Roofs on the southern edge of Ashdown Forest, in a conservation area.
Maresfield lies in the High Weald, and its village core is a conservation area of hipped and gabled clay tile roofs. We survey each roof first, then price in writing.
Wealden's draft appraisal describes the core's two-storey houses as brick, often painted or rendered, with hipped or gabled clay tile roofs. That covers the core only, so we identify each covering at the survey.
Hipped clay tile roof, brick house
The north porch of St Bartholomew's church, listed Grade I, is roofed in Horsham stone slate. That is a specialist covering, so we tell you early if one needs a different hand.
Stone slate roof on an old porch
The Chequers Inn is an 18th-century coaching inn on the old London-to-coast road, listed Grade II*. If its roof ever needs work, the council gets the first call and we follow with a written price.
Old inn roof with tall chimney
Map of Maresfield and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Maresfield stands on a plateau above the Shortbridge Stream valley, 1.5 miles north of Uckfield, where the former A22 crossed the A272.
Stage notes: Maresfield
Three short chapters on a village built around iron and clay tile, what listing and the High Weald mean for a roof, and the East Sussex rules for a bigger job.
Stage 01 · The village
Maresfield grew around the Sussex iron industry, and its village core is now described as brick houses under clay tile roofs.
Wealden District Council's draft conservation area appraisal says Maresfield was an important centre of the Sussex iron industry, with five known furnace sites in the parish: Oldlands, Old Forge, Maresfield Powdermills, Hendall and Lower Marshalls. The village sits on the southern edge of Ashdown Forest, in the High Weald, on the old road from London to the coast. The appraisal's wording for the core is two-storey houses in brick, painted or rendered in places, under hipped or gabled clay tile roofs. That describes the core only, so a house outside it, or a newer extension, may be roofed quite differently, and we never assume.
Clay tile roof checks
A hipped roof slopes down on all four sides, so it has more corners than a gabled one, and each corner adds a joint that rain can work into. The hips run down those corners and are capped with ridge-style tiles. A gabled roof has two slopes and finishes at each end in a vertical wall, with an edge strip called the verge. On a walkover we study each hip for the bedding, the fixings and the lead where a chimney rises through the slope, then the tile faces for flaking and chips. Clay tile, by the Building Research Establishment's reckoning, should give at least 60 years; old peg tile is the exception, and a roof of that kind is read tile by tile.
When the clay tiles are in good order apart from a few broken ones, we swap those for matching tiles and renew the bedding and flashings. A rebed with proper mechanical fixings costs far less than a new roof, and it keeps the look of the street. A re-roof makes sense where the battens have rotted or the tiles are laminating across whole slopes. For the full method, read our pitched roofing page, and for the alternative to mortar at the edges see dry ridge and dry verge.
Either way, the survey photos come first and the one written price follows, so you decide with the evidence in your own hands and not on our say alone. We also note the tile make and colour wherever it can be read, so that any replacement is ordered to match what is already there, and the written price tells you how many tiles we expect to change.
Stage 02 · Protected roofs
Maresfield packs a conservation area, a National Landscape and listed buildings into one small village, and each shapes what a roof can become.
The Parish Church of St Bartholomew, with elements from the 13th century, is listed Grade I, and its north porch has a Horsham stone slate roof. The Chequers Inn, an 18th-century coaching inn on the London-to-coast road, is listed Grade II*. Maresfield Conservation Area was designated in 1992 and re-designated with a larger boundary in March 2017. All of it sits within the High Weald, a National Landscape that spreads over parts of Kent, Sussex and Surrey.
Renewing broken clay tiles with matching ones keeps the building as it was and rarely raises a question. Swapping the material, altering the colour or pitch, or adding to the roof is where a conservation area starts to matter. Wealden District Council holds the planning role in Maresfield, and its planners can confirm if your address falls within the line and what that means for your plans. Wealden's conservation page lists an Article 4 direction for Rotherfield only, and none for Maresfield. Our post on planning permission for roof work covers dormers and roof windows in protected areas.
