Roofs in a Tillingbourne village of timber frames and old brick.
Shere lies on the Tillingbourne below the chalk downs, with a Grade I church, a conservation area and a long record of timber-framed houses. We climb up, photograph, then put one total in writing.
In 1911 the Victoria County History found most old houses in Shere covered with rough-cast, one hiding a half-timber front. Old frames settle over centuries, so we check that rafters, ridge and wall plate still line up before judging the tiles.
Older tiled roof with a ridge
It also singles out Wolven's Farm, in the wider parish, as a fine 17th-century brick house. Old brick gables and stacks meet the tiles at joints that leak when flashings tire or pointing fails, so the abutments get as much attention as the slope.
Brick chimney stack with flashing
The National Heritage List has Anchor Cottage and 1 and 2 Lower Street at Grade II, and the Black Horse Inn is partly 16th-century. Where a house may be listed, we raise consent before we plan a single tile.
Old clay tiles and ridge
Map of Shere and the neighbourhoods around it, with Crawley for reference.
Shere sits on the Tillingbourne midway between Guildford and Dorking, below the chalk downs, with greensand hills to the south.
Shere roof diary
Three chapters: Shere's older buildings, the listings around them, and what a larger job needs sorted before the scaffold arrives.
Stage 01 · Background
Shere's old buildings include timber frames under rough-cast and brick, and each asks something different of the roof above it.
In 1911 the Victoria County History called Shere an essentially agricultural parish. It found most of the old village houses covered with rough-cast, one of them hiding a half-timber front, and singled out Wolven's Farm in the wider parish as a fine 17th-century brick house. The Black Horse Inn was partly 16th-century, an old parsonage at the western end of the village was timber-framed and said to stand on woolpacks, and the church had a tall timber spire and a lych-gate. None of that tells us what tiles sit on any particular house today. It does tell us the village is old, and old buildings reward a slow, careful look from above before anyone names a price.
Frames move. Over generations a wall plate can sag, a rafter can twist and a ridge line can dip, and a modern tile laid on a crooked frame shows every wobble. So the survey starts with the shape of the roof, sighting along ridge and eaves, before we look at any single tile. If the frame has shifted but is sound, the right repair works with the shape rather than forcing it straight. If a rafter foot has gone soft where water has run for years, you see the timber in a photograph, and the repair sits inside the single written total.
At the top of a Shere house
Because the join is the weak point, not the brick. Where a tiled slope meets a brick wall or chimney, a strip of lead called a flashing lies across the join and is tucked into a slot in the mortar. The lead is graded by Code number, and the Royston cast lead brochure lists Codes 4, 5 and 6 for flashings, keeping Code 3 for soakers, the small pieces that weave in beneath each course. When the mortar crumbles or the lead lifts, rain finds a way in. A proper fix means raking out the joint, setting new lead and repointing. Our lead work page covers the metal in more detail, and our pitched roofing page deals with the tiles around it.
Typical lives are ranges, not promises. One roofing materials guide puts well-kept slate at 100+ years. Marley passes on a 60-year minimum for clay tile from Building Research Establishment work, and a single number suits old handmade peg tile badly. Such ranges describe typical roofs, never your own, so a tired-looking slope is not automatically a failed one. We would rather lift a few tiles and show you what is underneath than guess from the street.
Stage 02 · Permissions
Shere's Grade I church, its Lower Street listings and its conservation area all lie inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape.
Three layers of protection can overlap in Shere. The Shere conservation area covers part of the village, the whole village is inside the Surrey Hills designation, and a number of buildings carry listings of their own. Questions about which of the three touches your house go to the planning team at Guildford Borough Council. Put the question in writing with your address, and keep the reply with the quote.
St James's church holds a Grade I entry on the national list, and Anchor Cottage and 1 and 2 Lower Street hold Grade II. Once a house is listed, work that would alter its character needs consent first. Putting back what was there is one thing and replacing the covering is another, and the line between them is a decision for the council, not for a roofer. If you suspect your house is listed, find out before the survey. Our answer on re-roofing a listed building sets out what to expect.
