Roofs in a clay-built village at the foot of the Downs.
Ringmer grew on gault and weald clay, and eleven brickmaking sites are on record. We read its tiles, brickwork and chimneys as they stand, then give one price in writing.
Ringmer brickfields supplied bricks and tiles for Stanmer House and the Glynde Place stables. If your roof carries old clay tiles, we match them with care, and a search for reclaimed tile may be worthwhile.
Weathered clay tiles on a pitched roof
The Grade I parish church has a 15th-century chancel, nave and porch, early 16th-century chapels and a west tower rebuilt in 1884, all standing close to the large village green.
An old church roof beside a green
Lewes District Council records a Ringmer conservation area. Inside it, a tile-for-tile repair is the simpler path, and a plan to alter the roof's appearance goes to the Lewes planners ahead of any order.
Terraced homes with clay tile roofs
Map of Ringmer and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Ringmer lies south-east of Crawley, at the foot of the northern slope of the South Downs and north-east of Lewes.
Ringmer village notes
Three chapters on a village that made its own bricks and tiles, how church, green and conservation area shape a repair, and how East Sussex licenses scaffold.
Stage 01 · First look
Ringmer sits on clay that fed local brickfields for centuries, so the first question about your roof is what it is made of.
Ringmer's brick and tile making has been written up in detail. The Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society records that the parish lies at the foot of a northern slope of the South Downs on gault clay, greensand and weald clay, and that it is thought to have been a pottery-making centre since the Norman Conquest. Its Brickmaking in Sussex gazetteer lists eleven brickmaking sites in Ringmer from the 17th century onwards, and says Ringmer brickfields supplied bricks and tiles for Stanmer House and for the stables at Glynde Place.
Not necessarily, and we never assume it from the village's history. A house built or re-covered in the last century could carry any covering, so the survey begins on the roof itself. Should the survey find clay, remember that 60 years is only the floor the Building Research Establishment sets for it, and old peg tile follows no tidy rule of that kind. The ridge, which is the capping along the top, the hips where two slopes meet and the valleys between them can need attention before the field of tiles does. Our pitched roofing page shows how a tiled slope is repaired section by section.
The Ringmer survey list
It happens on older roofs. The survey records each tile's size, thickness, colour and camber, and we then look for a match from a supplier or from reclaimed stock. Using a near match on a rear slope, while sound tiles from that slope move to the front, is a common compromise, and the written quote explains it before anything is ordered. Hand-made clay ages unevenly, so a new tile beside a weathered one will stand out for a season or two. That is worth knowing in advance, and it fades.
Brick chimneys on older houses deserve the same attention, and in a brick-making parish the stack is often the most visible piece of craft on the roof. Flaunching, the mortar bed that seats the pots on top of the stack, can crack and let rain run in around them. Fresh pointing and flaunching are small jobs, and they cost far less than the damp they prevent. Our chimney repairs page sets out the whole sequence, from the stack down to the lead at its foot.
Stage 02 · Permissions
Ringmer has a Grade I church, a large green and a recorded conservation area, so a roof near the centre may need a question first.
Grade I is the listing held by St Mary the Virgin, Ringmer's parish church. Its fabric includes medieval work, two Tudor chapels and a 19th-century bell tower, and it stands close to the large village green. The planning authority for the village is Lewes District Council, which records a Ringmer conservation area. The year it was designated is a detail to ask the council for if it matters to your plans.
Under section 55(2)(a) of the 1990 Act, repairs that leave a building materially unchanged on the outside are not treated as development, so a repair in the same tile is the easy case. A re-cover in a different material belongs to the harder case. Altering the covering, the pitch or the outline needs a conversation with the planners at Lewes District Council before you commit. Ask them in writing, too, whether an Article 4 direction applies to your address, since a direction of that kind takes away rights the household would otherwise hold. Our guide to plain clay tile roofs explains how a clay roof is repaired without losing its character.
What gets checked in Ringmer
A tile that matches the old ones keeps both the roof and the paperwork short.
