Row of stone cottages with steep stone slate roofs

Roofers in Lydiard Millicent

Leak repairs, chimney stacks, stone slate and re-roofing in Lydiard Millicent, on the clay-and-limestone parish between Swindon and the Braydon edge, where brick and rubble stone meet.

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Lydiard Millicent's roofs, from stone slate to red tile

Manor, farms and stone slate

The Victoria County History of Wiltshire describes limestone rubble as the building material of the parish for a long time, and it records the manor house roofs as apparently stone-slated. Lower Shaw Farm has a stone-slated gambrel roof, the type with a break in each slope that gives more headroom under the eaves. Stone slate is heavy, laid in courses that diminish from large at the eaves to small at the ridge, and held on battens by pegs or nails. Roofs like these are repaired by lifting and re-laying the stones in order, with matched replacements for the ones that have failed, and not by stripping the whole slope.

Orange-red brick cottage with a tall chimney stack — Orange-red brick

Brickmaking had taken hold in the parish by the late eighteenth century, and the same history records soft orange-red bricks widely used for fronts, chimney stacks and dressings. That colour is the village's brick signature, and it explains why the stacks here are usually the first thing a roof survey looks at. Soft brick takes in water, and when that water freezes the faces spall. Repointing in a mortar that suits the brick, replacing the worst bricks with a close match, and renewing the lead tray at the base are the repairs that keep a handsome stack in service.

Red-tiled roof on a modern village building — Twentieth century homes and Shaw church

Twentieth century houses brought different materials: the history notes concrete blocks for council houses, and the Shaw church of 1989 has a steep roof of red tiles. Where those homes have tiled roofs, flat-roofed porches and garages, the faults are familiar: loosening ridge bedding, lead that has lifted off the brickwork at a stack or porch, and gutters that have dropped out of line. Because the houses of a given decade share a design, what turns up on one roof tells you where to look on the next. Where a flat-roofed extension has been attached to a stone farmhouse, the junction between the two ages needs particular care.

From Swindon to the Braydon edge

Distance: 5 road miles west of central Swindon
Council: Wiltshire Council
Conservation area: Lydiard Millicent, on Wiltshire Council's record
Council: Wiltshire Council
Setting: A long, narrow parish of clay and coral-rag limestone, once part of Braydon forest

Roof answers for Lydiard Millicent homes

Which council deals with a Lydiard Millicent roof?

Wiltshire Council, not Swindon Borough Council, even though the village sits beside Swindon. Planning and building control questions go to Wiltshire's teams.

Can a stone-slated farmhouse roof be repaired in place?

Often, yes. Slipped stones are refixed, failed pegs and battens renewed, and the roof re-laid in its original courses. A full strip is reserved for slopes that have given up.

Why do soft brick chimney stacks fail here?

Soft orange-red brick absorbs water, and frost then breaks the faces away. Repointing and replacing weathered bricks in a close match usually keeps a stack going.

What shapes the roofs of Lydiard Millicent?

Brick and limestone cottages around a small village green

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

The short answer

The ground, first. A long narrow parish of limestone between two clays gave the village rubble stone, then brick clay. Older houses were stone-slated, later ones brought other coverings, and the stacks are often orange-red brick, each with its own weak points.

Lydiard Millicent is a long, narrow parish beside Swindon. The Victoria County History places coral-rag limestone between Kimmeridge Clay at the east end and Oxford Clay at the west, with an escarpment crossing it at Green Hill. From 1228 almost the whole parish lay within Braydon forest, which was disafforested in 1330, and by 1839 the parish carried 556 acres of arable and 1,225 acres of grassland, with most farms presumably dairy farms where cheese was made. Farm buildings, barns and dairies from that working landscape still stand among the houses, and many carry their own roofs that need looking after.

Which came first, stone or brick?

Limestone rubble supplied the walls of the older farms and cottages, and stone slate roofed the manor house and some of the farms, Lower Shaw Farm among them. When brickmaking took hold from the late eighteenth century the village gained its orange-red fronts and stacks. The parish church is All Saints, which the history says was perhaps founded by William FitzOsbern, earl of Hereford, who died in 1071.

How does that change a repair?

A farmhouse with a stone-slated main range and a later brick wing has two different roofs that move and weather differently, and the valley or abutment where they meet is the first place to look when water gets in. Our roof repairs page explains how we trace a leak to its source, and our stone roofing page sets out how stone slate is repaired and re-laid.

Clay ground and shaded slopes also mean moss and algae take hold on shaded slopes and north faces, especially under trees. Clearing growth is sometimes all a slope needs, and sometimes it hides a slipped slate or tile that has been letting water in for a season.

Gutters on an old farmhouse deserve the same scrutiny. Cast iron and old half-round runs rust at the joints and sag between brackets, and a gutter that spills over a rubble stone wall soaks the wall for years before anyone notices. Looking at the rainwater system is part of every survey we carry out, and the photographs show where it is leaking.

How is a stone-slated roof repaired and re-laid?

