Rear slate roofs and chimneys of Victorian terraces

Roofers in Kemble

Stone-slate repairs, careful re-roofing, lead valleys and chimney work in Kemble, from the cottages of the village conservation area to the 1882 station buildings by the railway.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Kemble's roofs, from Thames Head to the station

Cottage gable in limestone beneath stone slates — Limestone slate in the village

Cotswold District Council's Kemble appraisal, published in September 2016, says roofs within the village conservation area are almost exclusively limestone slates, with Bradley Lodge, the school and the village hall as exceptions. Walls are oolitic limestone, the predominant building material throughout Kemble. Stone slates are heavy, and each slope is built in diminishing courses, the widest and heaviest at the bottom, then a steady taper of smaller stones up to the ridge. They last for generations when looked after, but the pegs, battens and valleys beneath them fail long before the stone does. A leak in such a roof usually points to a slipped slate or a worn lead gutter, not to the whole covering.

Gabled limestone house with chimney stacks — All Saints and the older houses

All Saints Church, mainly Early English in style, was upgraded from Grade II to Grade II* on 12 February 2016, and Kemble House is listed Grade II. Buildings with this status come with special care in the way they are repaired. Stone slates removed from a historic roof are valuable and should go back onto the same building where they can. Chimney stacks, parapets and gable copings in limestone need their own checks, because stone shedding water onto stone is where frost and moss do most damage. Many houses here were extended in later centuries, so a single roof can carry old slate, newer stone tile and a flat lead gutter in one small stretch.

Limestone station building with gabled roof — The railway and station buildings

Kemble was once a railway junction, with branch lines to Cirencester and Tetbury that were dismantled in the 1960s. The station buildings of 1882 are limestone in a mock-Tudor style, and the station, its water tank and the bridge over the railway are Grade II listed. The station has its own conservation area, designated on 20 November 1990. Roofs near the line, and outbuildings built when the railway brought business to the village, are a different mix from the farm cottages around the church: more varied rooflines, more valleys and larger spans. Commercial and workshop roofs nearby are worth surveying with equal care, and we work on those as well.

Where the Thames begins, beside the Fosse corridor

Distance: 20 road miles north-west of central Swindon
Council: Cotswold District Council
Conservation areas: Kemble, designated 1981; Kemble Station, designated 1990
Council: Cotswold District Council
Setting: A Cotswold village near Thames Head, on Forest Marble limestone

Kemble roof questions

Is my Kemble cottage in a conservation area?

Kemble has two: the village area, designated in 1981, and the station area, designated in 1990. Cotswold District Council's maps show the boundaries; check yours before altering a visible roof.

Can a concrete tile replace a limestone slate in Kemble?

It would change the look, and heritage guidance reproduced by the district council treats concrete substitutes as inappropriate on historic buildings. We suggest stone for stone.

Will you strip and re-lay my stone slates?

Yes, where that is the right repair. Each slate is graded by length, new battens and pegs go in, and the sound stones return to their courses, with matching stone filling any gaps.

How are Kemble's stone slate roofs built?

Brick and limestone cottages around a small village green

Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

The short answer

A stone slate slope is built up in rows that get smaller as they climb, hung from battens on pegs, with the biggest stones lowest. The roof is steep, very heavy and relies on the stones lapping correctly. Understanding that layout is what separates a good repair from one that leaks again.

The district council's April 2000 technical guidance for owners is the clearest account of how these roofs go together. Much of it still reads true, and it shapes how we approach a Kemble roof, though it is more than twenty years old and we read it as a record of traditional method, not as current supply information. Kemble itself stands on Forest Marble limestone, exposed in the railway cuttings beside the village, and Forest Marble is one of the two stones from which Cotswold stone slates were traditionally made.

Why do the slates shrink up the roof?

The quarry yields many more small slates than large ones, and the roof is planned around that fact. The largest go along the eaves in a double course called cussoms. Followers sit above them, and the stones then shrink steadily up the slope to the smallest pieces, known as short cocks, at the ridge. Because the sizes step down, every stone has its place. Mix them at random and the laps stop shedding water.

What actually holds a stone slate on?

Each slate was traditionally hung over a batten through a hole near its top, with a wooden peg, usually cleft oak, doing the holding. Pegs rot long before stone does, and a slipped slate nearly always means a failed peg, so one slipped stone can be the first sign of a tired batten run. Refixing a slate is a small, skilled job, and checking the neighbouring pegs while we are there is part of it. Our Cotswold stone roofing page describes the method in more detail.

How steep and heavy is a stone roof?

A traditional stone roof is steep, commonly between 47 and 55 degrees, and heavy: about a thousand kilograms per ten square metres. That weight is why the structure must be checked before any covering is changed. It also explains why a lighter substitute never behaves the same way. The roof timbers in an old Kemble house were cut for stone, and they carry it better than owners expect.

Is a tired stone slate roof in Kemble worth saving?

