clay, and brooks run off it towards the River Mole.
Very little about a particular house, which is why a postcode never decides what we expect to find. The account describes the settlement and says nothing about the covering on your home, so there is no point pretending otherwise. In a parish like this the range is wide: a cottage under old clay tiles, a farm building with a lean-to added later, a newer house with concrete tiles and a dry verge. Each gets a different first look. Someone climbs up, photographs everything that is there and sends you the pictures: the tile profile, the battens, the ridge and verge, then the underlay at the eaves and any flashings by the chimney. The written price comes after you have seen them.
On the ladder in Leigh
Age is a poor judge on its own. Marley's estimate for a concrete tile is around 60 years, which it says should not be read as a warranty. Clay's 60-year minimum is a Building Research Establishment figure; for the old handmade peg tiles of a Wealden cottage, a building conservation article doubts that number means much. On older roofs the small parts often go before the tile does: rusted nails, cracked mortar at a ridge or verge, split lead at a chimney, an eaves underlay gone brittle. Those are repairs, and a sound covering with one failed detail is no reason for a new roof. The photos from the survey make that plain to see.
At the eaves we also check the fascias, soffits and gutters, because overflow from a choked gutter soaks the lowest tiles and the board behind them. Outbuildings get the same scrutiny, since a slow leak in a barn or store can spoil timber for months unseen, and a farm roof may carry a different covering from the house beside it. Our pitched roofing page covers tiles, battens and underlay, and any new tile is chosen to match what is there in profile and colour.
Stage 02 · Heritage
Leigh has a Grade II* church, two Grade II listings and a conservation area over part of it, so permission can come before price.
The National Heritage List gives St Bartholomew's church a Grade II* listing (entry 1028748, first listed on 11 November 1966), while Scholars and The Plough Inn each carry Grade II. The church has had a changing roofline. Its tower came down when the building was lengthened in 1890, and a wooden structure was set above the nave roof in its place. By 1911 the history says the roofs were modern and covered with Horsham stone slabs.
It turns on the denomination. Where the church is Church of England and in regular use, the ecclesiastical exemption takes it outside listed building consent, and repairs go through the Church's own faculty system instead. Exterior works may still need planning permission as well. For a Roman Catholic, Methodist, United Reformed or qualifying Baptist building the denomination runs its own approvals; any other faith, and any closed church, goes through listed building consent. Whichever applies, the order is the same: consent route first, survey second, price third. A parish council or churchwarden asking us to look at a roof gets the same photographs as any homeowner, with the stone or tile described plainly.
Words you will hear in Leigh
A listed roof is a different job: the permission question comes before the price.
Changing the special character of a listed building, even through its roof, requires listed building consent, and swapping one covering for another can do exactly that. The owner of Scholars, The Plough Inn or any other listed property in the parish should put the question to Mole Valley District Council's planning team before booking a roofer. When you send us photos, mention the listing. Our survey photos will then show what would stay and what would change, and that makes the council's job easier too.
On the government's planning data, part of Leigh falls inside the Leigh conservation area. In such an area, a new covering or a new roof window can alter how a street looks, and that draws the council's attention. Relaying matching tiles in the old pattern keeps the street unchanged, and that keeps a repair simple for the council too. If an older house has lead round a chimney, in a valley or along an abutment wall, our lead work page describes how we repair and renew it, and when the existing lead is worth keeping.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Surrey rules apply in Leigh, so a bigger roof job involves Mole Valley, a shared building control team and the county council.
A bigger job in Leigh brings in three bodies, because the village lies in Surrey. Mole Valley District Council deals with planning, Surrey County Council with the highway, and the Southern Building Control Partnership with building control, as the shared team behind Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge. Knowing which of them you need saves a round of phone calls.
The Planning Portal sets a two-part test: under 25 per cent of the building envelope affected and under 50 per cent of the roof. Beyond that, approval comes into play for a new covering that adds 15 per cent to the roof's covering weight, or whose performance in a fire would differ significantly from the old. The Portal also advises checking the roof structure with an engineer or surveyor before the weight changes, which is sound advice with any heavier tile or a stone slab. At the survey we note which covering is up there and flag any job that sits near a limit, so you can ask the partnership before any work is booked. A full strip and relay is the case our roof replacement page walks through.
A Leigh survey checklist
Surrey County Council's page says a licence is needed once scaffolding occupies the carriageway, the footway or any other part of the public highway. The charge is £208 for each 28 day period, the council asks for at least 10 working days between application and start, and a layout drawing goes with the application. Obtaining the licence is a joint task with the scaffolder, and we set the start date only once it is in place, so neighbours and parked cars are not caught out. If every scaffold pole can stand on your side of the boundary, no highway licence is involved, and the access route to the back of the house is checked at the survey.
Wildlife matters on any older roof. Bats have full legal protection, and a re-roof is listed in government guidance as an activity that may harm roosts or breeding sites. If a loft or a lifted tile shows signs of them, the job halts and we work out with you what happens next. For dormers, roof windows and the wider planning picture, our post on planning permission for roof work goes through it. To start, tell us which part of the roof is worrying you, and a survey date follows.
Sometimes the sound tiles can be sorted, relaid and topped up with matching ones, but the survey decides. We lift a few to check battens, nails and underlay, and photograph what we find. If your cottage is in the conservation area, ask Mole Valley's planning team before switching to a different covering, because the look of the street is what they weigh.
They are the stone covering the 1911 history recorded on the church roofs. If your roof carries them, mention it when you ask about a repair, because swapping to another covering changes the weight and the look, and that can involve building control and the council. We photograph the roof first and explain what we see before anything is priced.
Alterations that would affect a listed building's character need listed building consent, so ask Mole Valley's planning team before you commit, even for a repair. When you contact us, give the postcode and mention the listing. The survey photos then show what would change and what would stay, which gives the council something clear to look at, and you decide with the full picture in front of you.
Yes, if any of it sits on the road or footway. Surrey County Council's charge is £208 per 28 day period, applied for at least 10 working days before the start, with a layout drawing. If the scaffold fits wholly inside your boundary, no highway licence applies. Who makes the application is settled with the scaffolder, and work starts once the licence is issued.
Tell us which part of the roof troubles you, give your postcode and flag any listing; a survey date follows.
Message us on WhatsApp
