Bell's Farm, built about 1375
A small medieval half-timbered house with a central hall, much altered outside in the 19th century.
Roofers in Eton Wick
A farming settlement that took Eton's overflow of new housing
Eton Wick began as a farming settlement and grew extensively from the mid-19th century, when building in Eton was restricted. We survey its roofs, old and new.
Eton Wick's roofs, from farmhouse tile to overflow housing
Saddock's Farm and its barn
A 17th-century description records a farmhouse covered with tiles, and a farm building of four large bays under thatch.
Twentieth-century housing
Lammas land and College land limited housing in Eton, so Eton's new 20th-century homes went up at Eton Wick.
Map of Eton Wick with Dorney, Eton, Windsor, Slough marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Eton Wick, a mile west of Eton among the meadows
Dorney lies to the west, Windsor and Eton to the south-east, Slough to the north-east, Datchet to the east, and Burnham to the north.
About 21.1 road miles north of Farnborough · Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (unitary).
Work we carry out around Eton Wick
Eton Wick, farm to overflow village
Eton Wick's farm roofs and Eton's overflow housing
How a farming settlement became Eton's housing overflow, which royal borough handles a roof job there, how long the old coverings last, and what the nearby conservation areas mean.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | A farm settlement that grew from the mid-19th century | About 1375, Bell's Farm |
| 02 | One royal borough for every licence | RBWM issues the scaffold permission |
| 03 | How long old farm and cottage coverings last | Lead flashing, over 80 years |
Chapter 01 of 03
A farm settlement that grew from the mid-19th century
Eton Wick, as the records give it
- 21.1 road milesnorth of Farnborough, from the A325
- 2,124residents, ONS Census 2021, Eton Wick built-up area
- About 1375when Bell's Farm was built
- Grade II*Bell Farm Farmhouse, Historic England
The royal borough's appraisal of Eton describes Eton Wick as a farming settlement that has grown extensively since the mid-19th century, partly because of the severe limits on building in Eton itself. It adds that lammas land and College land restricted housing in Eton, so most of Eton's new 20th-century housing was located at Eton Wick. The 2021 Census counted 2,124 usual residents in the Eton Wick built-up area. That makes it a village with its own mix of old and recent roofs, and each is read separately. Measured from the A325, the village lies 21.1 road miles to the north.
Two farm buildings, two coverings
The county history of Buckinghamshire records Bell's Farm as built about 1375, a small medieval half-timbered house with a central hall, much altered outside in the 19th century. A 17th-century description of Saddock's Farm records a farmhouse of timber and earthen walls covered with tiles, and a farm building of four large bays covered with thatch. Historic England lists Bell Farm Farmhouse at Grade II*. Those records show how old the roofs around the village can be, and how often they have been altered.
An old timber-framed house with later work on the outside has roof timbers that do not follow a modern pattern. Rafters may be irregular and the wall plate may have moved. We survey those roofs with extra care, photographing the framing where it can be seen from the loft, and we avoid assuming that a straight line of tiles means a straight roof. A repair is designed round what the timbers allow, and a roof that has moved is described honestly in the report, with photographs, before any price is given.
For a roof on one of the farm-era houses, the first question is what can be reached. We look in the loft for the old framing, at the eaves for the wall plate and from outside for the pitch and the lines of the ridge and hips. Together they show whether a slope has dropped, whether tiles have slipped because a batten has failed, and whether a repair must straighten anything before it begins.
Alongside the farms sits the housing that came with Eton's overflow. Those houses were built across the 20th century, so their roofs belong to several decades and several building methods. We never guess an age from the street. The survey notes the covering on each slope, the battens and underlay beneath where we can lift a tile, and the state of the flashings and gutters. Our pitched roofing page describes how those findings turn into a repair or a re-cover.
Chapter 02 of 03
One royal borough for every licence
| Role | Body for Eton Wick addresses |
|---|---|
| Council and planning authority | Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (unitary) |
| Building control | The royal borough's own Building Control service |
| Highway authority | The royal borough |
| Scaffold on the highway | Permission from the royal borough, residential form for homes |
| Conservation team | The royal borough's conservation officers |
Eton Wick has a single council above it. The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is a unitary authority, so planning, building control and the roads all belong to the same body. For a roof job that keeps the contacts simple, and we make the enquiries for you with the survey photographs attached.
