Botleys Park and Foxhills
In 1911 the county history named Botleys Park, Almners, Foxhills and Fan Court as the district's large houses.
Roofers in Lyne
Roofs on the big houses and lanes south of Chertsey
Lyne is a small place south of Chertsey, home of the old tithing of Rokesbury and of Botleys Park and Foxhills. We survey large roofs and small ones with equal care.
Lyne's large houses and its 1895 school
Almners and its abbey past
Almners was formerly Almners Barns, once the endowment of Chertsey Abbey's almoner, the monk who gave out alms.
The school of 1895
A school was built at Botleys and Lyne in 1895, according to the 1911 county history.
Map of Lyne with Ottershaw, Virginia Water, Thorpe, Chertsey marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Lyne, a hamlet south of Chertsey
Lyne lies two miles south by west of Chertsey, in what was Chertsey parish, and Farnborough is 14.9 road miles to the south-west.
About 14.9 road miles north-east of Farnborough · Runnymede Borough Council and Surrey County Council.
Lyne, tithing and park houses
Lyne's roofs, from tithing to park house
How Runnymede and Surrey divide a Lyne roof job, what the 1911 county history says of the hamlet's tithing, school and large houses, and where the Chertsey and Thorpe conservation areas come in.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Runnymede and Surrey, divided plainly | Runnymede plans, Surrey licenses scaffold |
| 02 | Rokesbury, Botleys and a school of 1895 | Botleys and Lyne, a hamlet of Chertsey |
| 03 | Chertsey and Thorpe, the nearest conservation areas | No listed buildings within 500 m |
Chapter 01 of 03
Runnymede and Surrey, divided plainly
| Lever | Held by |
|---|---|
| Planning consent | Runnymede Borough Council |
| Building control inspection | Runnymede Borough Council, its own team |
| Highway scaffold licence | Surrey County Council, until 31 March 2027 |
| Parish status | Runnymede, unparished area |
| Road distance from the A325 | 14.9 miles |
Lyne is an old hamlet of Chertsey, and today it falls in Runnymede's unparished area. Runnymede Borough Council holds the planning decisions and runs building control with its own team, while Surrey County Council licenses the roads until 31 March 2027, after which West Surrey Council takes over the whole bundle. Measured from the A325 in Farnborough, Lyne is 14.9 road miles away.
Before you commission
Three questions come first on any Lyne roof, and each has a short answer once the survey is done.
- How much of the roof is involved? Runnymede names no percentage, so we work to the Planning Portal's limits of 25 per cent of the envelope and 50 per cent of the roof.
- Will the new covering weigh more? A rise of 15 per cent or more needs approval and a structural check.
- Will the scaffold sit on the public footway or carriageway? If so, a Surrey County Council licence is involved.
On a large house with a deep roof, the first answer can surprise an owner. A single run of repairs across several slopes may add up to a good share of the whole roof, so we measure each slope and give you the sum.
Compare quotes on what they cover. A deep roof needs deep scaffold and generates a lot of waste, so a figure that leaves either out is not comparable with one that carries them. A single written total follows the survey.
The licence, briefly
Until April 2027 Surrey County Council sells its licence in 28-day periods at £208, and a renewal is priced the same. The notice period is 10 working days. Nothing on the page names the party that submits the form, which is one for the scaffolder at booking. Where a house has a long drive and wide grounds, scaffold can stand on private land, outside the licence altogether.
Weather matters more on a large roof, since more of it is open at once. We plan the stripping in sections, so only the part being worked on is exposed, and each section is covered over before we leave site. A tidy site depends on that routine, and each day you hear what was done and what is next.
When a house has a long drive, the practical limits are different. We look at where a lorry can stand, where skips can be kept and how materials reach the roof, so a large job does not disturb the lane more than it must.
Chapter 02 of 03
Rokesbury, Botleys and a school of 1895
Lyne in the 1911 county history and the 2021 Census
- 2 milessouth by west of Chertsey, per 1911
- 1895year the school was built
- 4large houses named in the district in 1911
- 1,204residents, ONS Census 2021, Lyne built-up area
The 1911 county history describes Botleys and Lyne as a hamlet of Chertsey, two miles south by west of the town, with a school built in 1895. It also records that Rokesbury in Lyne was one of the old tithings into which Chertsey parish was divided. The large houses of the Botleys and Lyne district in 1911 were Botleys Park, Almners, Foxhills and Fan Court. Almners was formerly Almners Barns, once the endowment of Chertsey Abbey's almoner. The 2021 Census counted 1,204 usual residents in the Lyne built-up area.
The abbey's almoner is a small reminder of how long this ground has been worked and built on. A building on land used for that long has usually been altered more than once, and each alteration leaves a join in the roof. We treat an old house as one that has been changed, so we look for the changes.
