Victorian brick terrace street with slate roofs and chimneys

Roofers in Charlbury

Roof work in Charlbury, the Cotswold-edge town above the Evenlode, from the lanes around St Mary's and the Quaker meeting house to the houses that look out towards Wychwood Forest.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Charlbury's roofs, from the Evenlode to Wychwood

Old town houses clustered near a church — Around St Mary's

St Mary the Virgin, the Anglican church of the town, has a Norman arcade, a thirteenth century enlargement and fifteenth century Perpendicular additions, and its chancel was rebuilt by Charles Buckeridge in 1874. A church with that many layers gives a fair picture of the streets beneath it: buildings of several centuries sharing the same lanes, each mended in the manner of its day. Of all the roofs in town, those close to the church are the likeliest to be old and uneven, with a long record of patches written into them. The timbers and the pitch get our attention before the covering does, and whatever repair follows is kept as narrow as the survey allows. A tidy small repair that fits the existing roof is worth more here than a big job that changes how the street looks.

Gabled roofs and chimneys on a town street — Quakers, clockmakers and the town centre

Charlbury has a Quaker meeting house built in 1681 and rebuilt in 1779, and it was home to a network of Quaker clockmakers, the Gilkes family among them. A small town of craftsmen and tradesmen built and altered a great many ordinary houses, and the result is a centre of varied heights, pitches and extensions. Rear wings, later dormers, valley gutters between neighbouring roofs and chimneys on party walls all create places where water finds a way in. The meeting house belongs to a denomination outside the Church of England's faculty system, so its roof follows the ordinary rules for a building of its status.

Cottages and farm outbuildings on a rural edge — Edge-of-town houses and the big houses

Lee Place is listed Grade II*, and Cornbury Park, about a mile south-west of the town, is listed Grade I. They belong to a landscape of large country houses around the Evenlode valley and the edge of Wychwood Forest, and the farm and outbuilding roofs of such a setting are a different job from a terrace in town. Away from the older streets, Charlbury also has later housing of the kind found in any market town, tiled over trussed roofs with dry-fix details. On the edge of town an older outbuilding may still carry a traditional covering, and where that covering is stone slate, the work is different from a modern tile re-cover and needs a roofer who knows why.

From Swindon to Wychwood's edge

Distance: 29 road miles north-north-east of central Swindon
Council: West Oxfordshire District Council
Planning body: West Oxfordshire District Council
Conservation area: Charlbury, designated on 3 January 1974
National Landscape: Cotswolds National Landscape (AONB)

Roof questions from the Evenlode valley

Does Charlbury's conservation area limit roof repairs?

A repair that restores what was already there seldom needs an application. New materials and listed houses draw closer attention from the planners, so the sensible move is to ask West Oxfordshire District Council at the outset.

Does the Cotswolds National Landscape affect a Charlbury roof?

The planning decision stays with the council, with the National Landscape body only advising. Replacing like with like is unaffected, though other roof alterations can be treated differently, so check before ordering anything.

Is the Quaker meeting house roof a Church of England matter?

No. Quaker buildings sit outside the church exemption, and the meeting house is listed Grade II, so roof changes that affect its character go to the planning authority for consent in the usual way.

What roofs will I find in Charlbury?

Roofer repointing a stone chimney stack above lead flashing

Lead-lined valley gutter between two slate roof slopes

The short answer

A mixture typical of a market town on the Cotswold edge: old roofs near St Mary's and the centre, extended and altered houses along the streets, farm and estate buildings on the outskirts, and later tiled housing. Every roof gets its own survey, and nobody guesses the covering.

Charlbury is a town of about three thousand people in the Evenlode valley, beside Wychwood Forest. It is not uniform. A short walk from the church leads from tight, old streets to roomier later housing, with outbuildings and farm buildings at the edges.

How can you identify the covering on a Charlbury roof?

We go up and look. Stone slate, clay tile, concrete tile and natural slate each have their own appearance, weight and faults, and a roof that has been repaired over the years may carry more than one. The covering is photographed up close and its condition noted. Where the survey shows stone slate, our Cotswold stone roofing page explains how that work differs.

What causes leaks in a town centre roof?

Rarely the main slope. More often it is a flashing where roof meets wall, a valley between two roofs, a chimney stack, or a gutter hidden behind a parapet. In a street of joined buildings water from one roof can run down the next, so a stain may appear in a different house from the fault. We check the neighbouring junctions as well, and explain in plain terms what we find.

Do rear extensions need different treatment?

Usually. Rear wings and lean-tos tend to have flatter roofs in different materials, which wear out sooner than the main roof above them. A local repair may be right, but we also examine the abutment where the extension meets the old wall, since trouble often starts there. Our roof repairs page lists the fixes we use.

