Brick and limestone cottages around a small village green

Roofers in Cricklade

Roof repairs, re-roofing, hips, valleys and lead flashings in Cricklade, from the houses along the planned Saxon street and around St Sampson's church to the farmsteads and newer homes on the meadows beside the upper Thames.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Cricklade's roofs, from Saxon street to Thames meadow

Terraced town roofs with shared chimney stacks — The High Street and the old burh

Cricklade was probably planned, built and fortified about 880 as a Saxon burh, laid out as a street that crosses the Malmesbury road. Buildings of many centuries now stand along that line, side by side, and their roofs show it: steep and shallow pitches, gables to the street, chimney stacks shared between neighbours and valleys where one roof meets the next. Those meeting points are the weak spots. Where two roofs are joined, lead in the valley or along the party wall has to cope with water from both, and it is usually the oldest metal on the building. We start our survey at those joins and at the shared stacks, and we photograph each one so that you can see the condition of the lead for yourself. Where the lead is sound it stays in place and the quote leaves it out.

Hipped slate roof on a farmhouse — Farmhouses and stone outbuildings

Outside the centre, the Victoria County History records that four farmhouses in the outer parish survive, each built of stone, and that red-brick dressings were used in many newer buildings. Ravenshurst Farm has a hipped and slated roof. A hipped roof slopes down on all four sides, so it has hips as well as ridges and valleys, and every one of those lines is a junction to keep sound. Stone farmhouses carry heavy walls and often a good deal of roof space. Barns, cart sheds and converted outbuildings round them tend to have long, plain slopes where a few slipped slates can let water into stored hay or a converted room.

Concrete tiled roofs on modern houses — Newer homes on the meadow edge

Cricklade has a population of over four thousand, and the town has grown beyond its historic centre with newer streets of houses and bungalows. These carry the coverings and details of their decade. Later builds may have dry-verge or mortar-bedded verges, ridge tiles that need their fixings checked and fascias that have weathered. The land beside the Thames is low and often damp, and a roof in shade or near trees collects moss and leaf litter faster than one on high ground. Clearing gutters, valleys and the lower courses before they clog is the least costly repair there is, and it is the one most often put off. Roofs under overhanging branches or on the shaded side of a house need it more often than those in open sun.

From Swindon to the upper Thames

Distance: 10 road miles north-west of central Swindon
Council: Wiltshire Council
Conservation area: Cricklade, recorded by Wiltshire Council
Parish church: St Sampson's, Grade I listed
Setting: Oxford Clay, river gravel and meadow on the upper Thames

Cricklade roof questions

What causes leaks where Cricklade's terraced roofs meet?

Usually the lead in a valley or along a shared wall. It cracks with age, splits at the folds and lets water behind the covering. Renewing the lead cures it.

Can you re-roof a stone farmhouse near Cricklade?

Yes. We check the timbers and the weight of the old covering first, then match the new slates or tiles to the building's own pattern.

Do I need permission for roof work in Cricklade's conservation area?

Matching repairs seldom do. If the covering would change, or the house is listed, ask Wiltshire Council before ordering anything.

Why do Cricklade's valleys and party walls leak?

Lead-lined valley gutter between two slate roof slopes

Weathered brick chimney stack with eroded joints and cracked pot

The short answer

Because in a street of joined buildings every roof relies on lead and flashing at its edges, and that metal tends to wear out sooner than the slates or tiles it shelters. A cracked valley liner or a loose party-wall flashing sends water behind the slates or tiles without any sign on the slope.

On a detached house, the roof stands alone and drains in every direction. In a historic street like Cricklade's, neighbouring buildings share walls, gutters and stacks, and the edges between them carry far more water than their size suggests. Most leaks reported in terraced rows trace back to the junctions rather than the field of tiles.

Why is a valley the wettest line on the roof?

Where two slopes come together they form a valley, a trough that gathers the run-off from both and delivers it to the gutter. That makes it the wettest line on the whole building. Lead valleys outlast the covering on either side if they are laid in a suitable thickness and kept clear of leaves and moss. When they crack, the leak often shows inside long after the damage began.

What fails where a roof meets a taller wall?

Wherever a slope runs up against a taller wall, a stepped flashing is let into the brickwork and a small lead soaker tucks beneath each course of tiles. The pointing that holds the lead in the wall wears away, and the lead lifts. Our lead roofing page explains the sheet codes used for each position.

Who looks after a stack shared by two houses?

Chimney stacks that serve two houses are costly to reach and easy to neglect. Flaunching at the pots cracks, brick faces flake and the flashing round the base lets go. We examine them by ladder or scaffold, then photograph what we find.