What large houses ask of a roofer
We cannot tell from a history what covers any house today, and we do not guess. What we can say is that houses of that class tend to have large, complicated roofs, and large, complicated roofs have more places to fail. Valleys between wings, chimneys in groups, lead-lined gutters behind parapets, flat sections over later extensions: each is a join, and each join is a risk.
The figure1895yearyear the school at Botleys and Lyne was built, per the 1911 history1895 school built1911 county historySource: British History Online, Victoria County History of Surrey, volume 3 (1911), Parishes: Chertsey; Runnymede Borough Council area
A survey of such a house takes time. We walk the roof where it is safe, use a ladder or platform elsewhere, and look into the loft from below. We photograph every join and record its condition. The report you receive is a schedule of the roof, section by section, with the findings against each.
A schedule has a second use. Large houses are often repaired in stages over several years, and a record of what was done and when makes the next stage easier to plan. We keep our photographs with the report, and you are welcome to use them with other contractors, a surveyor or an insurer.
Estate buildings, such as a barn, a stable block or a lodge, may have roofs of their own, often simple and low-pitched, and we include them in the survey if you ask. Our chimney repairs page explains how stacks are repaired, a frequent job on large houses with many chimneys.
Chapter 03 of 03
Chertsey and Thorpe, the nearest conservation areas
| Item | Near Lyne | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area | Chertsey, within about 2.5 km | Check Runnymede's map |
| Conservation area | Thorpe, within about 2.5 km | Check Runnymede's map |
| Listed buildings | None recorded within 500 m of the centre | Check the national list by address |
| Runnymede guidance | 2023 guidance on permitted development in conservation areas | Read before changing a roof's look |
The nearest conservation areas in the national dataset are Chertsey and Thorpe, each within about 2.5 km of Lyne. That tells you the neighbourhood has designated places close by, not that your house is in one. Whether your house is inside either is answered by Runnymede's online map, which we read ahead of the survey. Runnymede has also published guidance on permitted development in conservation areas, a useful read before any change to a roof's appearance.
Listings
The national list records no listed buildings within 500 m of Lyne's centre. If your house is nonetheless listed, tell us when you call, because the consent route then changes, and the first step becomes a photographic record and a conversation with the council. Where a house sits in the grounds of a larger estate, it is worth checking the list by address, since a lodge or a stable block may be listed even when the main house is not.
Check whether an Article 4 direction applies with Runnymede Borough Council; we raise it before putting a price on any work that alters a roof's appearance.
If a house stands inside a conservation area, a repair that changes the roof's look from the lane is the sort of thing the council notices. Replacing a covering with a visibly different one, adding a rooflight to the front slope or altering a chimney are all in that class. Repairs that copy what is there, in the same material and pattern, are outside it.
Repair as ordinary upkeep
Most Lyne roof work will not touch any of this. A slipped tile, a failing ridge, a blocked valley or a sagging gutter is a repair, and repair is ordinary upkeep. The aim is to find the fault early, repair it to match, and keep a record. Dated photographs also help when you sell, or when an insurer asks what condition the roof was in.
Distance and listings
2.5 kmdistance within which Chertsey and Thorpe areas lie
Nonelisted buildings recorded within 500 m
Trees are part of the setting, and large trees bring leaf fall and sometimes branches. Gutters and valleys under them need regular clearing, and we show you the state of each at the survey. The gutters, soffits and fascias page covers renewing roofline parts once the roof above them is sound.
Lyne roof questions, large houses and small
My Lyne house has several wings and a long run of valleys: can repairs be done in stages?
Yes. We survey the roof as numbered sections, photograph each, and rank the findings by urgency, so you can repair the worst first and schedule the rest. A stage-by-stage plan needs the scaffold arrangements thought through, because scaffold hired twice costs more than scaffold hired once, and we price that into the plan.
Is a lodge or stable block in a Lyne estate listed even if the main house is not?
It can be, because listing attaches to individual buildings. The national list records none within 500 m of Lyne's centre, but estate buildings sit across a wider area, so check by address. We do that before the survey, and if a building is listed, listed building consent from Runnymede applies to any work affecting its character.
How many working days of notice does a Surrey scaffold licence need?
A licence from Surrey County Council (until April 2027) lasts 28 days and costs £208, with the same fee to renew, and the council wants 10 working days before the start. The page never says who files, so ask who applies. Scaffold on private land, which a long drive often allows, needs no highway licence.
Do Chertsey's and Thorpe's conservation areas cover Lyne?
They lie within about 2.5 km of Lyne, so they are close but not the same place. Whether your address is inside either is a matter for Runnymede's map. A house outside both is simpler to work on, but we check the map first so any extra care for the roof's appearance is planned in.
South of Chertsey, near Lyne
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