Street of 1960s brick bungalows with concrete tile roofs

Roofers in Great Shefford

Clay tile, slate and flat roof work in Great Shefford, from the flint-walled houses beside St Mary's church out to the newer homes strung along the roads of the Lambourn Valley.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Great Shefford's roofs, from flint to chalk stream

Flint church with a round tower — St Mary's and its round tower

St Mary's church dates from about 1200 and is built of flint rubble with stone dressings, with a circular west tower, a later porch and an organ chamber added in 1870. A county history written in 1924 records its roof as covered in modern red tiles, so the covering has already been renewed at least once in living memory of that account. The round tower rises to an octagonal fifteenth-century top stage with a battlemented parapet, and a roof behind a parapet is a different problem from an ordinary gable: rain has to be led through outlets in the wall, and a blocked outlet sends water into the masonry. Buildings like this reward a roofer who measures twice and fits lead with patience, and they are poor candidates for a quick patch.

Brick and flint house with a red tiled hip — The Manor House and flint cottages

The late sixteenth century Manor House beside the church is a two-storey building of brick and flint with a red-tiled roof that is hipped at the south end. A hip means the end of the roof slopes back instead of finishing in a vertical gable, and that changes the repair work: there are sloping hip tiles to bed and fix, and the angle where hip meets slope takes more water than a flat expanse of tile. Flint walls change things too, and the Manor House is a reminder that flint and brick sit happily under a clay roof. They are irregular, so flashings have to be chased into mortar joints that were never straight, and any wall-head or gable detail has to be cut to suit.

Terrace of tiled houses and a garage extension — Chapels, railway years and newer homes

The village once had Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels, and the Lambourn Valley branch of the Great Western Railway opened in 1898 with a station in the village. Buildings of those decades often have slate or clay roofs with hand-cut details that a modern repair has to respect. Beyond the old centre, more recent houses, bungalows and extensions in the valley bring concrete tiles and low-pitched roofs, where the common faults are cracked tiles, loose ridge bedding and porch or garage coverings that fail well before the main roof does. Flat roofs on extensions ask for regular attention at their edges and upstands, where water finds its way in first, and a ten-minute look from a ladder each autumn often catches a split before it becomes a stain on the ceiling.

From Swindon down the Lambourn Valley

Distance: 19 road miles east-south-east of central Swindon
Council: West Berkshire Council
Council: West Berkshire Council
Conservation area: Great Shefford, listed by West Berkshire Council
Landscape: North Wessex Downs National Landscape, on chalk soil

Great Shefford homes: what people want to know first

Can you repair a hipped clay tile roof like the Manor House's?

Yes. Hip tiles, the lead or tiles at the angles and the bedding beneath them are checked first, and replacement clay tiles are matched by colour, size and curve.

Is flint a problem when fixing flashings to a Shefford wall?

It makes the work slower, not impossible. Flint walls have uneven joints, so lead is chased into the mortar and wedged to suit each wall rather than cut to a straight line.

Does the chalk valley setting affect my roof in Great Shefford?

Valley bottoms hold damp and shade longer, so moss and algae settle sooner on north slopes and gutters clog with leaves. A tidy roof drains and dries better, and clearing gutters each autumn is the simplest protection a house beside the river can have.

What goes wrong on a hipped clay tile roof?

Reclaimed Cotswold stone slates sorted by length beside a limestone wall

Brick end-of-terrace gable beside a limestone house, slate roofs

The short answer

Hip tiles loosen where their bedding has cracked, the gap beneath them lets in wind-driven rain, and the joint where hip meets main slope is where tiles slip first. Clay tiles themselves tend to outlast the fixings, so most hipped roofs need a repair to the angles rather than a new covering.

The Manor House beside Great Shefford's church shows what a hipped roof looks like: the south end slopes back to meet the long sides instead of stopping at a gable. It is an attractive shape, and a harder one to keep watertight, because three slopes are meeting along every hip.

How are hip tiles held in place?

Each hip carries a row of curved tiles on top of the junction. Originally these sat in mortar. When the mortar cracks, tiles shift, and water runs under them into the roof. Today a hip tile is held by a metal hip iron at the foot, by clips or screws along its length, or by a dry-fix system that does without wet mortar, and BS 8612 is the standard such systems are tested against.

Why does the angle where slopes meet leak?

Plain tiles around a hip are cut and laid so that water runs away to either side. Where a tile has cracked or slipped, rain collects in the angle and runs under the row below. A few replaced tiles and a refixed hip usually cure it, and the survey photographs show exactly which ones.

Can new clay tiles match the old ones?

Clay ages from a bright orange to a deep, mottled red, and a new tile set among old ones stands out for years. We match for colour, size and camber, mix new tiles with reclaimed ones where the roof allows, and keep the blend even across the slope. For the larger picture, our pitched roofing page explains when a tiled or slated slope can be patched and when it needs lifting and starting again.

