Rear tiled roof of a brick semi seen from the garden

Roofers in Sapperton

Stone slate repairs, re-roofing, lead work and chimneys in Sapperton, from the Arts and Crafts houses north-east of St Kenelm's church to the cottages on the edge of the Frome valley west of Cirencester.

Get a quote Call 01793 626096

Sapperton's roofs, from the Barnsleys to the tunnel

Arts and Crafts house with steep gables — The Arts and Crafts houses

Most of the buildings in the eastern part of Sapperton were built or rebuilt under the patronage of the Bathurst family in the Cotswold Arts and Crafts style. Upper Dorvel House and Beechanger, associated with the Barnsley brothers, and The Leasowes, associated with Ernest Gimson, stand north-east of the church. Houses made by craftsmen who cared about detail have roofs that reward the same care, and in a village with this much design history it is easy to see what a clumsy repair does to the whole street. Steep pitches, generous eaves, carefully set valleys and chimneys with real presence are the kind of detail we look for on houses of this tradition. A repair that ignores that detailing shows from the lane. We aim to leave a repaired roof looking as though it was never touched.

Cottage row with chimneys and a ridge — Cottages and village houses

Away from the grander houses, Sapperton has the ordinary cottages and farmhouses of a small Cotswold village, strung along lanes on the edge of the Frome valley. Roofs on buildings like these have often been repaired in stages by different hands, over a long stretch of years and to whatever budget the owner had at the time. You see patches of newer tile among older covering, flashings renewed in whatever was to hand, and ridges rebedded once or twice. The job is to read that history, pick out what is still sound, and repair around it. Where the original covering is traditional stone, it should stay stone. Where it has been replaced already, we match what is there now.

Gabled stone house beside a churchyard wall — St Kenelm's and the churchyard edge

St Kenelm's parish church was last rebuilt in Queen Anne's reign and contains monuments to Sir Robert Atkyns and to Sir Henry and Lady Anne Poole. Houses near the church stand close to old walls, mature trees and boundary stonework, so access can be tight and the gutters and valleys fill with leaf litter. Work next to churchyard walls needs planning with care: ladders and scaffolding have to stand where they cannot harm monuments or masonry, and the neighbouring owners deserve notice. On a simple gabled roof, the verges and ridge are the places we look first.

Sapperton, west of Cirencester

Distance: 22 road miles north-west of central Swindon
Council: Cotswold District Council
Conservation area: Sapperton, designated 9 November 1982
National Landscape: Cotswolds National Landscape
Council: Cotswold District Council

Sapperton roof questions

Does the Sapperton conservation area restrict my roof work?

Putting back the same thing in the same place rarely needs an application. A new covering, new roof windows or a reshaped chimney is another matter, and Cotswold District Council can tell you where your own address stands.

Can you repair an Arts and Crafts roof without spoiling it?

Yes. We repair in the same materials and methods, hold on to original detailing wherever it is sound, and photograph the roof before and during the job so you can see what was done.

Is the Cotswolds National Landscape a planning authority?

No. Cotswold District Council decides planning applications; the National Landscape body advises. It affects how carefully a change is considered, not who makes the decision.

What makes an Arts and Crafts roof hard to repair?

Roofer repointing a stone chimney stack above lead flashing

Roofer on a stone slate ridge beside a stone chimney

The short answer

Its detail. Houses built in the Cotswold Arts and Crafts manner were designed so the roof, walls and chimneys read as one piece of craftsmanship, so a repair that is merely watertight but looks wrong still counts as a poor job. We study the roof first and repair it in its own language.

Sapperton is best known for the Cotswold Arts and Crafts movement, and the Bathurst family's patronage shaped most of the buildings in the eastern part of the village. The Barnsley brothers and Ernest Gimson worked here, and Upper Dorvel House, Beechanger and The Leasowes stand north-east of the church. Roof repair on such a house starts with looking, not climbing.

How do you read a roof before touching it?

We walk round the house first, then go up, because the ground view shows sags in the ridge, bowing in a slope and the state of the stacks in a way that is hard to see once you are standing on the roof itself. The questions are plain ones. How do the courses run? Where does the ridge sit against the chimney? Which sections have been repaired before, and with what? A roof with irregular, hand-finished surfaces is not a roof you can sensibly patch with machine-made material, because the new work will stand out for years. We photograph each slope so that you and we both know what was there.

Why do junctions and chimneys leak first?

Arts and Crafts houses tend to have more junctions than plain ones: projecting bays, gabled wings, porches and substantial chimney stacks. Every junction needs lead or stone detailing, and every one is a place for water to find a way in when the material wears. A leak is often found at one of them rather than on an open slope. Our lead roofing page explains what we use at valleys and flashings and why.

How do you keep the house's character?