The church follows its own route. While it remains in regular Anglican use it comes under the faculty system, outside listed building consent, so the parish and diocese handle its roof and a householder does not. For houses nearby, the planning officers can tell you whether a listed neighbour affects the setting of your own roof. A change that alters a roof's profile is worth putting to them early. We help by describing the roof precisely and supplying photographs of the slopes, ridge and chimney, so that your question concerns real details and the reply can be filed with the quote.
None of this slows an emergency. A leak is made safe first, whatever the designation, and the lasting repair is scheduled when the planners and the diocese, where relevant, have replied. Keeping the council's reply with the survey photographs also helps if you sell, because a later purchaser's legal adviser may want to see what was agreed. If you share a roof with a neighbour, the same file helps there: a terrace has one set of slopes, and a repair on your side can involve the next house too, so we explain where the work stops before it starts.
Stage 03 · On site
Scaffold standing on a Ringmer road needs a licence from East Sussex Highways, and its terms include a blackout around bonfire celebrations.
Poles set up in your own front garden are a private affair, and the highway rules leave them alone. Where a house fronts the road with no garden to stand in, the poles may have to go on the highway, and that is where the county licence becomes relevant.
The East Sussex Highways fee table shows £127 for 28 days of scaffolding on the highway, new or renewal, with a note that charges rose by 2.77% from 1 April 2026, so confirm today's figure before budgeting. Payment comes with the application, ahead of the licence being issued. No waiting time is quoted for a first application, so the scaffolder is asked early. If the job overruns, 5 working days is the minimum notice for a licence extension before expiry. Who submits the application is agreed with the scaffolding firm, and nobody should promise a date until that is settled. Ask any roofer whether scaffolding and VAT sit inside the quoted total.
Before a Ringmer job starts
During the annual bonfire celebrations, the East Sussex Highways licence terms allow no scaffolding on the highway at all. If your job falls near one of those evenings, ask the scaffolder what the terms mean for your road and choose a start that sits clear of them. Working from a drive avoids the restriction altogether, since scaffold on private ground falls outside the highway licence.
The Planning Portal sets two limits for roof work. Stay under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, and a building control application is not normally needed. Weight changes the picture: a new covering heavier by 15 per cent or more calls for approval, and the Planning Portal suggests you let a structural engineer or surveyor judge, ahead of any work, whether the timbers will bear the extra load. Lewes District Council can tell you which team handles building control for your address. Our roof replacement page explains how a full re-cover is planned, stripped and re-laid, with the access, waste and daily plan explained to you.
On a village road, neighbours matter as much as paperwork. The houses either side hear from us before the poles arrive and again before they leave, and the footway is kept passable. Waste is bagged and taken off the site at the end of each day, so the verge and the lane stay tidy. The survey is where we decide where materials sit, which gutters need protecting and how the chimney is reached.
Age is a poor guide on its own. Building Research Establishment research credits clay tiles with at least 60 years, and old peg tile follows no such rule. Ridges, hips, valleys and the flashing at a chimney tend to need work first. The survey photographs show whether your tiles are sound and whether repair or a fresh covering is the better buy.
A repair in the same tile, ridge and chimney leaves the outward look as it was, and work that does not materially alter appearance falls outside the definition of development. Even so, ask the planning team at Lewes District Council in writing before you order, because the council makes the call and you want its answer on file with the quote.
East Sussex Highways shows £127 for 28 days, and says application fees rose by 2.77% from 1 April 2026, so confirm the current sum. The fee is paid with the application. Which of us submits it is settled with the scaffolding firm, and your start day is chosen to suit the licence. A scaffold wholly within your boundary sits outside the licensing system.
The East Sussex Highways terms rule out scaffolding on the highway around the annual bonfire celebrations. Ask the scaffolder for the dates that touch your road, then choose a start that avoids them. A front garden with room for the poles sidesteps the problem entirely, because private land lies outside the highway licence, though access for materials and a safe place for waste still need planning.
Photograph the tiles, ridge or chimney that worry you and send it with your Ringmer postcode, plus any council letter you hold.
Message us on WhatsApp
