Roofs in the Low Weald, from Horsham Stone to handmade clay tile.
Rusper is a conservation area village near the Surrey border, where the oldest buildings carry Horsham Stone or handmade clay tile. We read your roof, show you photos and quote one written price.
The village's oldest buildings are timber-framed and roofed with Horsham Stone or handmade clay tile. Both are uneven by nature, so we lift, sort and relay sound pieces before we think about replacing anything.
Old clay tiles on a timber-framed roof
Many humble timber-framed buildings were later refaced in brick, hanging tile or weatherboarding. Where that wall finish meets the roof there is a flashing, and it is the first junction we check.
Hanging tile above a timber wall
Victorian houses in Rusper have gable roofs of tile or slate. Later 19th century work added bargeboards, the boards that close a gable edge, so those and the verge beneath them get a close look.
Gable end with bargeboards and tiles
Map of Rusper and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Rusper stands on Weald clay in the Low Weald, close to Surrey, a mile north-east of the old priory site.
Roof work in Rusper, staged
Three short chapters on the village's conservation area, the materials its appraisal describes, and the Horsham questions that come before a bigger job.
Stage 01 · Background
Rusper's conservation area dates from 1976, and its 2023 appraisal describes the roofing materials we meet on the older buildings.
The name Rusper is recorded from about 1200, when it described a Benedictine nunnery founded shortly before. The modern village lies a mile north-east of the priory site, on the Weald clay of the Low Weald, not far from Surrey. Horsham District Council designated the Rusper Conservation Area in November 1976 and reviewed its boundary in a July 2023 appraisal and management plan. That appraisal is the best written description of what sits on the village's roofs, so we read from it and from your own loft rather than guess.
What a Rusper survey notes
The village's oldest buildings are timber-framed, often gabled, and roofed with Horsham Stone or handmade clay tile. Victorian houses have gable roofs of tile or slate. Many humble timber-framed buildings were later refaced in brick, hanging tile or weatherboarding, so the wall you see may not match the age of the frame behind it. New houses and alterations in the later 19th century were almost always in the revived vernacular style: red brick and tile, timber framing, turrets and bargeboards. We never assume what a given street is made of, because that general description may not fit your roof. Each type fails in its own way, and the survey looks for that way. A stone slab can crack or slide, a handmade tile can flake at the edge, a slate can lose its fixing, and a bargeboard can rot at the foot where water sits. Because these coverings differ, a figure for one house says little about the house next door, which is why every quote follows its own survey.
By looking, not by counting birthdays. Clay tile has a 60-year floor in Building Research Establishment figures, yet buildingconservation.com warns that the figure means little for old peg tiles, which vary so widely. Handmade tiles vary in thickness, camber and colour, which gives an old roof its uneven look and makes a modern replacement hard to match. We check each tile for cracks and flaking at the edges, and sound ones go back on while the best of the rest are kept for repairs. Slate, if well maintained can last 100+ years, says the Confederation of Roofing Contractors, though a corroded nail will drop a slate long before the stone wears out. The pitched roofing page covers the tile, slate and batten work we carry out.
Stage 02 · Materials
In a conservation area the material matters as much as the repair, so matching what is already there is where we start.
The easiest repair to get wrong in a village like Rusper is the one that looks right from the lane and fails from the loft. The appraisal is a reminder that a roof belongs to the street's character as well as to one house. A roof here is also seen from the lane, so the ridge line, the verge and the colour of the tile are judged from the road as well as from the ladder. A new machine-made tile laid beside a handmade one is one sure way to spoil a roof's appearance, and a fixing method suited to a new roof can strain an old one. So we start with the material and the fixing, and the price follows.
Rusper roof words
Sometimes, and not always. BS 5534 is the slating and tiling code, and it admits that on some old roofs being re-covered its recommendations might not fit, above all those using traditional or salvaged materials. In practice we look at the batten spacing, the tile weight and the state of the rafters before we pick a method. Marley adds that since the 2014 revision a bedded ridge or hip should be fixed mechanically as well as with mortar. We explain which of these apply to your roof before a quote goes out. Where tiles are reclaimed, we match the colour and thickness by laying a few on the slope before committing. We also sort every tile and slab taken off into sound, repairable and spoiled groups, so you can see what was reused and what was replaced.
A repair in a conservation area should look as if nobody had touched it.
This is the junction that matters most on a refaced cottage. Where hanging tile or weatherboarding runs down to a roof, the water is led away by a flashing or soaker, a folded piece of lead slipped under the tiles, and when that metal splits the damp shows up inside the wall rather than on the ceiling. Lead flashing can last for over 80 years, so the question is whether it has reached its end or is just dirty. Cast lead comes in codes, and one maker lists Code 4 (1.80mm) for soakers and Code 5 (2.24mm) for flashings. We lift a few courses to look, and the answer is in the photos we send. Our lead work page explains how a flashing is judged and renewed.
Stage 03 · Permissions
Rusper comes under Horsham District Council for planning and building control, and the conservation area adds questions a repair does not raise elsewhere.
For a like-for-like repair, very little changes inside a conservation area. Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 draws the line: if the outside of the building looks materially the same afterwards, the work is not development at all. The questions arise when the covering changes, when something new is added to a roof, or when the house is listed. Tell us if the house has had an extension, because an added flat roof has its own checks beside the pitched one.
If the new roof matches the old one, probably not, but a call to the planning team at Horsham District Council costs nothing and settles it. If you would like to change the material, the colour or the roof line, ask first. Ask, too, whether an Article 4 direction covers your street, since a direction of that kind can take away permitted development rights for a whole area. Our post on planning permission for roof work covers the general position.
The first visit in Rusper
Horsham District Council runs building control as Sussex Building Control. The Planning Portal's test lets a job proceed without a building control application when under 25 per cent of the envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof are involved; a replacement covering that weighs 15 per cent or more above the original needs approval regardless. If poles must stand on the public highway, the licence comes from West Sussex County Council, which asks for at least 10 working days' notice and charges £266 for one month. Poles on your own ground need none. See our roof replacement page if the survey points to a complete re-cover.
Roosting bats and nesting birds turn up in all sorts of roofs, so before any strip begins we check the eaves, the gables and the ridge. Any sign of bats stops the strip, and it restarts only once you and we have agreed a way forward. If rain is coming in, a temporary cover goes on first. A listed house adds listed building consent as a separate step, and Horsham's planners will confirm whether your house is on the list. Send photos of the roof, the wall finish beneath it and any chimney, with your Rusper postcode, and we will book you a survey slot.
Often the answer depends on the timber below. Horsham Stone is one of the two coverings the 2023 appraisal names on the village's oldest buildings, and sound pieces can be lifted, sorted and laid again. We check the frame and the fixings first, then tell you which slopes need work and which can stay as they are.
A repair that keeps the same appearance falls outside development under section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. A change of material, colour or roof line is different, so ask Horsham District Council's planning team first. Ask them too whether any Article 4 direction applies to your street and whether the house is listed.
The appraisal notes that many humble timber-framed buildings here were later refaced in brick, hanging tile or weatherboarding, and the roof meets that finish at a flashing or soaker. When the lead splits or lifts, water runs into the wall rather than onto the ceiling. We open a few courses at the survey and show you what we find.
Horsham District Council, which trades its service as Sussex Building Control. Ask them whether your job passes the Planning Portal test: under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof affected, with no new covering adding 15 per cent or more in weight. We raise it on any larger strip before dates are set.
Send photos of the roof, the wall finish beneath it and any chimney, with your Rusper postcode, to book a survey.
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