Building control in the royal borough
The Planning Portal's guidance supplies the national test: under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, a re-roof needs no building control application; a covering at least 15 per cent heavier needs approval, with a structural engineer or surveyor consulted first. The royal borough's own pages go further on one point, listing the covering of a roof afresh with tiles or felt among the work that engages Building Regulations, and naming tiles that weigh more or less than those removed. That is that council's wording for its own addresses. So a re-cover in Eton Wick is checked against the royal borough's list before the price is written.
A re-cover that keeps the same kind of tile and the same weight is the simple case. A change of material, a new roof window or a change of pitch raises planning and building control questions together, so we put them to the royal borough as one enquiry. A clear answer in writing beats starting on an assumption, and it goes in the file with the survey photographs. With one council as the single point of contact, a question about a conservation area boundary, a listed outbuilding or a licence reaches the right desk the first time.
Scaffold on the village street
The royal borough says a scaffold on the highway needs its permission, with one form for homes and another for commercial premises, and it warns of fines for breaking a licence. The royal borough's page does not name the party who files the form, so who lodges it is something we confirm with the scaffolder during the survey visit. Scaffold wholly on your own land is a different matter from one on the road or pavement.
Because one authority holds the road and the planning file, a job needing both a scaffold and a skip has one set of dates to work around. We plan around that and tell you what happens each day.
The records of Eton Wick's old buildings name tile and thatch, and later work on such buildings may bring in slate or lead. The ranges above are typical figures from HomeBuilding's roof cost guide, and none is a promise. A covering outlasts or falls short of its range according to its fixings, its exposure and the care it has had. HomeBuilding puts clay tile at 60-80 years, lead on a flat roof at 60-100 years and plain concrete tile at 40-50 years, while a new Welsh slate roof runs to 100+ years.
Lead on the details
Lead does most of its work where the roof meets something else: valleys, chimney stacks, abutments and the junction of an old range with a newer one. MyJobQuote's leadwork guide treats over 80 years as the floor for lead flashing. On a house like Bell's Farm, where later work has been added to an older frame, those junctions are many. Each is checked on the survey, and our lead roofing and lead work page explains the codes used for different jobs.
The figure80yearsis the lower bound MyJobQuote gives for lead flashing, a figure that is not a promise80 lead flashing floorSource: MyJobQuote, replacing leadwork on a chimney, updated 22 September 2026
Thatch appears in the records for the old farm buildings, and it is a separate trade from tile and slate. Where a thatched building has a chimney stack, lead flashings or a gutter on a tiled extension, those parts are roofline work we can survey, and the report says where the thatch ends and the other work begins.
Gutters matter on a low farm roof with long eaves. A run that has dropped even slightly will spill onto old brickwork, so outlets and falls are checked and photographed on the same visit.
The tiles themselves may last, while the fixings and the battens beneath them do not. On a clay roof of the 17th-century kind, the roof timbers matter at least as much as the tile. We lift a sample, photograph the battens and underlay, and report whether the roof needs refixing, a patch or a re-cover.
Where a barn or outbuilding has been converted or reroofed, the covering is judged in the same way. A simple roof with a long run of one covering can be cheaper to repair than a complicated one, but it can also hide a single failed valley. The survey tells us which, and the price is a single written total once the findings are in.
Eton Wick questions on old farmhouses, licences and conservation areas
Can an altered timber-framed farmhouse in Eton Wick have its roof repaired without a full re-cover?
Often, if the timbers and fixings are sound. The county history describes Bell's Farm as a half-timbered house much altered outside in the 19th century, and such roofs seldom follow a modern pattern. We photograph the loft framing and lift a sample of tiles first, then recommend a repair or a re-cover on that evidence.
Is Eton Wick inside a conservation area?
The national dataset's nearest conservation areas within about 2.5 km are Boveney, Dorney and Huntercombe, which Buckinghamshire Council lists as its own, and the royal borough has its own conservation team. Whether your address sits inside a boundary needs the council's confirmation, so we ask the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead before any change to the roof's appearance is priced, and we keep its reply with your papers.
Does a Grade II* farmhouse like Bell Farm need listed building consent for roof work?
Works affecting a listed building's character need listed building consent, and Bell Farm Farmhouse is listed Grade II* by Historic England. A like-for-like repair may not change the character, but the council decides that, not us. We would send the survey photographs and the proposed method before anything is priced.
Who deals with building control for a re-roof in Eton Wick?
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead has its own Building Control service. A registered building control approver, a private firm acting under the regime that began on 6 April 2024, is the alternative. Either can confirm whether a job needs an application, and the survey measurements answer their first question, the share of the roof the work covers.
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