The best repair on a house of this kind is one nobody notices. That means keeping original slates and pegs wherever they are sound, matching replacements for size and colour, and rebuilding details such as verges and ridges the way they were built rather than simplifying them. Should the house be listed, or if you cannot tell, ask Cotswold District Council before altering anything people can see from the lane.

Should Sapperton's stone slates be reclaimed or new?

The answer

The council's published guidance favours new slates over second-hand ones, and reserves reclaimed stone for the building it was taken from. Buying old stone from another site can strip a neighbour's roof, so we match new stone to your own slates and say where anything comes from.

Reclaimed stone has a reputation as the authentic choice. The picture is more complicated, and it is worth knowing why before you ask anyone to quote for it. The guidance we follow is Cotswold District Council's technical note on stone slate roofing, which reproduces English Heritage policy.

Why is second-hand slate a problem?

The note observes that buying and selling old slates has stripped many other buildings of theirs, sometimes through theft. Every slate on offer came off a roof. If that roof was in a village like Sapperton, the building lost something it cannot easily replace. The policy answer is to use new slates, cut to match, and keep any old ones on the building that owns them.

Can limestone and sandstone slates be mixed?

Limestone and sandstone slates should not be swapped for one another or laid side by side, because they weather differently and show it within a few seasons. Artificial substitutes, including concrete and reconstituted stone, are described in the same note as unsuitable for historic buildings, and sawn stone can look wrong and wear unevenly. Whatever the roof is made of, the sensible rule is to repair with the same thing.

What does that mean for my own roof?

We lift sound slates carefully, sort them by size, and re-hang them in their courses. Where there are gaps, we make them up from new stone matched in colour, thickness and size. If an earlier owner used something different, we talk through the choices with you, and with the council if the building is listed. Our roof repairs page explains how a small fix is separated from a larger one, and the written quote comes after we have surveyed the roof.

Our view

Keep a building's own slates on that building, and make up the difference with new stone cut to match.

What does the Cotswolds National Landscape mean for a roof?

Roofers on a slate roof along a limestone village street

Rolled lead roof covering over a bay above white windows

The short answer

Sapperton lies in the Cotswolds National Landscape, known as an AONB until 2023. The designation does not decide planning applications; Cotswold District Council does, with the National Landscape body advising. Straight repairs seldom need an application; changing materials or cutting new openings in the slope deserves a word with the planners before you start.

The name changed on 22 November 2023, even though the land remains an AONB in law. It sits alongside Sapperton's own conservation area, which Cotswold District Council's data records as designated on 9 November 1982. A separate Thames Severn Canal conservation area covers the Sapperton section of the canal.

Who actually decides a planning application?

Planning decisions are made by the district council. The National Landscape body can comment and advise, but it does not grant or refuse permission. When you are planning a roof change, ask the council what it expects for your address; the landscape body's preference is not the deciding factor.

Which roof changes need a conversation first?

A repair in matching materials counts as upkeep, and it carries on the building's own pattern of repair and renewal. Nothing about it changes how the street reads. Replacing one covering with another, adding roof windows or reshaping a chimney can bring planning questions, especially in a conservation area. The council's stone slate guide quotes a local plan policy under which stripping natural roofing from a listed building to put modern alternatives in its place will be refused if it would significantly harm the building's architectural or historic interest.

Does a bigger re-roof need building control?

Cotswold District runs its own building control service. Bigger re-roofs, or any covering that is noticeably heavier than its predecessor, may call for approval. We lay out where your job stands and take care of the Building Regulations notification when one is due. If you are unsure, the council's planning team is the place to start.

Our Cotswold stone roofing page goes into the geology, the courses and the upkeep of stone roofs at a depth a village page cannot.

MythThe National Landscape board decides whether you can change your roof.

FactIt advises. Cotswold District Council grants or refuses planning permission.

Roofing services in Sapperton

Nearby towns we cover

Questions from the Frome valley edge

Do Sapperton's Arts and Crafts houses need a specialist roofer?

They need a roofer who respects detail. Deep eaves, steep pitches and carefully made valleys are part of the design, and a repair that flattens or simplifies them shows. We study the roof first, repair like for like, and show you the fault on the survey photographs before agreeing the job.

Is it worth repairing an old stone slate roof near St Kenelm's?

Usually. Cotswold District Council's guide says a Cotswold roof kept up regularly can easily reach 100 years, and perhaps far longer. The slates tend to outlive the pegs and battens that carry them, so re-hanging is often the sounder course, for the budget and for the building.

Do you work on the cottages around Sapperton and Cirencester?

Yes. Cirencester, the villages of the Frome valley and everywhere else inside 30 road miles of Swindon falls within our patch, and the areas page lists each one. Ring 01793 626096 or send your postcode through the enquiry form.

What if my Sapperton roof leaks only in strong wind?

That points to the ridge, the verges or a flashing where driven rain is pushed sideways under the covering. We check those first, from the roof and from the loft, and a local repair is sometimes all it needs, which saves you paying for a bigger job than the fault justifies.

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