Below the Hog's Back
The village sits on the Blackwater valley below the Hog's Back, beside the A331.
Roofers in Tongham
Roofs below the Hog's Back, at the edge of the Surrey Hills
Tongham is a village on the Blackwater valley below the Hog's Back, beside the A331, at the western edge of Guildford borough. Every roof gets one written figure.
Tongham's roofs, from church tower to cottage ridge
St Paul's church
The Church of St Paul is listed Grade II and still serves as an Anglican church.
Cyclops Cottage and farmhouse
Both are listed Grade II, and three listed buildings stand within 500 m.
Map of Tongham with Seale, Ash, Badshot Lea, Aldershot marked around it.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Loads only when you ask for it.
Tongham, at the western edge of Guildford borough
Seale lies south-east, Ash north-east, Aldershot north-west, Ash Vale north, and Badshot Lea close by to the west.
About 6.7 road miles south of Farnborough · Guildford Borough Council and Surrey County Council.
Getting a Tongham roof sorted
Tongham, hills and landscape
Tongham roofs, from the Hog's Back to the A331
What the record says about Tongham's size and setting, how the Surrey Hills National Landscape touches its edge, and which church, cottages and conservation areas shape work on a roof here. Each figure carries its source.
| No. | Chapter | The figure it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | A village below the Hog's Back, beside the A331 | 2,350 residents; three listed buildings |
| 02 | National Landscape edge, St Paul's and listed cottages | National Landscape touches 4% of the box |
| 03 | Guildford's service, Surrey's licence and the A331 edge | Guildford inspects; scaffold 10 days ahead |
Chapter 01 of 03
A village below the Hog's Back, beside the A331
Tongham's place and size in published records
- 2,350residents of Tongham parish, Census 2021
- 3listed buildings within 500 m of the centre
- A331west-side road linking Hog's Back and M3
- 6.7 road milessouth of Farnborough, measured from the A325
Guildford's profile calls the Ash and Tongham urban area compact and residential, with the A331 running along its west side to link the Hog's Back with the M3. Tongham itself lies at the western edge of the borough, in the Blackwater valley under the Hog's Back, and at the 2021 Census its civil parish held 2,350 residents. The village holds a listed church, a listed farmhouse and later homes side by side, so its roofs are of many ages and kinds.
The roof as its own record
The roof itself is the record, and it is more trustworthy than any guess about its age. Our visit has four stages. Stage one is the covering: each slope is measured, and fixings are tried by hand at a handful of places. Stage two is every junction, meaning the lines where roof meets wall, chimney or neighbour. Stage three is the roof space, seen from inside with a torch. Stage four is the water's route from eaves to drain.
Every stage produces pictures and numbers, laid out in the same four-part order in the report, so you can follow our reasoning without a roofer's training and compare one visit with another. When only some parts are failing, the quote is for a repair. When the covering has failed throughout, the photographs show you why.
Pitched repairs are described on our pitched roofing page, and replacement, from stripping to the final ridge, on our roof replacement page. One written total is quoted, and only once the survey is done.
Gutters carry every drop of roof water, and leaves, moss and road dust settle in them, so they belong in any survey here. Should a clean-out be the only thing a roof wants, the report says that and the bill reflects it.
You can make a first check yourself from the ground, without a ladder. Look for tiles that sit out of line, a ridge that sags, stains below the gutters, patches of moss, and daylight visible from the loft. Photographs of anything you spot, sent with your road, help us prepare for the visit and tell us what to look at first, which can shorten the time we spend on site.
Chapter 02 of 03
National Landscape edge, St Paul's and listed cottages
| Designation | Detail | For roof work |
|---|---|---|
| Surrey Hills National Landscape | Edge: place point outside, 4% of the 1.5 km box inside | Ask Guildford what applies |
| Church of St Paul | Grade II, NHLE 1189072; Anglican, in use | Church of England faculty |
| Cyclops Cottage | Grade II, NHLE 1029611 | Listed building consent |
| The Old Farmhouse | Grade II, NHLE 1029609 | Listed building consent |
| Conservation areas | Basingstoke Canal South; Seale, within about 2.5 km | Check your address with Guildford |
The Surrey Hills National Landscape, formerly designated an AONB, reaches Tongham's edge. The village's place point sits outside it, yet about 4% of the 1.5 km search box drawn around that point lies within. For roofing the label matters because certain planning freedoms differ on designated land, dormer windows being the best-known case, and whether a given house is affected is for Guildford's planners to confirm. Our planning permission and roof work guide sets out how that question is put.