Terms worth knowing
St James is an Anglican church in use. Works to a church in that position are handled through the Church of England's faculty process instead of listed building consent, which leaves the paperwork with the parish and the diocese. A cottage beside the churchyard is another matter: its roof is yours to repair, with whatever permissions its own status requires.
Slowly, and with matching in mind. We note the size, colour and texture of the existing tiles, how the ridge is finished and what the verges look like, because those details give an old roof its look from the lane. Where tiles must be replaced we search for a close match and show you the options during the survey. The written price names the covering, so you and anyone at the council are reading the same thing.
A listing changes who you speak to first, long before it changes which tile we choose.
A visit near the churchyard or Lower Street stays quiet and tidy. We tell the neighbours who share your wall or boundary, set up access so the lane stays passable, and keep tiles and waste off the road. You get a daily word on progress and the next step, and anything taken off the roof goes away with us. If the work changes on the day, because a timber turns out softer than it looked, you hear before we carry on.
Stage 03 · On site
A bigger Shere job brings Guildford's building control into the picture, and the scaffold needs a plan before it needs a date.
Most Shere work stays below the level where paperwork matters. The exceptions are a whole new roof, a weightier covering, or poles planted on the road.
Guildford Borough Council runs its own building control service, which the council describes as not for profit and impartial. Under the Planning Portal's test, work touching under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof usually sits outside approval, while a new covering adding 15 per cent or more in weight is judged on its own. Any bigger scheme goes to the council before we agree dates with you.
Brick stacks are common on older houses, and the typical UK figures give a sense of scale before anyone visits. Dates matter with guides like this, because prices move. Checkatrade's chimney repair guide, with its table dated April 2026, shows flashing repairs from £250 to £1,000, repointing from £300 to £1,000 and a new cap from £180 to £520. Those are national ranges, not our prices. A stack with a hairline crack at the flaunching is a very different job from one leaning at the shoulder, so the written quote follows the survey. Our chimney repairs page explains the stages.
Planning a larger Shere job
Possibly, and we check at the survey. Surrey County Council's licence applies where scaffold stands on a road or pavement; it wants the application no less than 10 working days ahead and charges £208 per 28 day period. On ground you own, no highway licence applies. If only the lane will do, the licence is arranged with the scaffolder and the neighbours are told. Surrey's application also needs a plan showing the scaffold's position, which the council says must not be Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated, so ours is drawn from the scaffolder's own measurements.
If a storm opens the roof first, keep a record: the Institution of Structural Engineers stresses that pictures of the damage matter to an insurer. Water already coming in gets stopped before anything else, and we add to the stack of photographs as we go so the insurer sees the sequence. To begin, send us the road name and a note of which slope, stack or gutter worries you.
Because that is where tiles meet brick, and the weatherproofing there depends on lead flashing and mortar staying whole. When either wears, rain runs in beside the stack. We inspect the flashing, the pointing and the flaunching at the top, show you photographs of each, and price any repair as a single total after the survey.
Guildford Borough Council answers that for your address, because listing brings consent rules of its own. Swapping a broken tile for the same kind in the same spot is the plainest case of all, yet the council's planners ought to be told first. We hold off ordering any tiles until you have their reply, and we keep a copy with your survey photographs.
It gives you one more reason to ask the council before altering a covering or adding a roof window, since the village lies in the landscape and partly in a conservation area. A plain repair leaves the village street looking exactly the same. For a bigger change, ask Guildford's planning team which rules reach your address.
Guildford Borough Council runs its own building control service, so begin there, giving your address and what the work involves. How much of the envelope and the roof the work touches decides approval, along with any heavier covering. The survey records both, with photographs, and a bigger scheme is put to the council before we agree a start with you.
Send the road name and the part that worries you, whether stack, slope or gutter, and we will arrange the survey.
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