The facet‐ensemble method is used to compute the complex field scattered by a corrugated surface with large roughness. The method employs in part the frequency transform of an asymptotic approximation to the exact impulse solution for diffraction from a rigid (or pressure release, if desired) ridge or trough [M. A. Biot and I. Tolstoy, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.29, 381–391 (1957); A. D. Pierce,Acoustics(McGraw–Hill, New York, 1981), pp. 489–490.] In the method, the scattering surface is approximated by joining edge to edge long plane strips (facets). Each adjacent pair of facets makes up a ridge or trough. Theoretical scattered acoustic pressure amplitude values are then obtained by superposing the diffracted and reflected contributions from individual ridges and troughs. A similar method was introduced by Novarini and Medwin [J. C. Novarini and H. Medwin, J. Acosut. Soc. Am.64, 260–268 (1978); H. Medwin and J. C. Novarini, J. Acoust. Soc. Am.69,108–111 (1981)]. A comparison is provided here between amplitude values measured in a water‐tank, scattering experiment [G. A. Sandness, Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison (1971)]and values predicted using the facet‐ensemble method. Agreement is good in general and remains so when the number of approximating facets per spatial wavelength of the surface is changed. Also provided is a comparison (for the experimental geometry) between the facet‐ensemble method and numerical evaluation of the Helmholtz–Kirchhoff integral. Most of the scattering occurred near the normal direction, and the Helmholtz–Kirchhoff integral is accurate for that direction. Agreement in this case between the integral solution and the facet‐ensemble method, therefore, is good. The facet‐ensemble method shows promise for estimating accurately the complex field scattered from a rough rigid (or pressure release) surface for any number of receivers at any number of locations.