St Mary's rebuilt brick tower
The west tower of St Mary's Church was rebuilt in brick about 1630, and the church is listed Grade I.
Roofers in Shinfield
Roofs from a 1707 brick school-house to the new M4 streets
Shinfield has a brick church tower from about 1630, cottages built as manor land was sold, and a parish development planned at about 3,000 new homes. Each roof gets its own survey.
Shinfield roofs, brick tower to new estate
The 1707 school-house
The School Green school-house, built in 1707, is a two-storey brick building with a tiled roof and dormers.
South of the M4 homes
South of the M4 homes extended the village: Wokingham lists 517 complete at Shinfield West Phase 1 and 285 at Phase 2.
Map of Shinfield with Three Mile Cross, Spencers Wood, Lower Earley, Arborfield marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Shinfield, on a ridge above the River Loddon
Three Mile Cross lies to the west, Spencers Wood to the south-west, Swallowfield to the south, Arborfield to the south-east and Earley to the north-east, with Farnborough beyond.
About 15.8 road miles north-west of Farnborough · Wokingham Borough Council (unitary).
Fixes and replacements in Shinfield
Shinfield, parish and council facts
Shinfield's roofs: council rules and parish record
How Wokingham's unitary council, its shared building control and its scaffold rules apply to a Shinfield roof, what the 1923 county history records about the village, and what the listed church and farm buildings mean for repairs.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | One unitary council, one scaffold rule | 10 working days before scaffold starts |
| 02 | A manor sold, cottages built, a clay-pit moat | 17,560 residents in Shinfield parish |
| 03 | St Mary's Grade I church and the farm buildings | St Mary's, Grade I, listed in 1967 |
Chapter 01 of 03
One unitary council, one scaffold rule
| Part of the job | Body for Shinfield addresses |
|---|---|
| Planning authority | Wokingham Borough Council (unitary) |
| Highway authority | Wokingham Borough Council |
| Building control | Building Control Solutions (BCS), West Berkshire and Wokingham |
| Scaffold licence on the highway | Wokingham Borough Council; the scaffold firm applies |
| County council tier | None: Berkshire councils are unitary |
Shinfield sits south of Reading, 15.8 road miles north-west of Farnborough as we measure from the A325 Farnborough Road. It belongs to Berkshire, where the councils are unitary: Wokingham Borough Council does the work of both a district and a county, so planning, highways and scaffold licences all go through one authority. That simplifies life for a householder, because there is a single door to knock on.
Building Control Solutions for a re-roof
Wokingham's building control comes from Building Control Solutions (BCS), which the council's pages describe as a joint effort of West Berkshire and Wokingham. For a Shinfield roof the first question is whether any application is needed, and the Planning Portal's test supplies the answer: normally none, if the work touches under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof. No Wokingham figure is added to that test. A whole-roof re-cover exceeds both limits, so BCS or a registered building control approver inspects it before sign-off.
Each slope is measured on the survey visit, so the share of the roof affected becomes a number on paper. When an application will be needed you hear about it before you book, and the extra weeks sit in the programme rather than arriving as a surprise on day one.
The figure10daysworking days: the least notice Wokingham wants from licence application to scaffold start10 working daysSource: Wokingham Borough Council scaffold and hoarding licences page
Scaffold with Wokingham
Under Wokingham Borough Council's licensing page the scaffold firm files in the customer's name, so no form comes to you. The council's licence page allows no less than 10 working days from application to start, and charges £263 for the first 4 weeks, then £163 for every 4-week period that follows. Scaffolding placed on private roads sits outside the licence. A house that fronts a public pavement is different, and for those the licence belongs in the plan from the start.
We agree the scaffold dates with the firm when we survey, and tell you the day it goes up. If your house is one of the new South of the M4 homes, the front slope and the rear may need different access, and the survey records both. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page explains the work at the eaves that scaffold makes possible. A scaffold that is already up for a roof job is the natural moment to renew tired fascia boards or gutter brackets, so we look at the eaves line on the same visit and put anything we find into the one plan.
Chapter 02 of 03
A manor sold, cottages built, a clay-pit moat
Shinfield's parish in four numbers
- 15.8 road milesnorth-west of Farnborough, from the A325
- 17,560residents, ONS Census 2021, Shinfield parish
- About 1630year St Mary's west tower was rebuilt in brick
- 1707year the School Green school-house was built
Berkshire's 1923 volume of the Victoria County History records two changes that shaped Shinfield's houses. Much of the Shinfield Manor estate had recently been sold, and numerous small houses and cottages had been built. The common along the Reading road had been inclosed and built over with modern villas. At the 2021 Census the parish held 17,560 usual residents, so the village has both a long history and a large population.