Is stone slate repair different in Charlbury?

The answer

On a stone slate roof, yes. The slates are hung in graded courses, biggest at the eaves, and the whole covering is very heavy, so repairs depend on a sound frame and well-matched stone. The aim is always to save the original slates wherever they are good and renew what holds them.

The survey, not the street name, tells us whether a Charlbury roof is stone slate, and we never assume it from the look of a doorway. When one is, we work from traditional practice described in Cotswold District Council's technical guidance, which dates from 2000 and is a useful guide to how these roofs behave.

How does a stone slate roof go together?

The stone splits into plenty of small slates and only a few large ones, so the biggest stones run along the bottom edge while the smallest finish the top, in courses that diminish as they climb. Each stone is pegged to its batten with a wooden pin passing through a hole drilled near its upper end. Valleys can be swept, built from specially cut slates curving gently round the corner, which takes more skill than a lead valley and suits a traditional roof better.

Why does weight matter so much?

According to the guidance, 10 square metres of stone slate weighs about 1,000 kg, so the rafters and walls beneath must be sound before anything is relaid. Kept in good order, such a roof can serve for generations, and the guidance suggests that scraping one clean each year could double its life. Sourcing matters too: stripping slates from another building to repair yours can leave that building bare, so we tell you where replacement stone comes from.

Could concrete tiles replace stone slate?

It would be a structural and a planning question. On a listed house or inside a conservation area the council may well object, and a roof built for stone has a frame designed around a particular weight. Our usual advice is to keep the stone and renew what carries it.

Who decides roof work in Charlbury's conservation area?

Brick chimney stack with new lead flashing on a clay tile roof

Roofer on a stone slate ridge beside a stone chimney

The short answer

The final say on planning is West Oxfordshire District Council's, while the Cotswolds National Landscape body only advises. Charlbury Conservation Area was designated on 3 January 1974. Matching work rarely needs an application, though a listed building or any change of look should be taken up with the planners first.

Charlbury is a market town in West Oxfordshire, inside the Cotswolds National Landscape and with a conservation area dating from 1974. The division of roles is simple: the council decides, and the National Landscape body advises.

Is consent needed to re-roof in Charlbury?

If you lay the same covering again, generally not, because re-roofing like for like is not normally development. The cautions are a listed building, an Article 4 direction and any condition attached to your house. Should your plan alter the appearance of the roof, put it to the planning team before signing a quote. Roof window planning rules are on our skylights page.

Which buildings are listed in Charlbury?

Lee Place is Grade II*, Cornbury Park is Grade I, and the town has other listed buildings besides. If your house might be one, the council can confirm it. Where the house is listed, consent comes before any change that bears on its special interest, and moving to a different roofing material is the textbook example. For that reason we ask early whether a house is listed.

What about lead and chimneys?

Old stacks and flashings are among the commonest faults. Lead should be chosen and dressed to suit the building, and our lead roofing page explains how a flashing is built. Bigger re-roofs can need building control approval once re-covering reaches 25 per cent of the total building envelope or 50 per cent of the roof, with a thermal upgrade to follow in some cases. Whenever the job is notifiable we prepare the notification, so you do not have to chase paperwork, and at the survey we explain on which side of the threshold the job falls.

MythThe National Landscape board can approve or refuse a roof in Charlbury.

FactPlanning decisions belong to the council. The National Landscape body acts as an adviser and holds no planning powers.

Roofing services in Charlbury

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from the Evenlode and St Mary's

Why might a Charlbury roof leak into the house next door?

In a run of joined buildings, water from a failed valley, flashing or gutter can track along a party wall and show up in the neighbouring house. Tracing the leak means working back to where water gets in, inside the loft and out on the slopes, check the junctions on both sides of the wall, and explain what we find, so the repair stops the leak and not merely the stain.

Do you repair chimney stacks on older Charlbury houses?

Yes. Stacks on older houses suffer from open joints, failed flaunching, loose pots and tired lead. We examine the pointing, the cap and the flashing, and recommend the smallest repair that properly cures it. Chimneys on a party wall add a wrinkle, since a neighbour may share the stack. A stack that leans is another matter, and the survey will show it.

Is Charlbury within reach of a Swindon roofer?

Yes. It sits inside the area we cover. We visit properly, photograph the roof and then send the written quote, which gives one total price.

Can the roof of Charlbury's Quaker meeting house be repaired like any other?

Its status decides the route. The meeting house is listed Grade II, so consent is needed for alterations that change its character, and the exemption enjoyed by some denominations does not reach Quaker buildings. We can describe a matching repair in writing so the trustees have something clear to put to the council.

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