Concrete tiled estate rooftops towards green hills

Roofers in Cirencester

Stone-slate repairs, slate and tile re-covering, lead work and chimneys in Cirencester, from the old wool-trade streets around the parish church to the Victorian and later houses beyond them.

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Cirencester's roofs, from Corinium to Watermoor

Stone-slate roofs on a Cotswold market street — Stone slate in the town centre

The Cotswold District Council character appraisal calls the prominent use of Cotswold stone for buildings, walls and stone-slate roofs one of the most memorable, unifying and distinctive features of the town centre. Those are the roofs people picture when they think of Cirencester, and they are a specialist's job. The slates are real limestone, split and sized by hand, and they are heavy. Repair means lifting a few courses, fixing what holds them and putting the same stones back, not stripping a slope because one corner is weeping. On a street where neighbouring roofs match, a patch in the wrong stone shows for decades, which is why we match by length, thickness and tone before any slate is hung.

Old merchants' houses with steep stone roofs — Wool-money houses and older timbers

Cirencester grew rich on the Cotswold wool trade, and the appraisal describes the town as the central market town for the south Cotswolds. Buildings that survive from that period, such as the Grade II* Weavers' Hall in Thomas Street, an almshouse founded before 1483, sit on very old frames. Roofs above frames of that age have often been altered, lowered, raised or re-covered more than once. Steep pitches, dormers, parapets and valleys between gables create plenty of lead work, and lead is where leaks tend to start. We look at the frame as well as the covering, because an old timber that has moved can open a joint without a single stone slipping. A leak in such a house may run a long way along a beam before it shows, which makes the ceiling stain a clue to follow rather than the spot to start cutting.

Slate-roofed Victorian terrace and chimneys — Victorian streets and later estates

Beyond the centre, the appraisal records blue slate and brick on more recent buildings, and the Watermoor and St Peter's Road conservation areas cover streets of that later date. Slate roofs on Victorian houses suffer from nails that rust through, lead flashings that have tired and ridges that have outlived their mortar. Newer estates carry concrete interlocking tiles. There the usual finds are tiles cracked by frost, ridges whose bedding has failed and flat-roofed extensions whose membrane gives out before the main roof does. These are well-understood jobs, and a short list of repairs often carries a roof through many more winters.

From Swindon to the Roman crossroads

Distance: 17 road miles north-west of central Swindon
Council: Cotswold District Council
Council: Cotswold District Council
Conservation areas: Four, the first designated in 1968
Setting: Where the Cotswold Hills meet the upper Thames valley

Cirencester roof questions

Can a Cirencester stone roof be repaired without stripping it?

Usually. Slipped slates are rehung, failed fixings renewed and gaps made up in matching stone. A full strip is only worth discussing when the timbers beneath have moved or the stones themselves are breaking up.

Which of Cirencester's four conservation areas affects my roof?

That depends on your address. Cotswold District Council publishes the boundaries, and checking before you change any material saves delay and wasted cost.

Should Cirencester roofs be mended with reclaimed stone?

Wherever it can be had, new stone comes first. Old slates belong on the building they came off, so that no other roof is stripped to supply yours.

Why do Cirencester's stone roofs need specialist hands?

Chimney stack taken down below roof level during removal

Gloved hands fitting a weathered Cotswold stone slate

The short answer

Because the covering is hand-split limestone hung in sizes that shrink up the slope, held by pegs, and carried on timbers that have settled over centuries. A roofer who treats it like modern tile will lift more than is needed, mix the wrong stone in and leave a patch that never blends.

Cirencester sits at the point where the Cotswold Hills meet the upper Thames valley, on the site of Roman Corinium, and the stone under its roofs comes from the same geology as the walls below them. The council's town centre appraisal treats that continuity as the thing that makes the centre what it is.

Why is the stone graded up the roof?

Cotswold District Council's technical guidance, dating from April 2000, explains the logic. Quarried stone splits into many more small pieces than large ones. The builders therefore sized the roof to suit the supply: the longest slates, about 600 mm and sometimes more, sit low in a doubled course called cussoms, followers come next, and the shortest pieces, called short cocks, finish the top.

How heavy and steep are these roofs?

The same guidance puts the weight at about 1000 kg per 10 square metres, and describes simple roofs pitched at roughly 47 to 55 degrees. Our method on these roofs follows from that: we protect the rafters, spread our own loads, and avoid walking on slates that cannot take it.

Where do problems start?

Fixings tend to give way before the stone does, and moss keeps courses wet. Wet stone freezes and flakes. Early attention to pegs, battens and the lead at chimneys keeps a roof going for generations, and the council's guidance says an annual scrape of moss and debris can make the roof last twice as long. Our Cotswold stone roofing page goes through the work step by step.

A survey here takes longer than on a tile roof, and the photographs show it: every slope, the ridge, the valleys, each chimney and the loft. That level of detail lets the written quote separate the few slates that need rehanging from the courses that are perfectly sound.