Protected village terms
In a village this protected, a quick call to the planners is part of the job.
Listed building consent is the council's approval for alterations that affect a listed building's special interest. If your house, barn or outbuilding is listed, ask Wealden before the scaffold is booked, and have photos of the roof ready. We prepare a plain description of the existing tile, the fixings, the bedding and any lead, so the planners can see what is there and what is proposed. Horsham stone slate is a specialist covering, and we say frankly if a job needs a craftsman with that skill. For a stone porch or an outbuilding roof, a rebedded ridge or a refixed slate may be all that is needed, and the survey will show which.
Describing its settlements, the High Weald organisation points to timber framing and weather-boarding, and to the sandstone, brick and tile found across it, a reflection of the High Weald's geology. A covering that sits comfortably in that setting is one that matches its neighbours, and keeping that match is part of how we plan every repair. If the original tile is no longer made, we show you the nearest samples before anything is ordered, and we keep the planners informed when the roof is listed or inside the boundary.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Wealden handles planning for Maresfield, a four-council partnership handles building control, and East Sussex Highways licenses scaffold on its roads.
Maresfield is outside the South Downs National Park, so planning applications here go to Wealden District Council rather than the park authority. For building control, Wealden leads the East Sussex Building Control Partnership, which also serves Eastbourne, Hastings and Rother. A tile-for-tile repair needs neither. A larger job might, and we flag which it is at the survey, before the price is fixed, so the written total already allows for any wait. If building control needs to see the roof, we agree the visit dates with you beforehand.
The Planning Portal sets out the building control test: no application is normally required when work touches under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. Even so, approval is required where the replacement covering is at least 15 per cent heavier, or would fare significantly differently in a fire. Swapping clay for slate or stone is the usual way that happens, which is one more reason to match the existing covering. On weight, the Portal tells homeowners to bring in a structural engineer or surveyor first, and we agree. If a whole new roof is the answer, our roof replacement page covers the job stage by stage.
Maresfield permissions at a glance
East Sussex Highways, acting for the county council, lists a licence to place scaffolding on the highway for 28 days at £127, and says fees rose by 2.77 per cent from 1 April 2026, so ask for today's figure. A first application carries no published waiting period, while an extension must be requested five working days before expiry. Its terms want the licensee to hold public liability cover of not less than £10m. The licence paperwork is shared out between our scaffolder and us; when comparing quotes, ask each roofer who applies. Scaffold on your own land does not involve the highway authority at all.
Older roofs can hold roosts and nests. Bats and their roosts carry legal protection, as does an occupied bird's nest. Should the loft or eaves show either, the job waits while you and we decide how to proceed. For a start, take a clear picture of the roof from wherever you can see it best, add your Maresfield postcode and email both across, mentioning whether the house is listed.
We look for a close match in colour, profile and texture, and check samples against your roof before ordering anything. Wealden's appraisal describes the core's roofs as hipped or gabled clay tile. Where the house is listed, speak to the council about consent first, so the matching tile is agreed with the planners before it goes on the roof.
Possibly. Maresfield Conservation Area was first designated in 1992 and re-designated in March 2017 with a larger boundary, and Wealden District Council can tell you whether your address is inside it. Renewing tiles to match keeps the building as it was. Ask the council's planners before you change the material, colour or shape of the covering.
No. Maresfield lies outside the Park boundary, so planning sits with Wealden District Council rather than the Park. It is inside the High Weald National Landscape, which is a separate designation. That is one more reason to speak to the council about any change to the roof's appearance before you commit to a quote. We can send the survey photos to support that conversation.
East Sussex Highways gives no waiting period for a first application, only five working days for extensions. Its listed fee for 28 days is £127, with a 2.77 per cent rise announced from 1 April 2026. Licences also need cover of at least £10 million. The scaffolder and we work through the licence together, and you get a firm start date once it is confirmed.
Email a photo of the hip, verge or porch roof worrying you, with your Maresfield postcode, noting any listed status.
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