Looking for the joint first, before looking at the slopes, saves money for neighbours as well, because one scaffold can serve several repairs. When a terrace is being worked on anyway, it makes sense to ask next door whether their flashings and stack need attention at the same time, since the access cost is shared and the lead on each side of a party wall is usually the same age.

Is an old Cricklade farmhouse slate roof worth repairing?

The answer

Often it is. A hipped, slated roof such as the one at Ravenshurst Farm usually fails at its nails, hips and flashings long before the slates themselves wear out, and those parts can be renewed. Re-slating the whole roof is a decision for the survey, not the first reaction.

Slate is a long-lived material, so when a slated farmhouse roof begins to leak, it is rarely because the stone has given up. The question is what is holding it on, and what lies underneath.

Why do sound slates slip?

Slates are hung from battens on nails, and when those nails rust through the slates slip. A scatter of slipped slates across one slope often means the fixings have failed across the whole slope, not only where the gap shows. A good survey separates a local fault from a general one, and prices each properly. Our slate roofing page describes how we handle both.

What goes wrong along the hips?

On a hipped roof the hips take weather from several sides. Hip tiles or lead rolls are bedded and fixed along each one, and they loosen. A slate roof with sound slates but failing hips needs the hips redone, not a new covering.

When is a re-slate the honest answer?

If the slates themselves are delaminating, thin and flaking at their edges, then patching only delays things. In that case the sound slates are sorted and kept for reuse, the battens and underlay are renewed and the roof is re-slated, with matching slate bought in where the old stock has run short. Weight matters when the roof frame is old, and we check it first.

The written quote says plainly which of these your roof needs and why, with photographs of the slopes beside it.

Our view

Renew the fixings and junctions first; re-slate only when the slates themselves are failing.

Who approves roof work in Cricklade?

Rolled lead roof covering over a bay above white windows

Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

The short answer

Wiltshire Council handles planning and conservation questions for Cricklade, and its building control team covers notifiable work. Matching repairs seldom need consent, but a listed house or a change of covering should be raised with the council first.

Cricklade has a conservation area recorded by Wiltshire Council, and St Sampson's Church is Grade I listed. The church's present building dates from the late twelfth century, and its central tower was begun in the early sixteenth century and finished in the 1550s. Most homes in the town are not listed, but the old street has enough protected buildings that a question about status is always sensible.

Does a re-roof need planning permission?

Re-roofing in the same material is not normally development. Switching the covering inside a conservation area, or altering a listed building in a way that touches its character, calls for a conversation with the council's planning team and sometimes a formal application. For roof windows and dormers, our roof window planning page sets out the rules.

When is a re-roof notifiable?

The Planning Portal sets a test of 25 per cent of the total building envelope and 50 per cent of the roof. Below both, an application is not normally required. Past either figure the work is notifiable, and the finished roof can be expected to meet current insulation standards. Wiltshire Council's building control team handles applications, and a registered building control approver is the alternative.

How are repairs to St Sampson's handled?

St Sampson's is still used for Church of England worship, so its repairs follow the faculty system rather than the usual listed building route. If you are a churchwarden with a roof query, the diocese's advisers are the first call.

We explain which of these routes affects your house before the work is priced, and we complete the notification when it is needed.

MythA Grade I church in the street means every neighbouring roof is controlled.

FactEach building is judged on its own status; only listed buildings and conservation area changes bring in the council.

Roofing services in Cricklade

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from the Thames meadows

Why does moss build up so fast on roofs near the Thames at Cricklade?

Damp air, shade from trees and long periods without direct sun give moss and algae a good start. Moss holds water against tiles and can block gutters and valleys. We remove it gently, check the tiles beneath for frost damage and clear the drainage. Hard pressure-washing is avoided because it can strip the surface of concrete and clay tiles.

Is roofing near the old Cricklade canal wharves awkward?

Not because of the canal history. The Thames and Severn canal served the town from a wharf in Latton and the North Wilts canal from one at Chelworth, and both closed in 1914. Where a lane or yard is tight for vehicles, we plan deliveries, ladders and scaffolding before the first visit, and talk through any neighbours' boundaries beforehand.

Do you cover the villages around Cricklade?

Yes. Latton, Purton, Down Ampney, Castle Eaton and the other villages nearby are all inside the 30-road-mile circle drawn around Swindon, and the full list is on the areas page. Send a few photographs with your postcode and a survey date is offered, usually with a short phone call to agree access.

Is a hipped roof harder to repair than a gabled one?

It has more lines to keep sound: a hip on each corner as well as the ridge and any valleys. Repairs are the same in kind, but the access, the lead and the hip fixings take more time. A hipped roof that leaks is usually leaking at one of those lines, and the survey finds which. Where the fault is a single loose hip tile, the repair is small. Where the bedding has failed along the whole length, the hip is re-fixed from end to end and the lead at the foot is checked while the tiles are off.

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