Swallowfield Park's roof story
Built by Lord Clarendon in 1689-90, its high roof was later lowered and partly hidden by a parapet.
Roofers in Swallowfield
Roofs by the Loddon and Blackwater, from Farley Hill to the Park
Swallowfield sits where the Blackwater meets the Loddon, with a 1690 mansion nearby and heathy ground at Farley Hill. Our survey starts from the roof as it is today.
Swallowfield's park, church and Farley Hill cottages
All Saints and its bargeboard
The church porch keeps some 15th-century woodwork in its traceried bargeboard, says the county history.
Farley Hill's scattered houses
In 1923 the county history recorded some houses half-timbered and thatched, and others of brick, at Farley Hill.
Map of Swallowfield with Riseley, Spencers Wood, Three Mile Cross, Shinfield marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Swallowfield, where the Blackwater joins the Loddon
Swallowfield lies on the east bank of the Loddon, with Riseley Common and Farley Hill on higher heathy ground, while Farnborough, 14.5 road miles to the south-east, is where our mileage is measured from.
About 14.5 road miles north-west of Farnborough · Wokingham Borough Council (unitary).
From ridge to gutter in Swallowfield
Swallowfield, parapets and park
Swallowfield roofs, from a lowered roof to a bargeboard
What Wokingham's licensing rules mean for a Swallowfield job, what the 1923 county history records about the park, the church and Farley Hill, and which listed farm buildings and conservation area shape a repair.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Wokingham's scaffold rules, point by point | Notice of 10 working days |
| 02 | A lowered roof, a porch and Farley Hill | Roof lowered after 1820 |
| 03 | Bowyer's Farmhouse and Swallowfield's conservation area | Nine listed buildings within 500 m |
Chapter 01 of 03
Wokingham's scaffold rules, point by point
| Item | What Wokingham says |
|---|---|
| Who applies | Scaffolding companies, on behalf of customers |
| Notice | At least 10 working days before the proposed start |
| Private roads | No licence needed for scaffolding |
| Footway | At least 1.2 metres wide must remain |
| Building control | Building Control Solutions, with West Berkshire |
Swallowfield answers to Wokingham Borough Council for planning and roads, and to Building Control Solutions, which Wokingham shares with West Berkshire Council, for building regulations. The village lies 14.5 road miles from Farnborough on the A325 measure. Those facts settle most of the paperwork questions before a job starts.
The numbers worth remembering
Three figures frame a Swallowfield re-roof. Wokingham publishes no re-roofing percentage, which leaves the Planning Portal's two limits as our guide: 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, and weight as the third: a replacement covering at least 15 per cent heavier than the old one triggers approval, and a structural check with it. A full renewal of a cottage roof crosses the second limit; a repair does not.
Swallowfield's older roads wind between commons, fields and the river, and a delivery lorry may not reach every house. We ask about the approach at the first call: the width of the lane, where a skip could stand, and whether a neighbour's drive could serve as a staging area. A tidy site starts with a plan for the waste, and old tiles and slates are heavy.
Scaffold, as Wokingham words it
On Wokingham Borough Council's licensing page, the form belongs to the scaffolding firm, which files it for its customer. The council wants at least 10 working days between filing and the proposed start. The first 4 weeks cost £263, and a fifth week starts a second block at £163. Private roads need no licence, and a footway beside scaffold must keep at least 1.2 metres clear.
In a village with lanes, commons and long drives, many houses have room for scaffold on their own ground. Where a lane is narrow, a footway may not exist at all, and the question becomes one of access for lorries and skips. The approach is discussed when you call, and the frontage is measured on the survey day, after which you hear how the work would be set up.
If the house is near the river, a wet spell can delay a start, and we mention that when we give dates. An overrun buys another block, so the survey fixes the number of scaffold days, with weather slack.
Chapter 02 of 03
A lowered roof, a porch and Farley Hill
Swallowfield's recorded buildings
- 1689-90Swallowfield Park built by Lord Clarendon
- After 1820high roof lowered, partly hidden by a parapet
- 12th centuryorigin of All Saints' chancel and nave
- 2,142residents, ONS Census 2021, Swallowfield parish
The 1923 county history gives Swallowfield some unusual roof stories. Swallowfield Park was built by Lord Clarendon in 1689-90, and after 1820 Sir Henry Russell had its high roof lowered and partly concealed by a parapet, and the old brickwork covered with Roman cement. The church of All Saints has a continuous chancel and nave of 12th- and 13th-century origin, and a porch that keeps some 15th-century woodwork in its traceried bargeboard, with a modern wood bell-turret.
What those stories teach a roofer
A roof partly concealed by a parapet is a reminder of a feature we see on grander houses: the parapet gutter. Water runs from the roof into a lead-lined channel behind the wall, and the channel has to be sound or the water goes into the building. Lead sheet is long-lived, but joints, outlets and upstands are where it fails. Our lead roofing and lead work page explains how those details are renewed.
