Roofers on a buff brick estate house with grey tile roofs

Roofers in Broughton Gifford

Leaks, loose ridges, tired chimney stacks and failing flat roofs around The Common and St Mary's church, handled by a Swindon roofer who writes the quote after looking at your roof.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Roofs around The Common

Old stone manor house with tall chimneys — Manor houses and the church

For a village this size Broughton Gifford holds an unusual cluster of important buildings. Monkton House is dated 1647, the Manor House is early seventeenth century and Gifford Hall is from about 1700, all three listed Grade II*, while St Mary the Virgin carries thirteenth-century origins and a Grade I listing. Roofs of that age are steep, heavy and crowded with detail: stacks, gable ends, valleys where wings meet and flashings patched by several generations. On a listed house, whatever sound covering survives is worth keeping, and the first question we ask is whether the fault can be mended using what is already on the roof. Listed or not, an old covering that still sheds water has earned its place.

Cottage roof with a later extension — Cottages and farmhouses off the green

The Common is a broad stretch of open land with houses on every side, and the older cottages and farmhouses facing it come in all shapes: long low ranges, half-hipped ends, lean-to outshuts at the back and extensions added in later centuries. Variety like that is where leaks begin. A roof extended twice has two seams where old slope meets new, and each seam depends on a flashing or valley fitted by somebody else. We follow the water back to the seam instead of treating the brown mark on the ceiling, because the stain seldom sits under the fault itself.

Bungalow under concrete interlocking tiles — Newer homes, garages and farm buildings

Beyond the historic core are twentieth-century houses and bungalows, garages, and the barns and stores that come with a village on the edge of farmland. Their roofs are plainer and fail in plainer ways: ridge tiles that have worked loose, cracked tiles, tired verges, gutters that spill down the wall. A flat section over a porch, garage or kitchen extension ages faster than the pitched roof beside it, and it is frequently what lies behind the damp patch on a bedroom wall. Corrugated cement sheeting on older farm buildings may contain asbestos, so we raise that before anyone lifts a sheet.

From Swindon out to The Common

Distance: 28 road miles south-west of central Swindon
Council: Wiltshire Council
Council: Wiltshire Council
Setting: Village around a large open common, 1.5 miles west of Melksham
Notable buildings: St Mary the Virgin (Grade I); Gifford Hall, Manor House and Monkton House (Grade II*)

What people in Broughton Gifford want to know

Can a listed manor house roof in Broughton Gifford be repaired?

Yes. Repairs that keep the original look usually proceed, while anything altering a listed building's character needs Wiltshire Council's consent first. The method is discussed with you ahead of any price.

Why is the damp patch nowhere near the leak?

Water travels down rafters and along the underside of the covering before it drips. The ceiling stain can sit a metre or more from the hole, so we trace it back.

Do you re-roof barns and stores near The Common?

Yes, along with garages and outbuildings. Where cement sheeting could contain asbestos, we explain the careful route first and leave the sheets undisturbed until it is agreed.

What roofs sit on Broughton Gifford's old houses?

Lead-lined valley gutter between two slate roof slopes

Roofer repointing a stone chimney stack above lead flashing

The short answer

A Grade I church and three Grade II* houses mean roofs with real age, and no two behave alike. Steep pitches, stacks, valleys and hand-made detail are typical, so every roof is judged from what we find on it, never guessed from the street.

Stroll round The Common and several centuries of building stand within a few hundred metres. Monkton House carries 1647. The Manor House belongs to the early seventeenth century and Gifford Hall to about 1700. St Mary's church reaches back to the thirteenth. Each period built roofs its own way, and each has weathered differently.

How old is the covering on a house like this?

Frequently older than it looks. Historic roofs have commonly been stripped and re-laid at least once, sometimes in a patchwork of old and replacement material, and the timbers under them may be original. So before choosing what goes on top we look at what holds the roof up. Our survey photographs cover the underside as well as the outside, and they arrive with the written quote.

Where does trouble start first?

At junctions. A stack whose flashing has lifted, a valley where two wings meet, a gable end with a loosened verge: each marks a spot where one material gives way to another, and movement in an old frame shows there first. The covering across the middle of a slope is often healthy when its edges are not.

How do you choose between repair and a new covering?

By how much of the existing roof still does its work. A few slipped or broken pieces make a repair. Rotten battens, or a slope that has lost its fixings across the board, point toward stripping and re-laying that one slope. Our roof repairs page sets out how we tell the two apart.

Gutters deserve a glance on the same visit. A downpipe that empties against a stone wall will keep that wall wet for years, and wet masonry at the eaves rots the timber that carries the roof.

Where the covering itself is sound and only the fixings have failed, re-laying the same pieces nearly always suits an old building better than buying new.

Is repointing a Broughton Gifford chimney better than rebuilding?

