Roofs in a Surrey border village with a Grade I church.
Lingfield sits in Surrey's south-eastern corner by the Kent border, with a conservation area named after its High Street, Gun Pond and Church Town. We photograph your roof, then put one total in writing.
The 1912 Victoria County History says the roofs of St Peter and St Paul's church are covered with Horsham slabs. Stone is heavy, so work on any roof like that begins with a careful look at the timbers underneath.
Stone slab roof on a church
Old Guest Hall is a 15th-century brick and timber house, and the same history notes timber-framed houses across the parish. An old frame shifts over time, so where roof meets frame gets studied before anything is touched.
Old timber-framed house with tiled roof
Some Lingfield streets fall inside the Lingfield (High Street, Gun Pond, Church Town) conservation area. Before changing how a roof looks, we check your address against that line with Tandridge's planning team.
Village street with tiled roofs
Map of Lingfield and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
A village in Surrey's south-eastern corner on Wealden clay, with Hastings Sand to the south, where streams gather to form the River Eden.
Lingfield: survey to sign-off
Three short chapters on old fabric, the line round the conservation area and what Surrey expects when patching grows into a full strip.
Stage 01 · First look
Lingfield's oldest buildings carry stone, wood and clay, so our first visit is about what is already up there before anything is priced.
Lingfield is a village in the south-eastern corner of Surrey, close to the Kent border, standing on Wealden clay with Hastings Sand to the south. The Victoria County History, written in 1912, describes a parish full of old fabric. The Guest House, now called Old Guest Hall, is a 15th-century brick and timber house. St Peter and St Paul's church is almost wholly 15th-century, with roofs covered in Horsham slabs that may be 16th-century work, and a wood-clad spire that is original. Horsham slab is a heavy stone roofing slab, laid in courses much as tiles are.
On a Lingfield first look
Age sets the method. Stone slabs, clay tiles and old oak all lean on the timbers under them, so we look at the rafters, the wall plates that carry them and the line where roof meets wall before we think about the covering at all. A house altered over several centuries may change pitch or height where one phase meets the next, and that join is where rain finds its way in. From the ridge down to the eaves, we photograph every junction. Each picture reaches you with a short note: sound, worn or failing. Chimney stacks get the same treatment, because a leaning or loose stack on an old house is a bigger worry than any single tile, and the flaunching, the mortar collar round the pots, is checked for cracks as well. Fascias and gutters are on the list too: a sagging run overshoots and soaks the wall below.
More often than people expect. Two or three slipped or cracked tiles, a split lead flashing or a crumbling hip can be put right without disturbing the rest of the slope. Where the covering is reclaimed or hand-made, we keep every piece that can be reused and match the rest by size, colour and thickness, since new tiles beside old ones show for years. Once the battens or underlay below have given up, patching becomes false economy and you will hear that from us directly. Our pitched roofing hub sets out our approach to tiles, battens and underlay, and lead around a chimney or abutment sits under lead work.
If the survey points to a repair, the written price is one total for that repair. If it points to something bigger, the photographs go beside the figure so you can follow the reasoning, and nothing is started until you agree.
Stage 02 · Protection
Some of Lingfield is a conservation area and several buildings are listed, so the first job on certain roofs is finding out which rules apply.
According to the national planning dataset, part of Lingfield falls within the Lingfield (High Street, Gun Pond, Church Town) conservation area, drawn from boundaries Tandridge District Council supplied. Not every street is inside that line, and next-door houses can fall either side of it. Put your address to the council's planning team before settling on a new covering, ridge or chimney. A street name alone will not settle it, because the boundary is drawn on a map. Ask for the answer in writing and keep it with the house papers. If the house turns out to be inside, we photograph the street-facing slope in detail so the council has a clear picture to judge.
