Roofers in Box, Wiltshire

The village expanded eastwards from the church and the market place during the nineteenth century, and the older core around St Thomas a Becket shows the earlier layers. The church has twelfth-century origins and is Grade I listed, and the parish holds 232 listed buildings in all, so a good many roofs here come with extra rules. The walls are local limestone, and Box Ground, one of the Bath stones, was quarried in the parish until 1969. The coverings above those walls differ from house to house, which is why the survey identifies each roof before any method is chosen. Stone gables, copings and chimney stacks can call for as much care as the slopes, so we look at them closely whenever we survey a house like this.

Box Hill grew from the 1840s as a community of quarrymen and railway workers, after Brunel's tunnel works opened up the beds of fine stone beneath the hill. Terrace roofs from that decade have been weathering for well over 170 years, and each has probably been patched or part re-covered along the way. The weak spots are the usual ones for a terrace: shared chimney stacks, flashings where one roof meets the next, valleys over later back additions and the ridge line along a long run of houses. Because neighbours' roofs are joined, a repair on one house sometimes needs a conversation with the next door along.

Box sits on higher ground above the Bybrook valley, and that affects what its roofs have to put up with. A house on the shoulder of a hill takes more wind than one tucked into the valley floor, which means verges, ridges and the bottom courses at the eaves have to be secured properly. Larger properties, manor houses and converted buildings have long roof runs, hidden gutters and lead-lined valleys, and those need a close look from a safe vantage point. Newer houses and extensions bring ordinary tiled roofs, flat-roofed garages and conservatories whose glazing and seals are tired.