Roofers in Kirdford

Kirdford looks over the valley of the River Kird, which eventually joins the Arun, from a flattish plateau at the western edge of the Weald, close to the Surrey border. The council's 2010 character appraisal singles out the Grade I church of St John the Baptist for its Horsham stone slate roof. Horsham slabs, as roofers call them, are sandstone slabs split from Wealden rock, far thicker and heavier than Welsh slate, and they are laid in diminishing courses: big, thick slabs at the eaves and progressively smaller ones towards the ridge. That graded pattern is much of why these roofs look as they do, and it is also why they cannot be handled like an ordinary slope.

1.1 Why weight changes the repair

A stone roof loads its timbers heavily. When a slab slips or cracks, the first questions are what made it move and whether the fixings or the frame beneath have shifted. A single slab can be lifted out and replaced from reclaimed stock, but a slope that has lost pegs or nails across a wide area is better stripped and relaid, the sound slabs going back in their original order. We photograph the underside of the covering as well as the top, so the verdict rests on what is actually there. Our Horsham stone roofing page goes through the work in full.

1.2 Ridges, hips and valleys on stone

On old stone roofs the ridge and hips are capped in stone or clay and bedded in mortar, while the valleys are either swept, meaning curved from the slabs themselves, or lined in lead. A mortar bed on a historic roof is not the same question as on a modern tiled one. BS 5534, the standard for slating and tiling, concedes that old roofs built of traditional or reclaimed materials do not always fit its recommendations. For that reason, fixing methods on Kirdford's older roofs are chosen slope by slope instead of from a catalogue.

The ridge is also where a gale does its first damage. A capping that has lost its bed lifts as a unit, so on every visit we look along the whole line and push each piece to see whether it moves. On a plateau open to the weather, that small test often finds the problem before a storm does. Anything loose is rebedded and mechanically fixed, and the verge, where the covering finishes over a gable wall, receives the same attention.

Between about 1300 and 1600, timber was felled around here for glass making, with Kirdford and Wisborough Green both important centres, and iron making used local ironstone from the greensand ridges. Where trees overhang a house, leaf fall packs the valleys and gutters, and the shade keeps moss alive on north slopes. On a stone or handmade tile roof, moss lifts edges and holds water against the joints, so a clean-down is done by hand and with care, never with a pressure lance that would blow the pegs and bedding out of an old roof. The conservation area was designated on 14 November 1984. The village sits outside the National Park, which keeps the process simpler: Chichester District Council handles planning and building control alike.

3.1 Listed buildings and the line between repair and change

With twenty listed buildings inside the conservation area, plenty of Kirdford roofs carry consent questions. The law protects a listed building against works that would alter its character, and swapping the covering for another material usually does. Putting a matching stone slate where one has cracked sits differently, yet it is wise to confirm with the council's conservation officer before starting. Look up the list entry, ask the council, and keep dated photographs of the roof as found. Our roof inspections and surveys page describes the survey that produces those photographs.

3.2 The churchyard neighbours

St John the Baptist is a Church of England building. While worship continues there, the ecclesiastical exemption routes its roof through the faculty jurisdiction instead of a listed building application. Houses nearby have no such exemption, so a listed cottage follows the standard listed building rules. The 2010 appraisal proposed boundary extensions, so ask the council where the line runs if your house is near the edge. We would rather hold a quote until that is settled than price work that might need consent. A written quote means little if the scheme behind it changes after the council replies.