Roofs in a Surrey village strung along Stane Street.
Ockley grew up along the Roman road of Stane Street and around its green, on Wealden Clay. We climb up first, send you pictures of what is there, then write down a single total.
The Victoria County History called Ockley agricultural apart from a little brick and tile making. That describes the parish in 1911, not the tiles on your house today, so we read the covering we find and match it.
Clay tiles on a village roof
The nave and chancel roofs of St Margaret's, listed Grade II*, are healed with Horsham slabs. Stone slab is heavy, so on any older house with a similar covering we judge the timbers and walls carrying it first.
Heavy stone slab on an old roof
The village grew along Stane Street and around Ockley Green, so houses of different ages stand side by side. A roof two doors along tells us little about yours, which is why every job starts with a survey.
Older houses with tiled roofs
Map of Ockley and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Ockley is a Surrey village astride Stane Street, the old Roman way to Chichester, in Mole Valley district, west of Crawley.
An Ockley roof, step by step
Three short chapters on Ockley's clay and Stane Street setting, the Horsham slab roofs and listed church, and the Mole Valley and Surrey steps on a larger job.
Stage 01 · Village
Ockley sits on Wealden Clay beside a Roman road, and the village grew in pieces, so we judge every roof separately.
Ockley is a long, strung-out village. The Victoria County History records that the whole parish lies on the Wealden Clay, and that Stane Street, the Roman route between London and Chichester, crosses it from end to end. The present village grew up along that road and around Ockley Green, and Ockley and Capel Station opened in 1867. A settlement that spread along a road over many generations does not have one kind of roof, so our first job on any Ockley street is to look at what is up there and describe it plainly.
It means we do not guess. The same history describes the parish as agricultural apart from a little brick and tile making. That is a fact about 1911 and says nothing about the tiles on your house now. A survey does. We check the tile or slate for slips, cracks and wear, then the ridge at the apex and the verge, which is the edge where the roof meets a gable wall. We look at the valleys where two slopes meet, the underlay beneath the covering and the battens it hangs from. You receive pictures of your own roof, each with a short note on what it shows, so you can see the fault for yourself instead of taking it on trust.
A walk over an Ockley roof
Published figures vary by material, and none is a promise. Clay tile is given a minimum 60 years of life by the Building Research Establishment, although a conservation writer cautions that the figure is a poor measure for old peg tile. Marley's figure for concrete tile is about 60 years, with a note that it promises nothing. Well-maintained natural slate can last 100 years or more, the Confederation of Roofing Contractors says, which is why a slate roof is rarely written off for age alone. In practice the parts around the covering can tire first: the mortar on a ridge, the fixings, the underlay where it drapes into the gutter.
Ridges deserve a closer look. Marley's reading of the 2014 revision of BS 5534 is that bedding mortar cannot carry a ridge alone, and that mechanical fixings should go in as well. We check which system your ridge uses, then tell you whether a rebed or a dry-fix ridge suits the roof. Our dry ridge and dry verge page explains both. Tile, batten and underlay faults are covered on our pitched roofing page. If the answer is a handful of tiles and a rebed, that is what the written price will cover.
Stage 02 · Old roofs
St Margaret's carries Horsham slab roofs and is listed Grade II*, and the same careful approach suits any older roof in the village.
The Victoria County History notes that St Margaret's church is built of sandstone and rubble dug from the neighbouring hills, and that its nave and chancel roofs are covered, in the history's old word, "healed", with Horsham slabs. Today the church is listed Grade II*. Few Ockley houses will sit under a roof of that kind, but the church shows what the village's older buildings can ask of a roofer: patience, a good look at the structure, and a clear record of what was done.
Yes. Stone slab is far heavier than tile, and the structure beneath has carried that load for generations. If your house has a stone roof, we look first at the rafters and the wall plates they sit on, then at the slabs and the pegs or nails holding them. Swapping a heavy covering for a lighter one, or the reverse, changes the load on the frame. The Planning Portal advises getting a structural engineer's or surveyor's view ahead of such a re-roof, and it makes approval a requirement where a new covering is 15 per cent heavier or more. We raise the weight question at the survey, not on the day the tiles arrive.