Words you will meet in Lingfield
Historic England lists St Peter and St Paul's church at Grade I, first listed on 11 June 1958. Pollard Cottage is Grade I as well, while Church House and the Star Inn Cottages are Grade II*. On a listed house, any work affecting its special character calls for listed building consent. The church is a separate case: as a Church of England building in use, its works run through the denomination's own consent system, a faculty, not through the council. If your own home is listed, even a like-for-like repair deserves a call to the council first, and it is far cheaper to ask before the scaffold goes up than afterwards.
Mostly the care taken over appearance. The tile or slab, its colour and size, the ridge detail, the verge and the eaves together make up the look of a street, and the council wants that look held. We record every one of those details on your roof before pricing, then propose a match to suit. Our guide to re-roofing in a conservation area suggests what to raise with the council. If an entire roof has to be stripped, the roof replacement hub follows that job from first batten to final check.
In a conservation area, the question is how a mended roof looks, not whether it can be mended.
On the paperwork we note the boundary question beside the price, so it cannot catch anyone out later. The council's reply arrives first and the start date is chosen around it, never the other way round. If the answer is a surprise, you have lost nothing but a little time, and we will revisit the plan with the council's reply in hand.
Stage 03 · Approvals
Planning is Tandridge's job, building control belongs to a partnership of three Surrey councils, and road scaffold is licensed by Surrey County Council.
Mending a roof like for like seldom involves paperwork. Forms enter the picture when patching turns into stripping the whole slope, when the covering itself changes, or once scaffold needs to stand on public ground. Lingfield sits under two layers of local government, so it helps to know who deals with what before the first quote lands on the mat.
Building control in Tandridge runs through the Southern Building Control Partnership, a team the district shares with Mole Valley and Reigate and Banstead. The Planning Portal's test says approval is normally not required when less than 25 per cent of the building envelope is affected and less than 50 per cent of the roof. If a heavier material pushes the load up by 15 per cent or more, the answer changes, so trading a light material for a heavy one is never only a choice of colour. On that point the Portal suggests taking a view from a structural engineer or surveyor before the job begins. We raise these points during the survey, and the written price shows if an application is included and who submits it.
What a Lingfield survey covers
If poles and boards will stand on the public highway, Surrey County Council, as highway authority, has to license them. Applications go in at least 10 working days before the planned start, at £208 for each 28 day period. Poles set up on private land, such as your front garden, need no highway licence at all, which is one reason we study the access at the survey. Where a licence is required, our scaffolding partner and we split the application work, and nobody climbs a ladder until the grant comes through. A narrow village street may also mean a parking suspension, so we ask early.
Bats and their roosts have legal cover, and GOV.UK's bat guidance counts roof repair and replacement among the activities to watch. If droppings or a lived-in gap show up, the job halts while we decide the way forward with you. The pitched roofing hub covers the tile and batten side of a re-roof in more detail. A photo of the slope, flashing or chimney troubling you, sent with your Lingfield postcode, is the easiest way to begin.
Yes, in the order of the survey. An old frame can move, so we check rafters, wall plates and the joins where roof phases meet before judging the covering. Reusable tiles are set aside, and replacements are matched for size, colour and thickness. Our photos of everything up there arrive before the figure, so you see what we saw.
It may. The national dataset shows the Lingfield (High Street, Gun Pond, Church Town) conservation area, with boundaries supplied by Tandridge District Council, and a visible change inside it is one for the council. Ask its planning team to confirm your address, and ask separately whether the house is listed, because the two checks are different and their answers can differ. Get both replies in writing.
Building control here is the Southern Building Control Partnership. Under the Planning Portal's tests, approval is normally not needed when under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is touched, though a covering that adds 15 per cent or more in weight does need it. Check with the partnership before work starts, and file their reply.
Yes, if any pole sits on the public highway. Surrey County Council wants 10 working days' notice and quotes £208 for each 28 day period. On private land, a drive or garden, no highway licence applies. Say at the survey whether it could go on the drive, the lawn or the lane, and the start date is planned around your answer.
Send your Lingfield postcode and a photo of whichever slope, flashing or chimney is causing concern, and we will pencil in the survey.
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