Roman cement over brickwork is another lesson: render and the roof meet at a junction that wants flashing, not filler. A crack at that junction lets water behind the cement, and the damage shows later as blown render. We photograph such junctions close up and say whether a flashing or a repair to the render is needed.
The figure1820yearyear after which Swallowfield Park's high roof was lowered and partly hidden by a parapet1689 mansion built1820 roof loweredSource: British History Online, Victoria County History of Berkshire, volume 3 (1923), Parishes: Swallowfield; Wokingham Borough Council area
The porch bargeboard of All Saints shows a different kind of fragility. Bargeboards sit at the exposed gable edge, and old timber there needs care and often specialist repair. For a house with decorative bargeboards, we record them before work starts and advise where a carpenter should lead.
The same history describes the village west of the church as a group of small buildings and inns, mostly of brick. Inns and farm buildings often have roofs that were altered as use changed, with a lean-to here and a dormer there, and each alteration is a join. We examine joins first on a roof with that kind of history.
At Farley Hill, the 1923 record found some houses half-timbered and thatched and others of brick. Thatch is a trade of its own, and where a roof needs a thatcher, you will hear that at the survey. For brick and tile houses, our report puts the covering in writing for each slope.
Chapter 03 of 03
Bowyer's Farmhouse and Swallowfield's conservation area
| Designation | Near Swallowfield | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Conservation area | Swallowfield, on Wokingham's list | Check the council's map |
| Grade II listed | Bowyer's Farmhouse (NHLE 1135962), listed 26 January 1967 | Listed building consent |
| Grade II listed | Granary at Bowyers Farmhouse (NHLE 1118075) | Listed building consent |
| Grade II listed | Girdlers (NHLE 1135834) | Listed building consent |
| Flood zone | Flood Zone 3 within about 250 m of the centre | Keep roof drainage clear |
Wokingham Borough Council's list of conservation areas includes Swallowfield, and the national list shows 9 listed buildings within 500 m of the village centre. Among them are Bowyer's Farmhouse, listed Grade II on 26 January 1967, the granary about 3 metres west of it, and Girdlers, both listed Grade II. Whether your own house is in the conservation area is a matter for the council's map, and we read it before we visit.
Consent and care
Wokingham Borough Council grants listed building consent where work would alter a listed building's character, and the consent applies alongside permitted development rights, which listing leaves in place. Copying the original is the repair least likely to change a building's character, and close photographs of today's roof are the strongest evidence for that. In the conservation area the same habit of matching serves, even where no listing exists.
Water in a river village
Parts of the land within about 250 m of the village centre fall in Flood Zone 3 on the Environment Agency's Flood Map for Planning. That map is about land rather than any single house, but it is a reason to care about where roof water goes. We run water through gutters where it is safe, check downpipes and gullies, and photograph outlets, since roof water left standing against a wall makes a damp house.
Listing and conservation controls are about change, not decay. Nothing in them asks an owner to let a roof deteriorate, and no council would want that. A leaking valley in a listed farmhouse is as much a repair job as it is anywhere else, and the sooner it is photographed, the sooner a consent route, if one is needed, can begin.
A farm building such as a granary has a roof built to different rules from a house, usually simple and low, and repairs follow the building's own pattern. If you look after one, we can survey it with the same care, and we would explain what we find in terms a conservation officer can use.
A listing and a count
1967year Bowyer's Farmhouse was listed, in January
9listed buildings within 500 m of the centre
Owners of unlisted houses can do one cheap and useful thing: keep dated photographs of the roof. It helps at a sale, with an insurer and with a neighbour, and it makes the next repair easier to match. Our gutters, soffits and fascias page explains how roofline parts are renewed.
Swallowfield roof questions, parapets, bargeboards and the river
My Swallowfield house has a parapet gutter behind a low wall: why does it leak at the corners?
Corners and outlets are where a lead-lined channel usually fails, because joints open and debris blocks the outlet. Water then backs up and finds its way over the lining into the wall. The channel is cleared, water is run along it, every joint is photographed, and you are told whether patching or re-lining is the answer.
The bargeboards on my Farley Hill cottage are soft: can they be patched?
Sometimes. If the rot is limited to one end, a carpenter can often splice in new timber and the board keeps its profile. If the board is soft along its length, replacement in the same profile is better. We photograph and measure the boards, check the roof edge behind them, and advise before pricing.
Is a Swallowfield house in Flood Zone 3 more likely to have roof problems?
The flood map describes land, not roofs, so it does not make a roof fail. It does make drainage matter more, because roof water that cannot leave the house causes damp. Gutters and downpipes are tested and the outlets photographed, so your report shows where roof water goes and whether it gets away.
Who applies for scaffold on a Swallowfield lane with no pavement?
On a lane without a footway, the question is whether the road is public highway or private. Wokingham Borough Council says private roads need no licence, and that where one is needed the scaffolding company applies for the customer, with at least 10 working days' notice. The road's status is the first thing we confirm.
Loddon-valley villages near Swallowfield
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Give the lane and the symptom, and a Swallowfield survey with photographs follows, after we agree a date.
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