Almshouse dormers and brick
The Kedermister almshouses of 1617 are a two-storey brick range with gabled dormers.
Roofers in Langley
Almshouse brickwork, diagonal chimney shafts and old inns
Langley's almshouses, dated 1617 and 1679, have gabled dormers and diagonally set brick chimney shafts. We survey roofs like these closely, slope by slope, and write one price.
Langley's roofs, from canal brickworks to St Mary's Road
Diagonal brick chimney shafts
The Seymour almshouses of 1679 have diagonally set brick chimney shafts, noted as 17th-century brickwork.
Old inns with original features
The Red Lion and George inns are among several 16th- and 17th-century buildings keeping original features.
Map of Langley with George Green, Richings Park, Colnbrook, Datchet marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Langley, beside the Grand Junction Canal
George Green lies to the north, Iver to the north-east, Richings Park to the east, Colnbrook to the south-east, Datchet to the south-west and Slough to the west.
About 23.5 road miles north-east of Farnborough · Slough Borough Council (unitary).
Choose a service for Langley
Langley, almshouses and rights
Langley's roofs, Slough's council and your rights
Who inspects roof work in Langley, what you can cancel after a survey at home, how its almshouses and brickworks shaped its buildings, and what listing means for a repair, each with its published source.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Slough's council and your rights after a survey | 14 days to cancel a home contract |
| 02 | Canal brickworks and the almshouses | Almshouses of 1617 and 1679 |
| 03 | St Mary's Church and the Langley conservation area | St Mary's, Grade I, first listed 1950 |
Chapter 01 of 03
Slough's council and your rights after a survey
| Matter | Position at Langley |
|---|---|
| Planning authority | Slough Borough Council (unitary) |
| Building control | Slough Borough Council, its own service |
| Local council tier | Slough, unparished area |
| Contract signed at home | 14 days to cancel, Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 |
| Consumer help | Citizens Advice consumer helpline, 0808 223 1133 |
Langley is a former village that is now part of Slough, and Slough Borough Council is a unitary council. It plans, and it runs its own building control service. There is no parish council, because the area is unparished. By road Langley is 23.5 miles from Farnborough, taking the A325 as the start, so a survey here is a booked appointment, and the written findings reach you before any contract does.
After the survey: what you can cancel
Many roof jobs are agreed at the kitchen table after a survey. Agreements reached in your own home after a survey count as off-premises contracts. The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 give a services contract of that kind a cancellation window of 14 days, and Citizens Advice says the clock starts the day after you sign. If the trader never told you about the right, the window can run on for as long as 12 months.
There is one exception that matters for roofs. If you have specifically asked a trader to visit for urgent repairs, such as a ceiling coming down in a storm, regulation 28(1)(e) removes the cancellation right. We explain this before any urgent work starts. If a job does not go as agreed, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline is 0808 223 1133, and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 obliges traders to point you to any dispute-resolution scheme that is available.
The figure14daysof cooling-off after you sign an off-premises contract at home14 cancel bySource: legislation.gov.uk, Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 30
On your own home you are the domestic client under CDM 2015. Where several contractors share the site, CDM 2015 names a principal designer and a principal contractor, while a lone contractor writes a construction phase plan. Headcount triggers the extra duties, never whether the job is notifiable, and we confirm at the survey who will be on site. If a Langley job involves a flat-roofed extension or garage, our flat roofing page explains how its falls and outlets are checked.
Quotes and scaffold
Citizens Advice recommends collecting written quotes from three or more traders before you choose, and you are welcome to do that with ours. Scaffold that stands on the carriageway or footway needs the highway authority's licence, but not when it stands on your own drive. We settle with the scaffolder which of us files for the licence before a start date is fixed.
Chapter 02 of 03
Canal brickworks and the almshouses
Langley's building record in dates
- 1617Kedermister almshouses founded
- 1679Seymour almshouses built
- 1925year the county history noted large brickworks
- 15listed buildings within 500 m of the centre
The Victoria County History noted in 1925 large brickworks near Langley station and the canal. That fits the place described on the map: a village on the Great Western main line beside the Slough arm of the Grand Junction Canal, now inside Slough. The same account singles out buildings that survive: almshouses, inns and a park house with an orangery.
Almshouses, dormers and chimney shafts
The Kedermister almshouses, founded in 1617, are a two-storey brick range with cemented dressings and gabled dormers. With the Seymour almshouses of 1679 they have diagonally set brick chimney shafts, which the account calls interesting 17th-century brickwork. A gabled dormer has its own cheeks, its own roof and flashings where it meets the main slope, so each dormer is a small roof to survey. The chimney shafts are tall, thin brick structures exposed on every side, and their pointing, flaunching and pots decide whether rain gets down the flue. Flaunching is the sloped mortar bed that fixes each pot to the stack.