Brick with a tiled roof
The same volume says the west tower of St Mary's Church was rebuilt of brick about 1630, and suggests that a small moat nearby may be the clay-pits dug for its bricks. It describes the school-house at School Green, built in 1707 by Richard Piggott, as a two-storey brick building with a tiled roof, a wooden cornice and dormers lighting the roof space. A dormer is a window that stands up out of the slope, and where it meets the roof it needs lead or flashing cut in carefully. On a house of that type the dormer cheeks and roof junctions get the closest look at the survey.
The villas and cottages the same volume mentions belong to another period again. What covering any of them carries today is unknown until we lift a few tiles, and the survey never assumes it. A pair of cottages that went up together can carry different coverings by now, after a century of separate repairs, and the plan records each pair slope by slope. A cottage extension can add yet another roof with its own junctions, which is why we photograph every slope separately.
The new streets
The South of the M4 development extended the village. Wokingham Borough Council plans about 3,000 new homes in the parish in total, and lists 517 homes complete at Shinfield West Phase 1 and 285 at Phase 2. Recent houses have their own roof questions: ridge and verge fixings, valley lines, flashings at abutments and the first run of gutters. When one of those fails it is usually a small, local fault, and a repair is the right answer.
Where roofs of any age are worn across a whole slope, the sensible choice shifts toward re-covering, and our roof replacement page explains how that is planned. The written price follows what the photographs show, which keeps a repair from growing into a re-roof by default.
Chapter 03 of 03
St Mary's Grade I church and the farm buildings
| Designation | In Shinfield | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Grade I listed church | Church of St Mary (NHLE 1118131) | Consent route set by the church's denomination and use |
| Grade II listed house | Church Farmhouse (NHLE 1118132) | Listed building consent for works affecting its character |
| Grade II listed | Granary in garden of Church Farmhouse (NHLE 1136103) | Listed building consent for works affecting its character |
| Conservation area | Check your address on the council map | Changes to the look checked with Wokingham |
St Mary's Church carries a Grade I listing dating from 26 January 1967. Church Farmhouse and the granary in its garden are each listed Grade II. Listed buildings keep their ordinary householder rights, but any works that would affect their character need listed building consent as well. For a listed house the questions we put to Wokingham's planning team come first, and the roof price follows the answer.
A church is a separate case. Where the Church of England still holds services in a church, repairs to the roof need a faculty; other denominations have separate systems, so the opening step is to learn whose building it is and how it is used. If you are a churchwarden or a neighbour who wants a roof checked beside the church, tell us who owns the building and we will ask the right body.
Conservation areas and the council map
Wokingham's own list names sixteen areas, including Swallowfield and Sindlesham nearby, and an individual address is best checked against the council's map before any job is priced. Inside one, section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 still leaves a matching repair outside planning control, because the outward look stays the same. A new covering material or ridge profile does change it, and we raise that with Wokingham before we price the job.
Article 4 directions work the same way. If a job would alter the roof's look from the road, Wokingham is asked whether one covers the address, and its answer is passed to you in writing.
Older Shinfield roofs reward patience. Tiles are lifted a few at a time, battens checked, the lap at the eaves measured and the ridge fixings tested, so that the repair rests on what we found and not on the age of the house. A school-house with dormers, a farm granary and a pair of cottages each get a plan of their own, with a photograph for every item on it, so you can follow the reasoning at your own kitchen table. Where an older roof has been patched over the years with tiles of different sizes, we note which courses match and which do not, because a mismatched course is often where water first finds its way in, long before the rest of the slope fails.
Shinfield roof questions, from dormers to listed farm buildings
Can a dormer on an older Shinfield house be re-flashed without re-roofing?
Usually, yes. Dormer cheeks and the lead or flashing where they meet the slopes wear out before the covering does. We lift the surrounding tiles, photograph the junction and show you the worn section. If the covering around the dormer is also failing, the price covers the larger area and the photographs show why.
Will Wokingham need to approve a Shinfield house being re-roofed?
Wokingham gives no percentage, so the Planning Portal's test stands: work touching under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof normally stays clear of building control. A full re-cover goes past both. Building Control Solutions, or a registered building control approver, would then check it, and we tell you early.
Does roof work beside Shinfield's St Mary's Church need listed building consent?
It depends on the building. The church is Grade I listed, and where the Church of England worships in it, its roof work goes through the faculty system rather than the council. Church Farmhouse and the granary are Grade II, so works affecting their character need listed building consent from Wokingham. Ask us which route applies before you book.
What does Wokingham's scaffold rule mean for a Shinfield roof?
On Wokingham Borough Council's page the application is the scaffold firm's job, so you do not make it yourself. The council asks for 10 working days' notice, charges £263 for the first 4 weeks and £163 for each 4-week period after that, and leaves scaffold on a private road outside its licence.
Around Shinfield: Three Mile Cross, Spencers Wood and Earley
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