The answer

Usually yes. The stone outlives its fixings, so the roof often needs new pegs, battens and valleys rather than new stone. Re-laying the sound slates in their courses and making up any losses with matching stone keeps the roof, the look and the value of the house.

When a stone slate roof starts to leak, owners often fear the worst. In practice the covering itself is rarely finished. The district's 2000 guidance puts it in plain terms: a Cotswold roof that is regularly maintained can easily last 100 years, and could last as long as 200 or 300. The authors also say that annual scraping could double a roof's life. That is a long time to get from one set of battens, which is why renewing the fixings is the usual repair.

When is strip and re-lay the right repair?

Where a slope has fatigued, the right job is to strip it carefully, sort every slate by length, discard the cracked ones, renew the battens and fixings, then lay the sound stones back in courses. The guide notes that a good number of slates can turn out to have perished once a roof is stripped, so a quote should allow for topping up with new stone. We photograph every stripped slope, so you see what has been kept and what has been replaced, slate by slate.

Where should replacement stone come from?

Sourcing matters. Heritage policy reproduced in the guidance says new stone slates are preferable to second-hand, and slates lifted from a roof belong on that same roof afterwards, never on a different house. The two kinds of stone, sandstone and limestone, must never be substituted for one another. Whatever stone is added, we tell you where it came from. A patch for your roof should never come at the cost of someone else's, and stone taken from another building is a loss to that building.

How should a stone roof valley be made?

A swept valley is a curved internal junction, formed by specially cut slates, where two slopes meet. The guidance prefers it to a lead-lined or mitred valley, though a well-made lead valley is a sound repair where the original has gone. Our lead roofing page covers the lead side of the work.

Our recommendation

Keep the stone, renew the pegs and battens, and re-lay the slates in their courses.

What do Kemble's two conservation areas mean for roofing?

Long flat roof on a 1960s brick building being re-covered

Gloved hands fitting a weathered Cotswold stone slate

The short answer

Matching repairs normally proceed without an application. Altering how a roof looks, or touching a listed building, is for Cotswold District Council to judge. Kemble has a village area and a separate station area, so check which, if either, covers your address.

Cotswold District Council is the planning authority for Kemble, and the Kemble and Kemble Station appraisal and management guidance of September 2016 is the document that describes what it values here. The guidance is worth reading before you plan any roof work, because it shows what the council wants kept, from the stone roofs to the station's mock-Tudor buildings. Treat it as guidance rather than a rulebook, and treat the council's planning officers as the people who can say how it applies to your address.

Which of Kemble's two areas is mine?

The village conservation area was designated on 17 February 1981, and the station area on 20 November 1990. They are separate, so a house near the railway may fall in one, the other or neither. The table below lists the designations we can state with confidence, and the council's maps show where each boundary runs.

What counts as an everyday repair?

Repairing a stone slate roof with matching stone does not usually need planning permission. Changing the covering for another material, or altering chimneys, are changes a council will examine. A new opening in a roof slope is a planning question of its own, covered under our skylights pages. Any listed building needs listed building consent before work that would touch its character. The district's local plan, as quoted in the 2000 guidance, will not permit natural roofing on a listed building to be replaced with modern alternatives where that would harm its interest.

Does re-roofing need Building Regulations approval?

Notifiable re-roofing goes through Cotswold District Council's building control team or a registered building control approver. Whether your own job is notifiable is something we establish at the survey, and where it is, the paperwork is ours to deal with. Our roof repairs page shows when a repair is enough.

Kemble designations from the 2016 appraisal

Item	Detail
Kemble Conservation Area	Designated 17 February 1981
Kemble Station Conservation Area	Designated 20 November 1990
All Saints Church	Grade II*, upgraded 12 February 2016
Station, water tank and bridge	Grade II listed

Roofing services in Kemble

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from beside the Thames source

Why does Kemble's village centre have stone roofs apart from a few exceptions?

The appraisal says roofs within the area are almost exclusively limestone slates, with exceptions that include Bradley Lodge, the school and the village hall. So stone is the village's rule, and the exceptions prove it. When we repair a stone roof, we match the stone instead of treating it as an exception.

Do you take on work around Kemble's station buildings and outbuildings?

Yes, on both the commercial and domestic buildings around the line, including workshops and yards where a flat or low-pitched roof has outlived its covering. If a building is listed, such as the station, its water tank or the bridge, the repair method is agreed first, and listed building consent is checked with Cotswold District Council where the work would affect character.

Is Kemble on your route between Tetbury and Cirencester?

Yes. Both lie inside the area we work, which reaches 30 road miles from Swindon, and Kemble sits between them. Kemble, Tetbury, Cirencester and the villages between are in range, and the areas page gives the full list. To check one address, ring us or send the details through the enquiry form.

What comes with the work once a stone roof is finished?

A written guarantee on our workmanship, running for ten years and not backed by insurance, plus photographs of the finished slopes. We also clear the site and take away the waste, including broken stone, which has no further use.

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