Is reclaimed stone right for a Cirencester roof repair?

The answer

Sometimes, within limits. Heritage policy quoted by the council favours new stone over second-hand, because reclaimed slates are often lifted from another old building. Old stone that is reused should go back on its own roof, and the two kinds of stone should never be mixed on one slope.

Real stone slates are valuable, which is why the source of any replacement matters. It deserves a plain conversation before a job starts, not after the slates arrive.

What is the policy behind the caution?

The guidance quotes English Heritage on this. Where possible, new slates should be chosen over second-hand. Reclaimed ones are for the roof or group of roofs that they were taken from, and no other. The two stones, sandstone and limestone, are never interchangeable or laid side by side, and sawn slates can look and perform poorly. Behind the policy lies a problem the guidance describes openly: reuse has led to the stripping of other old buildings, occasionally through theft.

How do we handle a strip?

On a slope we take apart, the slates are sorted by length and thickness and the sound ones stored for that same roof. Gaps are made up from matching new stone, and we tell you where it comes from. We photograph the slope first so the courses go back in their order.

Are concrete substitutes ever right?

Concrete and reconstituted copies exist and suit new builds that want the look at lower weight and cost. For a historic building the guidance calls them inappropriate. We quote for what suits the building in front of us, and in the old streets of Cirencester that is almost always real stone.

The cost of stone work turns on access, the area of the slope and how much stone must be replaced, and the written quote sets that out after the survey.

Our view

Rehang the sound stone, buy new to fill the gaps, and keep every slate with its own building.

Do Cirencester's four conservation areas change roof rules?

Rolled lead roof covering over a bay above white windows

Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

The short answer

It can, depending on the work. Cotswold District Council is the planning authority, and Cirencester has four conservation areas, the first designated in 1968. Restoring what was there rarely needs an application, but a different material or a listed building does, so check with the council before you order anything.

Cirencester has four conservation areas. Cirencester Town and Park came first, designated in 1968. Watermoor followed in 1984, and St Peter's Road and Watermoor South in 1991. The council's town centre appraisal records all four, and it explains why the council takes an interest in what sits on the skyline of these streets: roofs are part of the character it is protecting.

Do repairs and re-covering need consent?

Work that restores what was there is generally not a planning matter. It becomes one when the roof changes character, for instance stone slate replaced by tile, or natural slate by a manufactured alternative. A listed property is stricter: work that alters its special character needs listed building consent, and that includes the covering. Weavers' Hall in Thomas Street, a Grade II* almshouse founded before 1483, is the sort of building where that applies.

Does a Cirencester re-cover trigger Building Regulations?

Building Regulations apply once a re-cover takes in a quarter of the building envelope or half of the roof (25 and 50 per cent), and extra insulation may then be required. If the new covering is heavier by 15 per cent or more, approval is needed too. The district council has its own building control team, and when work is notifiable we look after that step for you.

What about roof windows?

Fitting a roof window is a separate question from re-roofing, with rules of its own. Our skylights page covers it, so you know what to ask first.

Whatever your address, the council can confirm which conservation area it falls in, and whether the building is listed. Settle that first, then ask us for a survey, so the quote reflects the materials the council is likely to expect.

Cirencester conservation areas and their designation years

Conservation area	Designated
Cirencester Town and Park	1968
Watermoor	1984
St Peter's Road	1991
Watermoor South	1991

Roofing services in Cirencester

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from the market place and Watermoor

Why do Cirencester stone roofs look wavy, and is that a fault?

Not by itself. Over generations the timbers settle and the courses drift, giving the soft undulation that belongs to an old stone roof. We worry about movement only when slates are slipping, pegs are failing or the timbers have rotted. Straightening a stone roof is neither necessary nor wise. A roofer who flattens the waves to make it look tidy does the building no favours.

Is the stone-slate roof on my Cirencester house too heavy to re-cover in slate?

Slate is much lighter than stone, so that direction rarely overloads a roof. The reverse, stone on a frame built for slate, can. We check the structure before recommending any change of material, because a covering 15 per cent or more heavier brings Building Regulations approval into play.

Can you work on a roof near the Parish Church of St John the Baptist?

Yes, and roofs around the church deserve patient work. Tall buildings, narrow streets and shared walls make access the first thing we plan: where scaffold goes, how materials arrive and how neighbours are told. When the work ends, we clear the site and take every scrap of waste away. Where a roof is hard to reach, the quote explains how access will be arranged.

Do Cirencester roofs ever have mortar-bedded ridge tiles?

Where a roof carries clay or concrete ridge tiles, yes, and the mortar often fails first. The 2014 revision of BS 5534 ended reliance on mortar by itself, so a ridge that is rebuilt gets mechanical fixings as well, or a tested BS 8612 dry-fix system goes in instead. Traditional stone roofs use dressed stone ridges instead, which are reset by hand, and the right mortar and bedding depend on the stone.

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