Church with a tiled spire
The church tower is topped by a tiled broach spire, beside a nave roof of the late 16th century.
Roofers in Ewhurst
Roofs on Wealden clay below Pitch Hill and the Greensand
Ewhurst is a Waverley village at the foot of Pitch Hill, with a Grade I church and two conservation areas. We survey every slope and photograph what it shows.
Ewhurst's tiled spire, slate house and listed barns
Baynards and its Horsham slates
The Victoria County History places Baynards on foundations of Sussex marble, with a roof of Horsham slates sourced locally.
White Hart Cottage and barns
White Hart Cottage is listed Grade II*, and the Old Rectory's barn and Sayers Croft's dining hall are Grade II.
Map of Ewhurst with Cranleigh, Peaslake, Holmbury St Mary, Ockley marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Ewhurst, east of Cranleigh among the Surrey Hills
Cranleigh lies west of Ewhurst, Peaslake north, Holmbury St Mary north-east, Ockley east, Rudgwick south and Shamley Green north-west.
About 25.1 road miles south-east of Farnborough · Waverley Borough Council and Surrey County Council.
Fixes and replacements in Ewhurst
Ewhurst, clay, hills and church
Reading an Ewhurst roof against its record
How Waverley and Surrey County Council share a roof job in Ewhurst, what the old history says about its clay ground, church and slate-roofed Baynards, and what the conservation area and listings add.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Waverley plans and inspects, Surrey licenses scaffold | Waverley's own building control service |
| 02 | Wealden clay, Greensand hills and a rebuilt church | Church rebuilt 1838-9 after a tower collapse |
| 03 | Conservation area, Grade I church and Surrey Hills edge | 22% of the area touches the Surrey Hills |
Chapter 01 of 03
Waverley plans and inspects, Surrey licenses scaffold
| Role | Body for Ewhurst addresses |
|---|---|
| Planning authority | Waverley Borough Council |
| Building control | Waverley Building Control, the council's own service |
| County council and highway authority | Surrey County Council (until 31 March 2027) |
| Council from 1 April 2027 | West Surrey Council from 1 April 2027, replacing both |
| Scaffold on the highway | A licence from Surrey County Council; ask who applies |
| Civil parish | Ewhurst, 2,632 usual residents at the 2021 Census |
Ewhurst's planning decisions come from Waverley Borough Council, which also keeps its own building control service. The highway stays with Surrey County Council until 31 March 2027, and from 1 April 2027 West Surrey Council succeeds the county and the borough alike. Until that date, the present split applies to any roof job you book, and we plan to it.
Waverley's inspection service
Waverley says it provides a plans checking service and an on-site inspection service, and that next-day inspections can be booked if requested by 4pm the day before. That matters on a re-roof, because an inspector may want to see the structure before it is covered. We build the booking into the plan, so a tile-stripped roof is never left open waiting for a visit.
Whether an application is needed at all depends on the job. Waverley states no percentage for re-roofing, which leaves the Planning Portal's limits as the guide: work on less than 25 per cent of the building envelope and less than 50 per cent of the roof normally needs no Building Regulations application, and a covering 15 per cent or more heavier does not. A registered building control approver offers a private route beside Waverley's own team. The two routes differ in who inspects, not in what the Regulations require.
We measure the roof slope by slope at the survey and put the percentages in writing. A job close to a limit is flagged as such, and one clearly under is recorded as under, so that you are not paying for an application you do not need.
A scaffold on the village road
The highway authority licenses any scaffold that obstructs a road or footway, under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980. Surrey County Council sets its licence at £208 per 28-day period and wants the application 10 working days or more ahead of the start. Whoever files the form is not stated on the council's page, so we find that out before booking. Poles set up on private ground need no highway licence.
Where the road is narrow, we also look at whether the scaffold can be built from the garden side, whether a skip can stand on the drive and where the materials will be lifted from. These details cost nothing to decide at the survey and a great deal to change once a lorry has arrived.
Chapter 02 of 03
Wealden clay, Greensand hills and a rebuilt church
Ewhurst in four published details
- 3 hillsEwhurst Hill, Pitch Hill and Coneyhurst Hill on the Greensand
- 1838-9when most of the church was rebuilt
- Late 16th centurydate of the church nave's roof
- 14listed buildings within 500 m of the centre
The Victoria County History of Surrey puts the north of Ewhurst parish on the Greensand hills, named as Ewhurst Hill, Pitch Hill and Coneyhurst Hill, and most of the rest on Wealden Clay in the old forest, where oak grows with great vigour. A parish of heavy clay and long-lived oak is one where older buildings could be built from what was close to hand, though the history does not tell us which roofs were.
A church that was rebuilt after a collapse
The same account says most of the church of St Peter and St Paul was rebuilt in 1838-9, after its central tower collapsed during repairs and brought down much of the chancel. The nave is the least altered part, dated to the 12th century, with a nave roof of the late 16th century. The tower is topped by a tiled broach spire. For a roofer the story carries a plain lesson: repair work on an old structure has to be planned around what is already there, and the weakest point may not be the one you are looking at.