St Paul's and two listed buildings
The Church of St Paul received its Grade II listing on 13 December 1984 and still serves as an Anglican church. That puts its roof under the faculty system and the ecclesiastical exemption, not listed building consent. Cyclops Cottage, listed together with Dixons Newsagents, and The Old Farmhouse are Grade II too, and their consent route is listed building consent, needed ahead of any change to what makes them special.
A house with no listing of its own sits outside all three. The dataset also names two conservation areas within about 2.5 km, Basingstoke Canal South and Seale, and neither reached the 1.5 km box. Even so, Guildford holds the answer for your own address, and a changed covering or ridge is put to its planners before we quote. The reply is kept with the survey so that you hold it too.
The figure4%of the 1.5 km box around Tongham's centre lies inside the Surrey Hills National Landscape4% of the search boxSource: planning.data.gov.uk national-landscape dataset, 1.5 km area test
Why spend time on this? A designation discovered before a job costs a short conversation. Discovered afterwards, it can cost a repair that has to be redone. Our report therefore closes with a short note saying what was checked, what was found and whom we asked, so the paper trail sits in one place.
Listed or not, every chimney earns a close look of its own, and our chimney repairs page sets out how stacks are checked and mended. Where a cottage has gained a shop front or a rear extension, flat and pitched sections can sit side by side, and the flashings between them need close attention.
If you intend a visible change, we can supply dated photographs and measurements in a form a planning officer can use. The application itself stays with you or your agent, who knows the building's history and your wishes, and the evidence we provide is yours to use as you see fit.
Chapter 03 of 03
Guildford's service, Surrey's licence and the A331 edge
Four facts for a Tongham roof job
- Guildfordplanning authority and its own building control
- 28 daysSurrey County Council scaffold licence period
- 10 daysworking days of notice Surrey County Council asks for
- 2027year West Surrey Council replaces Guildford and Surrey
Tongham answers to Guildford Borough Council, whose building control service it presents as impartial and run without profit. Homeowners can instead hire a registered building control approver, picked from the national register by the owner. A few refixed tiles involve neither, and the survey tells you early where your job sits. The Planning Portal's re-roofing limits are 25 per cent of the building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof, and any covering 15 per cent or more heavier than the original must be approved before work starts, and Planning Portal advice is to have a structural engineer or surveyor check it first.
The scaffold licence, step by step
Surrey County Council runs the highway here. For scaffold on a carriageway or footway it charges £208 per 28 days and asks for 10 working days' notice. Since the page names no applicant, the licence is something the scaffolder and we fix together, with written dates to follow. Poles erected entirely on your own plot lie outside the scheme.
The 2027 changeover
West Surrey Council takes over from Guildford and the county in 2027, and Surrey has said that services run as normal until that point. A job that crosses the changeover is traced to the right new desk before any poles go up.
A village beside a main road needs careful access planning. The A331 runs along Tongham's west side and side roads join it, so we look at where lorries can turn, where materials can wait and how pedestrians pass. You agree the plan with us before day one, and each evening the site is cleared, waste leaves with us and nothing stays standing in the road.
Our quote gives a single written figure that already covers the scaffold, and any other firm should be asked whether theirs does the same. Citizens Advice suggests asking at least 3 traders for written quotes, and a clear written total is easier to compare than a verbal estimate. We welcome that comparison.
Weather shapes the dates. The Met Office's South Farnborough averages for 1991 to 2020 show 118 wet days a year and about 53 days of air frost, so a 28-day licence meets a share of both. We pad the programme with spare days and give you notice if a forecast threatens it.
Tongham roof questions, from the National Landscape to the A331
Does the Surrey Hills National Landscape affect roof work in Tongham?
Its edge covers about 4% of the 1.5 km box around Tongham's centre, though the place point is outside. The designation changes which planning rules apply to some roof changes, so Guildford's planning team confirms whether it touches your address, and we put visible changes to it before quoting.
Is roof work on Tongham's St Paul's church a listed building consent matter?
No. The Church of St Paul holds a Grade II listing but remains an Anglican church, so under the ecclesiastical exemption its roof work follows the faculty system. Other listed buildings, such as Cyclops Cottage and The Old Farmhouse, need listed building consent before work that would change how they look and what they are.
What do the Basingstoke Canal South and Seale conservation areas mean for Tongham?
Both appear in the national dataset within about 2.5 km, yet neither reached the 1.5 km box around the village, so they count as nearby and not as covering it. Guildford's map shows whether your own address falls inside any conservation area, and we consult it before quoting for visible changes.
Is there anything special about getting scaffold to a house near the A331?
Access is the issue. Side roads join the A331, so we plan where lorries turn, where materials wait and how pedestrians pass. If scaffold must stand on the road, Surrey County Council's licence applies at £208 per 28 days with 10 working days of notice. On your own plot, no licence is needed.
Valley-floor roofs we reach around Tongham
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