Old-roof terms
A heavy stone roof is judged from the timbers up, not from the slabs down.
Section 7 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 says works that would affect a listed building's character must be authorised. For a listed house, that means listed building consent from Mole Valley District Council. An active parish church of the Church of England needs a faculty from its diocese instead. We are not the people to advise a parish on that, but we can describe the roof's condition to whoever is. Where you are not certain whether your house falls inside a conservation area, put the question to Mole Valley's planning team with your address, ahead of agreeing a job.
What you can do under permitted development, and where it stops, is explained in our article on planning permission for roof work. Swapping tiles for matching ones, laid the same way, does not alter how a building appears. The planning questions begin when the appearance changes. Send us pictures at the start, and our written description of the repair gives the council the same facts we have, which tends to shorten the exchange and leaves you with a record of what was agreed.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Mole Valley District Council handles planning, the Southern Building Control Partnership handles approvals and Surrey County Council handles highway scaffold licences.
Ockley is outside the South Downs National Park, so the district council is the planning authority. Mole Valley District Council also names the Southern Building Control Partnership as its building control team. Set up in 2017, the partnership works as one team pooling staff from Mole Valley, Reigate and Banstead and Tandridge. Surrey County Council looks after the roads, which matters the moment a scaffold frame touches one.
The Planning Portal's test for a bigger job is this: touch under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, and approval is normally not required. The envelope is the shell of the house, taken as one sum: its walls, floor, roof and every opening in them. Approval does apply where a new covering is 15 per cent heavier or more, or would behave quite differently from the old one if a fire broke out. When a survey hints that a job could cross those lines, we flag it early, ahead of any booking, and the written total reflects the answer. A full re-roof is described step by step on our roof replacement page.
Who to ask, for what
A frame on the road or pavement needs a highway licence from Surrey County Council, applied for at least 10 working days before work begins. The fee is £208 per 28-day period. When you book, ask who applies; the application is then made jointly with the scaffolder, with the start date picked once the dates are known. A frame set up inside your boundary, on a drive or lawn, falls outside the highway rules altogether. Wherever it stands, the frame needs a clear path for materials and waste, so we mark one out, protect the ground beneath and keep you posted on each day's work, and nobody at home is caught out by a delivery.
The law protects bats wherever they breed or rest, and roof repair features in the government's bat guidance as a risk. Any trace of bats seen on the visit stops our work until you and we have settled what comes next. To begin, tell us which part of your Ockley roof is giving trouble, with your postcode, and we will agree a survey visit.
A survey decides. Horsham slabs are heavy stone, so we look at the rafters, wall plates and fixings along with the slabs, and photograph each finding. If the stone is in good order and only a few fixings or a flashing have failed, a repair may be all it needs. On a listed house, ask Mole Valley District Council before any work begins.
Ask Mole Valley District Council's planning team, giving your address, and get the reply in writing if a job depends on it. A repair in matching materials leaves the roof as it was, whereas a new covering or an added roof window can raise the question. Say so in your first message and the survey will record it.
If the frame sits over the carriageway or footway, yes: Surrey County Council wants 10 working days' notice and charges £208 per 28-day period. A frame inside your boundary is outside those rules, so a long drive or a deep front lawn may spare you the licence. At the survey we check which your house allows, and any paperwork is handled with the scaffolder.
Not for a repair in matching materials. For a larger re-roof, the Planning Portal test is under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under half the roof, and approval applies if a new covering is 15 per cent heavier or more. The Southern Building Control Partnership deals with Mole Valley approvals, and we raise the question before the price is final.
Tell us which slope, ridge or gutter is misbehaving, add your Ockley postcode, and we will agree a survey visit with you.
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