Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

Roofers in Broad Town

Roof work in Broad Town, the clay-country village under the chalk escarpment and its White Horse: repairs and re-covers for tiled houses, lead and chimney work beside thatch, and flat roofs on garages and extensions.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Broad Town's roofs, from thatch to council houses

Old cottage with thatch and a chimney — Thatch and 17th-century cottages

The Laurels is a thatched house built around 1540, and Broad Town Farmhouse and other 17th-century cottages on Broad Town Road are Grade II listed, according to Wiltshire Community History. Roofs of that age rarely stay uniform. Parts have been renewed in different centuries, and the chimneys, lead and gutters around the thatch age at their own pace. Straw is a thatcher's work; the stack, the flashing where it meets the roof and any tiled or slated additions are the parts we deal with. Old roofs can also hold bats or nesting birds, which are protected, so we look closely before we disturb anything. Listed status shapes how any repair is approached, and a first visit is for looking, photographing and listening to what you know about the house, not for selling a new roof.

Semi-detached houses with tiled roofs — Twentieth-century council houses

Wiltshire Community History records that some twentieth-century council houses were built on Broad Town Road, and housing from that period has its own repair pattern. Roofs of that era can carry plain or concrete interlocking tiles on timber battens, with soffits and fascias at the eaves and small flat roofs over porches or garages. Ridge bedding fails, tiles crack, and the roofline boards are worn by decades of weather. For any building put up or refurbished before 2000, HSE's starting assumption is that asbestos may be present. Old soffit boards are one place it can turn up, so the board is identified before anything is drilled, cut or removed, and any asbestos waste follows its own paperwork.

Village roofs below a chalk hillside — Clay ground and chalk above

The parish lies on clay, with its southern boundary crossing a chalk escarpment and some greensand, and the Broad Town White Horse, often dated to 1864, is cut into the hillside above the village. Clay swells in wet weather and shrinks in dry, and houses on it can move slightly over the years, which can show at the roof as cracked pointing around chimneys, shifted verge tiles or open joints where an extension meets the main wall. Broad Town became a church parish in 1846 and a civil parish in 1884, formed from parts of Clyffe Pypard and Broad Hinton, so its houses have grown up along more than one old lane and boundary. A roof that has settled is usually fixed at the joints, not by replacing the covering, and the survey finds which it is. If the tiles are whole and only the pointing and flashings have opened, that is where the money goes.

From Swindon to the chalk escarpment

Distance: 8 road miles south-west of central Swindon
Council: Wiltshire Council
Council: Wiltshire Council
Setting: A clay village below a chalk escarpment, with a White Horse cut into the hill above

Before you book work in Broad Town

Who deals with roof work on Broad Town Road's listed cottages?

Wiltshire Council decides on listed building consent. Matching repairs are usually straightforward, but a change to material or appearance deserves a conversation with the planning officers before a date is booked.

Should the soffits on Broad Town's older council houses be tested?

The HSE advises assuming asbestos may be present in a house built before 2000. Insulating board turns up in some old soffits, so it is identified before any board is drilled, cut or taken down.

Can clay ground in Broad Town crack a roof?

It can contribute. Seasonal movement tends to show at the weakest joints: chimney pointing, verges and extension junctions. The survey separates a ground-movement symptom from a simple worn covering.

What roof work suits Broad Town's thatched and listed cottages?

Roofer repointing a stone chimney stack above lead flashing

Blocked gutter full of leaves overflowing down a brick wall

The short answer

Work that keeps the building's character: matching materials, narrow repairs, and careful lead and brickwork around the thatch. Thatching itself is a specialist craft, so our part is the stack, flashing, gutters and any tiled or slated sections, with listed building consent checked first where it applies.

The Laurels and the 17th-century cottages along Broad Town Road are the oldest roofs in the village, and each needs a different mindset from a modern tiled house. The approach is to understand what is there before deciding how much to touch, because on a building like this the sound approach is never to strip more than the fault demands.

What needs watching where a stack rises through thatch?

A chimney stack through thatch is one of the busiest points on the whole roof. Pointing, flaunching (the mortar cap that sheds water off the top of the stack), the lead tray where stack meets roof, and the pot or cowl all need to be sound, and each is something a leak can start at. Gutters and rainwater goods on a thatched house are usually small and need clearing often, because water pouring down thatch is a bigger problem than a leak at a gutter.

Why do the later additions leak at the wall?

Over four centuries, cottages gain porches, lean-tos and rear extensions. These may be tiled, slated or flat-roofed, and their joint with the old walls is the weak point. We reach for lead where a flashing is needed, because lead can be dressed to follow stone or brick that is anything but straight. A lean-to that has dropped away from the wall is a different repair from one whose flashing has simply lifted.

Which cottages are listed, and what does that change?

Broad Town Farmhouse and other cottages on Broad Town Road are Grade II listed. Wiltshire Council grants listed building consent, and it is required for any work that changes how a listed house looks or feels, roof covering included. We discuss the material and method with you first, and only then price. Our roof repairs page explains the smallest-job approach we take.

Where bats are known or suspected in a roof void, that comes before the scaffold goes up, and a nesting season can move the dates of a job.