Gabled dormers matter for another reason. Approved Document L's Table 4.3, note 2, treats the roof parts of a dormer window as roof for this purpose, so a renovated dormer roof is measured against the same 0.35 trigger and 0.16 target. We measure each dormer roof separately for that reason.
When a shaft is leaning, or its joints are open, the repair is a partial rebuild in reclaimed or matching brick, which needs access and often a scaffold. Our chimney repairs page covers how a stack is assessed. If the structure beneath is sound, repointing and a new crown may be all that is needed.
Two almshouse dates
1617Kedermister almshouses founded
1679Seymour almshouses built
Inns, a park house and an orangery
The Red Lion and George inns are among several 16th- and 17th-century buildings in the village that keep many original features. Langley Park house is a square stone building, and its grounds contain a late 17th-century brick orangery. A roof on a building of that age is a record of repairs. We photograph the structure before pricing, so you can see where the battens, rafters and tiles are original and where they have been replaced. Where an inn or a park house has a roof of several pitches, the valleys between them take the heaviest flow, so the valley linings and the gutters beneath are checked first.
Chapter 03 of 03
St Mary's Church and the Langley conservation area
| Designation | At Langley | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area | St Mary's Church, Langley | Changes to the look checked with Slough |
| Grade I listed | Church of St Mary (NHLE 1135750) | Denomination's route or listed building consent |
| Grade II* listed | 12 to 22 St Marys Road (NHLE 1113387) | Listed building consent |
| Grade II* listed | 2 to 8 St Marys Road (NHLE 1113384) | Listed building consent |
The St Mary's Church, Langley conservation area lies within about 0.75 km of the centre. Inside it, anything that alters a roof's appearance goes to Slough Borough Council's planners before a quote, and the council is also the one to ask about an Article 4 direction. Our planning permission for roof work guide sets out how to ask.
Listed at the top grades
Historic England lists the Church of St Mary at Grade I, the highest grade, first listed on 29 September 1950. It lists the houses at 12 to 22 St Marys Road and 2 to 8 St Marys Road at Grade II*, and records 15 listed buildings within 500 m of the centre. A listed house needs listed building consent for any works that alter its special character, separately from Building Regulations. An application usually needs photographs and a description of the existing fabric, and our survey provides both, so the consent route starts from facts and not from guesses.
Church roofs are handled differently from houses. The route depends on the denomination and on whether the building is in use, and the parish or the denomination knows which applies to St Mary's. Any work to the church follows that route, and none of it changes what applies to the houses around it.
Slough's conservation area map decides whether a house is inside the boundary. We check your address against it at the survey instead of judging from the street, and tell you what we find, so you know whether the planning team needs to see the roof before any work is priced.
Matching what is there
Next to buildings of this grade the aim is to match what is there. We record tile sizes, ridge details, verge treatments and the lead around chimneys and dormers, and we write down which parts are original. Where lead is renewed the code follows the position: Royston's brochure gives Code 4 for soakers, flashings, dormers and pitched valleys, with Code 5 the lightest it lists for gutters behind parapets and for box gutters. Our lead roofing and lead work page covers the detail.
A brick stack can be shared between two houses and sit on a party wall. Cutting away a projecting chimney breast needs the neighbour to have two months' notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, and disputes go to a party wall surveyor, never to building control.
Chimney shafts, cancelling and St Mary's: Langley questions
How are tall brick chimney shafts like Langley's almshouse stacks repaired?
We start with the pointing, the flaunching and the pots, because rain usually enters there first. A leaning or open-jointed shaft may need a partial rebuild in reclaimed or matching brick, which means a scaffold. We photograph the stack from close range, show you the joints and the crown, and tell you which of the two repairs it needs and why.
If I agree a Langley roof job at home, can I change my mind?
For a contract signed away from the trader's premises you have 14 days from the day after you sign, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013. That right falls away when you have asked a trader to visit for urgent repairs. The Citizens Advice consumer helpline, 0808 223 1133, can advise on your own contract, and we give you the cancellation details in writing with the quote.
What governs the roof of Langley's parish church?
St Mary's is listed Grade I. The route for its roof depends on who worships there and whether it is in use, so check with the parish before any roofer is engaged: it may be a faculty, a denominational system or listed building consent. Houses nearby follow the ordinary council routes.
Does Slough Borough Council need to be told about a Langley re-roof?
The Planning Portal's test is under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. Beyond it, Slough's own building control team, or a private approver, becomes involved, and we explain the route in writing before any date is set. A repair of a few tiles or a re-bedded ridge does not need an application at all.
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