The answer

By working with the stones. Sound slates are lifted, graded by size and put back in diminishing courses, with failed pegs, nails and battens renewed and matching stone used for gaps. Reclaimed material is sourced with care, and stone of a different type is never mixed in.

Traditional guidance written for Cotswold District owners describes how stone slate roofs are built, and the principles apply to stone-slated roofs more widely. Stone splits into many small slates for every large one, so the largest sit along the eaves and the tiniest are kept for the top of the slope. That pattern is called diminishing courses, and it is why a stone roof looks the way it does.

What holds the slates, and how heavy are they?

Slates are hung over the batten on wooden pegs, traditionally cleft oak, or fixed with nails. The pegs and battens rot long before the stone does, which is why a stone roof so often fails at the fixings while the slates themselves are fine. Stone slate is heavy: the same guidance gives about 1000 kg for every 10 square metres. That is part of why re-laying the existing slates is gentler on the structure than re-covering in a different material.

Can reclaimed or substitute slates be used?

English Heritage policy, reproduced in that guidance, prefers new stone slate to second-hand where it can be had, keeps reclaimed slates on the building that supplied them, and rules out swapping sandstone and limestone slates for each other. Concrete or reconstituted imitations are unsuitable on historic buildings.

Weight is another reason to be careful. A stone roof is heavy, and the structure beneath it has carried that load for generations, so swapping it for a covering 15 per cent or more heavier brings an approval requirement, and a much lighter one may need extra fixings against uplift.

For a listed farmhouse, that is the working rule: keep the original slates, renew what holds them, and match any additions by type, size and tone. See our stone roofing service for the full approach.

Whatever the building, our quote tells you which slopes can be repaired and which need stripping, and the advice is backed by survey photographs, so you can weigh the options for yourself. A slope that is moving in one corner is not always a slope that has failed everywhere.

Our approach

Keep the stone, renew the fixings, and lay it back in its original courses.

Who approves roof work in a Wiltshire village near Swindon?

Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

Drone hovering above a tiled roof during a roof survey

The short answer

Wiltshire Council, not Swindon Borough Council, is the planning authority for Lydiard Millicent. Its planning team covers conservation area and listed building questions, and its building control team or a registered building control approver covers notifiable roof work. Matching repairs seldom need an application.

The parish sits right beside Swindon, but the boundary between the two councils runs between them, and that matters for paperwork. A Lydiard Millicent address may share a postcode area with Swindon streets and still belong to a different authority. Most roof work in Lydiard Millicent needs no permission, and where it does the council involved is Wiltshire's.

Do everyday repairs need permission?

Renewing tiles, refixing slates, re-bedding a ridge or repairing a flashing in matching materials is maintenance. Planning permission is seldom needed for a like-for-like re-covering either, because the finished roof does not alter how the building looks.

What about larger re-roofs?

According to the Planning Portal, a building control application is usually avoided where under 25 per cent of the total building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof is affected. Any job crossing either limit needs approval, as does a new covering weighing 15 per cent or more above the old. Wiltshire Council's building control team takes such applications locally, and a registered building control approver is the private route. We make the notification when a job is notifiable, and explain any insulation upgrade the work triggers.

What changes in the conservation area?

Lydiard Millicent has a conservation area on Wiltshire Council's record. Matching repairs there seldom need an application, but a change of material, or work that alters a listed building's character, needs the council's view first and, for a listed building, listed building consent. All Saints church is a separate case again, since roof work on a church where the Church of England still worships is authorised by faculty.

If you are unsure which category your house falls into, ask Wiltshire Council's planning team, and send us the question too, so we can tell you what the survey is likely to involve.

MythAnywhere with a Swindon postcode sits under Swindon Borough Council.

FactLydiard Millicent is in Wiltshire Council's area, so its planning and building control questions go there.

Roofing services in Lydiard Millicent

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from the Green Hill side of the village

What is the usual weak point on a stone-slated Lydiard Millicent farmhouse?

The fixings. The stone slates themselves tend to outlast the wooden pegs and battens that hold them, so slipped stones and sagging courses usually trace back to rotted timber, not failed stone. Renewing the fixings and putting the same slates back usually costs less than a new covering.

Can you repair a soft orange-red brick chimney stack without rebuilding it?

Often. If the bricks are sound, repointing in a suitable mortar, a new flaunching cap and a renewed lead tray at the base can add many years. Where the faces are crumbling, we replace the worst bricks with a close match, or rebuild the top courses, and photograph the stack before and after.

Do you work in Purton, Cricklade and the other villages near Lydiard Millicent?

Yes. Purton, Cricklade, Royal Wootton Bassett and the villages in between sit inside our 30 road mile area. A message with the address, by form or on WhatsApp, is all we need to say whether it falls within range.

What paperwork follows a Lydiard Millicent roof survey?

A written quote comes first, with survey photographs of your own roof that make each fault easy to see. If you go ahead, a 10-year workmanship guarantee is issued in writing, we clear the site, and waste leaves with us. We propose the least work that properly solves the fault, and tell you when a repair will do.

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