If a hipped roof is also a roof you would like to look the same afterwards, say so at the survey and we will plan the work around that. Mention any tiles you have kept in the garage or the shed, too: spare originals are the best match there is.

Our view

Fix the hips and the bedding before anyone talks about stripping a sound clay slope.

How do flint and brick walls change roof work?

The answer

Flint and brick walls are uneven, so the roof details against them are cut by hand. Lead flashings are chased into the joints, gable edges follow the wall's own line, and scaffold ties need sound brick or stone to hold. A roof against a flint wall takes longer, and that is time well spent.

Flint turns up in some of Great Shefford's best-known buildings, sometimes framed with brick. The Manor House is brick and flint, and the church is flint rubble with stone dressings. Flint is hard and long-lasting, but it is not a regular building block, and nothing about it suits a standard roofing detail.

How is a flashing fitted against flint?

At the foot of a wall that rises above a slope, a strip of lead goes into a groove cut across the masonry and is dressed down over the tiles. In brick, that groove follows a straight mortar course. In flint, the mortar joints wander, so the groove is cut where the joints allow and the lead is shaped to follow. Wedges and pointing then hold it. Done carefully, the finished flashing looks as if it has always been there.

What about gables, copings and scaffold ties?

At a gable the roof ends in a verge, and flint walls often rise above the roof line to finish in a coping. Water getting behind the coping is one of the commoner causes of damp in an upper room. Scaffolding also has to be tied to the building, and ties go only into sound masonry, never into loose flint.

Do brick and flint chimneys need special care?

Brick and flint stacks need pointing repairs from time to time. Our chimney repairs page covers the flashing, flaunching and pointing work that keeps a stack watertight.

Old walls move gently over the centuries, which is another reason we cut and fit each detail on site and do not rely on a pre-made part. After the work, the finished flashing should be neat enough that the next person up the ladder takes it for original, and tight enough to stay that way for years of ordinary weather.

Which council approves a Shefford re-roof?

Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

Brick and limestone cottages around a small village green

The short answer

West Berkshire Council is the planning authority for Great Shefford, and Building Control Solutions serves the council for building control. Notifiable roof work goes to the council's building control route or a registered building control approver. We explain which applies and handle the notification.

Replacing a few broken tiles, refixing a hip or re-laying a patch of slope in matching materials is ordinary maintenance. The questions start when the job gets larger or the building is special.

How big can a job get before approval is needed?

The Planning Portal sets the test: a building control application is not normally needed below 25 per cent of the total building envelope and below 50 per cent of the roof. Pass either mark and approval is required, with the roof insulation possibly brought up to date. Putting on a covering that weighs 15 per cent or more extra needs approval too. Building Control Solutions serves West Berkshire Council, and a registered building control approver is the alternative. When we are asked to do a notifiable job, the notification is ours to arrange.

What do the conservation area and the Downs change?

West Berkshire Council lists a Great Shefford conservation area, and the whole village lies inside the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. The council decides planning matters, with the Downs body acting only as an adviser. Whether an Article 4 direction applies to your house is something to ask the council before the work is planned.

What if the building is old or listed?

Locally, the Manor House and St Mary's are the old buildings people know best. When your own house is listed, listed building consent is needed before anything that alters its character, a rule that reaches the roof covering. The Church of England's churches in use follow the faculty route. Our re-roofing in a conservation area guide sets out the questions to settle first.

A short message to the council before work begins costs nothing, and it settles the question before any tile is lifted.

MythA National Landscape stops you re-roofing in a different tile.

FactThe designation guides larger planning decisions; a new covering is judged against the building and any listing or conservation rules that apply.

Roofing services in Great Shefford

Nearby towns we cover

Asked beside the River Lambourn

Why does the joint where a hip meets the slope leak first?

Three slopes drain towards that point, and the tiles there are cut rather than whole, so water has more places to get in. Cracked hip bedding adds a second route underneath. We lift the hip, check the underlay and battens, and put right whatever sits beneath before the tiles go back.

Can you match old red clay tiles on a Shefford cottage?

Often, yes. Colour, size and camber all have to agree, and we blend reclaimed tiles with new ones so the patch fades into the slope. Where a close match is not available, the new tiles go on a less visible slope and the better old ones stay on the street side.

Will you come out to Great Shefford and the valley villages?

Yes. Great Shefford is inside the area we work in from Swindon, along with the other villages of the Lambourn Valley and the downland towns beside the M4. Ring 01793 626096 or reach us on WhatsApp or the enquiry form, and say whether it is the house, a garage or an outbuilding. Flint walls, hipped ends and flat extension roofs are all part of the normal survey.

What does the workmanship guarantee mean on a Great Shefford job?

It means ten years, in writing, on the work we carried out. Photographs taken at the visit and the written quote fix the roof as it stood and the job as agreed, so what the guarantee relates to is never in doubt. Wear on parts we did not touch is not part of it.

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