The mortar used in these old buildings is very strong and good.  In order to strengthen the mortar used in Sussex and Surrey houses and elsewhere, the process of “galleting” or “garreting” was adopted.  The brick-layers used to decorate the rather wide and uneven mortar joint with small pieces of black ironstone stuck into the mortar.  Sussex was once famous for its ironwork, and ironstone is found in plenty near the surface of the ground in this district.  “Galleting” dates back to Jacobean times, and is not to be found in sixteenth-century work.

Sussex houses are usually whitewashed and have thatched roofs, except when Horsham slates or tiles are used.  Thatch as a roofing material will soon have altogether vanished with other features of vanishing England.  District councils in their by-laws usually insert regulations prohibiting thatch to be used for roofing.  This is one of the mysteries of the legislation of district councils.  Rules, suitable enough for towns, are applied to the country villages, where they are altogether unsuitable or unnecessary.  The danger of fire makes it inadvisable to have thatched roofs in towns, or even in some villages where the houses are close together, but that does not apply to isolated cottages in the country.  The district councils do not compel the removal of thatch, but prohibit new cottages from being roofed with that material.  There is, however, another cause for the disappearance of thatched roofs, which form such a beautiful feature in the English landscape.  Since mowing-machines came into general use in the harvest fields the straw is so bruised that it is not fit for thatching, at least it is not so suitable as the straw which was cut by the hand.  Thatching, too, is almost a lost art in the country.  Indeed ricks have to be covered with thatch, but “the work for this temporary purpose cannot compare with that of the old roof-thatcher, with his ‘strood’ or ‘frail’ to hold the loose straw, and his spars—­split hazel rods pointed at each end—­that with a dexterous twist in the middle make neat pegs for the fastening of the straw rope that he cleverly twists with a simple implement called a ‘wimble.’  The lowest course was finished with an ornamental bordering of rods with a diagonal criss-cross pattern between, all neatly pegged and held down by the spars."[12]

  [12] Old West Surrey, by Gertrude Jekyll, p. 206.

[Illustration:  Missbrook Farm.  Capel, Surrey.]

Horsham stone makes splendid roofing material.  This stone easily flakes into plates like thick slates, and forms large grey flat slabs on which “the weather works like a great artist in harmonies of moss lichen and stain.  No roofing so combines dignity and homeliness, and no roofing, except possibly thatch (which, however, is short-lived), so surely passes into the landscape."[13] It is to be regretted that this stone is no longer used for roofing—­another feature of vanishing England.  The stone is somewhat thick and heavy, and modern rafters are not adapted to bear their weight.  If you want to have a roof of Horsham stone, you can only accomplish your purpose by pulling down an old cottage and carrying off the slabs.  Perhaps the small Cotswold stone slabs are even more beautiful.  Old Lancashire and Yorkshire cottages have heavy stone roofs which somewhat resemble those fashioned with Horsham slabs.