How long should a mid-century Broad Town roof last?

The answer

A concrete-tiled roof often lasts 30 to 60 years, and clay tiles longer, but those are typical ranges, not promises. Exposure, workmanship and maintenance matter more than the date on the deeds. Ridges, flashings and roofline boards usually wear out well before the tiles do.

Council houses on Broad Town Road date from the twentieth century, and the oldest of that generation are now well into the age where parts of the roof need more than a patch. Knowing what wears first lets you plan a sensible order of work.

How long will the tiles themselves go on?

Sources disagree on concrete tiles: Marley expects around 60 years, while MyBuilder says concrete typically needs replacing after 30 to 50. A fair reading is 30 to 60 years, depending on the care the roof has had and the weather it faces. Clay tiles last longer, with the BRE setting a minimum life of 60 years in its environmental profiling, and slate longer still. A roof within that window can still have a sound covering and tired details.

When do the soffits and fascias need replacing?

MyBuilder suggests inspecting fascias and soffits every five years and replacing them typically every 10 to 20 years, depending on material and weather. On an older house the boards may be timber, early plastic or, rarely, asbestos insulating board, which HSE describes as difficult to tell from safe equivalents by eye. We have it tested before disturbing a suspect board.

In what order should the jobs be done?

Fix the roofline and flashings first, since they let water in soonest. Re-bed or dry-fix the ridges next, then deal with cracked tiles one by one. Re-covering, which means stripping and replacing the covering, is a decision for when battens fail across a slope or the tiles themselves are spent, and it is worth pricing only after the smaller items are known. Our pitched roofing page explains how a re-cover is judged.

Which council handles roof consents in Broad Town?

Brick and limestone cottages around a small village green

Long flat roof on a 1960s brick building being re-covered

The short answer

Wiltshire Council. Broad Town sits in Wiltshire, so planning and listed building matters go to Wiltshire Council, and notifiable roof work goes to Wiltshire Council's building control team or a registered building control approver. Routine repairs and like-for-like re-covers rarely need either.

Broad Town is a Wiltshire village, not part of Swindon Borough, so the council that answers your questions is Wiltshire Council. Most roof work needs no application at all, because repairs and matching re-covers count as maintenance.

At what point does re-covering need Building Regulations approval?

For re-covering, the Planning Portal sets two tests: stay under 25 per cent of the total building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, and you normally make no application. Past either figure, approval applies, and the roof may need upgrading for thermal performance. A heavier covering, at 15 per cent or more by the Portal's wording, needs approval as well. Building control can come from Wiltshire Council's building control team or a registered building control approver, and we explain which route suits the job.

Is my road in a conservation area, or my house listed?

Ask Wiltshire Council whether your road lies inside a conservation area before work is priced, because it changes which changes need an application. Listed houses are clear-cut: Broad Town Farmhouse and the other 17th-century cottages on Broad Town Road are Grade II listed, and alterations to their character need listed building consent.

How is Christ Church's roof handled?

Christ Church, built between 1844 and 1846 to W. Hinton Campbell's design, is Grade II listed and still the parish church. A church roof is governed by the denomination's own system while the building is in use, and a faculty is the Church of England route. A church that has stopped being used for worship falls under ordinary listed building rules instead. Either way, the consent route is settled before any scaffold goes up, and the cost of access is shared across every repair done in one visit.

Where to start

Ask Wiltshire Council about listing and conservation status before pricing a roof, and let the survey show whether any consent is needed at all.

Roofing services in Broad Town

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from under the White Horse

Can you look after the chimney of a thatched house in Broad Town?

Yes, the stack and everything around it: pointing, flaunching, the lead tray, pots and the flue top. Straw and the thatch itself are a thatcher's work. We mark where our part ends and photograph the stack so you can pass the pictures to whoever maintains the thatch. Fire safety around a flue in thatch is another reason to keep the stack and its lining in good order.

Are the roofs on the council houses of Broad Town Road worth re-covering?

Sometimes, but a re-cover is not the first step. Ridges, flashings, roofline boards and battens come first on our checklist, because those fail before the tiles do. If those hold up and the tiles are whole, a repair gets more years from the roof than a full re-cover would, and the survey photographs show the evidence.

Do you cover Wootton Bassett and the villages near Broad Town?

Yes. Royal Wootton Bassett, Purton, Clyffe Pypard and everywhere else within 30 road miles of Swindon is on the list. The areas page shows all the places, and ringing 01793 626096 or sending the form settles whether we reach your address. Broad Town lies outside Swindon Borough, so Wiltshire Council is the authority for it.

What do you leave behind after a Broad Town roof job?

A clear site, before-and-after photographs of the roof, and our 10-year workmanship guarantee, set down in writing. Old tiles, offcuts and rubbish go with us; the quote, the survey photographs and the guarantee stay with you for reference. Where a job needs consent, we explain it at the start and handle the Building Regulations notification when work is notifiable.

Ask us about your roof

Tell us what’s happening and we’ll call you back.

Photos of what we find
A written quote
10-year workmanship guarantee

Or call 01793 626096