Baynards and local materials
Baynards is described as a brick house on foundations of Sussex marble, with a roof of Horsham slates, both sourced locally. The history gives that as a fact about one house, and we do not stretch it into a statement about every roof in the village. If your house carries natural slate, our slate roofing page describes how individual slates are replaced, and our pitched roofing page covers tiles, ridges and valleys.
The history ties oak to the parish, but whether a given roof frame is oak is a matter for the survey. In the loft we look at rafters, purlins and battens for rot, beetle damage and movement, and we photograph each concern. If timbers need replacing, the written price says so before any work begins.
An old forest parish also means large trees close to houses. Leaves in valleys and gutters are the usual result, and we clear them as part of the survey so that any leak we find is not just a blocked outlet. A roof that stays damp under tree cover grows moss quickly, and we treat that on its merits: some moss is cosmetic, and some lifts tiles or blocks a valley.
Chapter 03 of 03
Conservation area, Grade I church and Surrey Hills edge
| Designation | In Ewhurst | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area | Ewhurst (1970) and Ewhurst Green (1974), within 0.75 km | Ask Waverley before changing a roof's look |
| Surrey Hills National Landscape | Partly: 22% of the 1.5 km area | Check your address before any change of look |
| Grade I listed church in use | St Peter and St Paul (NHLE 1190455) | Church of England faculty |
| Grade II* listed | White Hart Cottage (NHLE 1044312) | Listed building consent where character is affected |
| Grade II listed | Old Rectory barn (NHLE 1044346); Sayers Croft hall (NHLE 1391838) | Listed building consent where character is affected |
Two conservation areas lie within about 0.75 km of the village centre: Ewhurst, designated in 1970, and Ewhurst Green, designated in 1974. They are two of the 44 conservation areas Waverley lists across the borough. Waverley's planning map is where to look for the boundaries and your own address, and the planning team can tell you whether an Article 4 direction applies before you change the look of a roof.
The edge of the Surrey Hills
About 22 per cent of the 1.5 km area round Ewhurst lies inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape, formerly the AONB. The village centre sits outside it, so the designation is close but may or may not cover your plot. Plans for a dormer or a fresh covering material belong with Waverley's planners first, on whichever side of the line the house stands. Our planning permission for roof work guide covers the national rules in more depth than this page can.
Church, cottage and barns
Ewhurst's church, St Peter and St Paul, is listed Grade I and still used for Anglican worship, which places its roof work in the faculty system and outside the council's listed building consent. White Hart Cottage is listed Grade II*, and the barn in the Old Rectory's grounds and the dining hall at Sayers Croft are Grade II. The national list records 14 listed buildings within 500 m of the village centre. For any of the houses and barns, work affecting character needs listed building consent from Waverley, and we put that to the council before pricing. The sequence is the same each time: you tell us the building is listed, we photograph and measure the roof, the council sees the evidence, and the price follows its answer. If the building turns out to be unlisted, the process shortens and nothing is lost. That order protects you from paying for a repair the council later asks to be changed.
The figure22%of the 1.5 km area round Ewhurst lies inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape22% inside the landscapeSource: planning.data.gov.uk area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty layer, 1.5 km area test
Chimneys on older houses are among the details a conservation officer looks at. If a stack needs rebuilding, our chimney repairs page explains how stacks are taken down, rebuilt and flashed, and the survey photographs show what the original looked like.
Ewhurst roof questions, from clay ground to consent
My Ewhurst house has a slate roof: can a few slates be replaced?
Often yes, if the surrounding slates and their fixings are sound. We lift a few to check the nails and the battens beneath, because slates cannot be refixed on rotten timber. The survey photographs show which slates can stay, and the repair is matched to the rest of the slope.
Will Ewhurst's conservation areas limit changes to my roof?
It limits changes more than repairs. A dormer, a change in covering or a new ridge is a matter for Waverley's planning team, and the boundary map tells you which side of the line your house sits, for Ewhurst (1970) or Ewhurst Green (1974). A repair that copies what is already there is the simple case, and our survey photographs show what that was.
Does the Grade I church in Ewhurst need listed building consent?
Not for the church itself. St Peter and St Paul holds a Grade I listing yet is still a place of Anglican worship, so the ecclesiastical exemption applies and the faculty system handles its repairs. Waverley's listed building consent applies to listed houses and barns outside that exemption, such as White Hart Cottage.
How much notice does a scaffold licence need in Ewhurst?
Surrey County Council wants applications 10 working days or more ahead, and charges £208 for each 28-day period. Because the council's page names no applicant, we ask first and then write the answer and the dates into the plan. Poles kept on your own land need no highway licence, and the survey shows whether that is possible.
From Ewhurst to Cranleigh and Peaslake
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