The answer

Often, yes. A stack that is repointed and flashed properly can serve for many more years, and repointing, rebuilding only the top courses and renewing the lead round the base are all smaller jobs than demolition. Full rebuilds belong to stacks that lean or crumble.

Old houses show off their chimneys, and in a village with so many seventeenth-century buildings the stacks are part of the street. They are also the most exposed thing on any roof. They stand proud of the ridge, take every wind from every direction, and the line where a stack meets the slope is a place where rain gets a way in.

What does a stack in trouble look like?

Mortar sanded away between the stones or bricks, a visible lean against the sky, white salts blooming on the masonry, and a damp patch on the chimney breast indoors. Any one of those says water is getting into the stack. A cracked flaunching, the sloping mortar crown that sheds rain and grips the pots, is the commonest culprit and the least costly cure.

Can only the top of a stack be rebuilt?

Yes. When the lower courses are sound, we take the top section down to solid masonry and rebuild it in the same stone or brick, with new flaunching and, where required, fresh lead flashings and a tray. The house keeps its profile and you avoid the expense of a total rebuild.

Lead is a craft in its own right. It has to be dressed into the joints instead of stuck onto the face, and its weight, called the code, has to suit its position. Our chimney repairs page walks through the choices.

Removing the breast that serves a flue, inside the room, is an altogether different job. Building Regulations approval is always required, and a shared breast also brings in a notice to the neighbour under the party wall rules. Ask us and we will explain the sequence.

A stack sits high, so access matters. Whichever firm you ask about chimney work, find out whether its quote includes VAT and scaffolding.

If the house is listed, we check what the work touches before it starts, so that a chimney repair never becomes a consent problem.

Our view

Repoint and re-flash a sound stack before anyone talks about taking it down.

Who must approve roof work in Broughton Gifford?

Industrial units with grey metal roofs beyond a roof under repair

Brick and limestone cottages around a small village green

The short answer

The village lies in Wiltshire, so planning questions go to Wiltshire Council, and notifiable building work goes through its building control team or a registered building control approver. Most repairs that keep the existing covering need neither, though a listed building plays by different rules.

A good deal of roof work never reaches the council at all. Replacing broken pieces, refixing loose ones or bedding a ridge in the same material counts as maintenance. Three cases change that, and each is worth checking before a date goes in the diary.

When do Building Regulations catch a re-roof?

For a re-covering, the Planning Portal applies two tests: under 25 per cent of the whole building envelope, and under 50 per cent of the roof itself. Pass both and a building control application is not normally needed. Exceed either, or choose a covering that is 15 per cent or more heavier, and you need approval, with the insulation possibly brought up to current standards. Where work is notifiable, we explain consent and make the notification through Wiltshire Council's building control team or a registered building control approver.

Is my house listed, and does it change things?

It changes a lot. A listed building needs listed building consent before anything is done that would affect its character, and a change of covering qualifies. Gifford Hall, the Manor House and Monkton House are listed Grade II*, and St Mary's is Grade I. Because the church is Church of England and in use, its alterations run through the faculty system, not the council. Whether your own home is listed is quick to find out, and we will read the entry with you before pricing.

What about a conservation area?

Broughton Gifford has its own conservation area, and Wiltshire Council holds the boundary. Inside it, a visible change such as a new covering or an altered stack draws closer attention, while a like-for-like repair is ordinary upkeep. Not certain whether your house is inside? Wiltshire Council's planning team will say where you stand before you commit to a new material.

Roof windows are a separate planning question, and our roof window planning page answers it.

MythEvery roof repair on an old village house needs the council's permission.

FactRepairs that keep the same covering seldom do; changes of material, and work on a listed building, are what the council looks at.

Roofing services in Broughton Gifford

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from the St Mary's end of the village

After a gale, what should I spot on a roof beside The Common?

Scan the ridge and the edges from the ground for gaps or slipped pieces, and check lawn and drive for fragments. Indoors, a stain spreading on an upper ceiling or a drip in the loft means ring us. Leaks and storm damage take priority in our diary, and a roof that is actually leaking is made safe first.

How is a listed roof kept intact while it is repaired?

We photograph the slope before a single piece is lifted, set aside every sound original and return them in the order they came off. Replacements are matched for material, size and colour, and you see the plan in the written quote before work begins.

Can an old farm building near the village be re-roofed?

Yes: pitched, slate, tiled and flat roofs, plus barns, stores and garages. Corrugated cement sheets from the older era may contain asbestos, so we check first and explain the correct route for lifting and disposal.

Are the ridge tiles on older Broughton Gifford roofs just mortared on?

On older roofs, often, since that was usual practice for generations. Since BS 5534 changed in 2014, mortar alone is no longer trusted to hold them, so re-bedded ridges are pinned mechanically, or we use a dry-fix system proven by testing. The ridge and verge page explains the difference.

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