Roofers in Dauntsey
Brick farmsteads, a Grade II* house and a Grade I church spread across the hamlets of the Bristol Avon valley, with typical roof costs published before anyone visits.
Dauntsey at a glance
- Distance
- 21.9 road miles south-south-east of Stroud
- Council
- Wiltshire Council
- Setting
- Bristol Avon valley, on Oxford Clay
- Listed
- Church of St James, Grade I
Dauntsey's hamlets, brick farmsteads and Avon valley clay
Dauntsey has no single centre. It is a parish of scattered hamlets and farmsteads in the valley of the Bristol Avon, on Oxford Clay, and a roofer working here covers ground between one cluster of buildings and the next. The county history says few surviving buildings are older than the 18th century, and that most of the older houses and farmsteads are of local brick. That is a useful starting point for any survey: brick walls, long farm ranges and outbuildings, and roofs that have usually been renewed at least once.
The parish has some grand exceptions. Dauntsey House, near the church, is of 14th-century origin and Grade II* listed. The Church of St James, mostly of rubble, in places rendered, with ashlar dressings, is Grade I. The hamlet of Dauntsey Lock presumably takes its name from the opening of the canal, and the name was certainly in use by 1884.
The twentieth century added its own layers. Council houses went up in 1932 and 1938, a 22-house estate called St James's followed in the 1950s, and houses and bungalows were built on both sides of the Green later in the century, so a single parish holds roofs from three or four separate decades. A national conservation-area dataset shows no designated area near the centre of Dauntsey, but a scattered parish is wide, so confirm the position for your address with Wiltshire Council.
Detached red brick Edwardian house with mock-Tudor gables and a tiled roof 
Stone terraced houses with slate roofs and chimneys stepping up a hill
Chapter 01
Brick farmsteads and a house of 14th-century origin
Clay country, brick walls and a roof covering that has to suit both.
Chapter 01In this chapter
A brick farmhouse or cottage might carry clay tile, slate or something newer, and whatever the covering, it has to suit the pitch of the roof. Marley's published figures show how much the minimum varies: its Canterbury plain tile needs 40 degrees, the Ashdowne 35, the Hawkins 30, while a Lincoln clay pantile can go down to 15. A roof that was laid correctly at one pitch cannot simply be re-covered in a different tile, because a tile used below its minimum pitch lets rain blow under the laps. When we survey a brick house we measure the pitch before anyone names a replacement tile.
In this chapter
Pitch is only part of it. Clay tiles are fixed with nails at intervals, with clips on exposed courses, over battens whose spacing is set by the tile's length and its headlap, which is how far each course overlaps the ones beneath. If the old battens were cut for a different tile, they are replaced, not reused, and the quote covers that.
How long a clay roof lasts
The published sources do not agree with one another. MyBuilder's 2026 slate-roof guide gives clay tiles 40 to 60 years, Marley points to a BRE minimum of 60 years, while the Building Conservation Directory warns that no single number fits roofs that have been working for centuries. The fair reading is that it depends on the clay, the frost, the fixing and the upkeep. We look for the signs on your roof, such as flaking faces, slipped tiles and rusted nails, instead of reading a date off a chart.
Listed neighbours
Dauntsey House carries a Grade II* listing while St James's church is Grade I, and each is handled in its own way. A church in regular use sits outside the normal consent system, and the diocese grants a faculty for its roof work. A listed house needs listed building consent from Wiltshire Council for alterations that affect its character, and an outbuilding or barn near it may be caught by the same listing. If you own such a building, ask the council's conservation officers about its status before plans are drawn. Our commercial roofing page covers the larger agricultural and estate-sized roofs that sit alongside houses like these.
A tile has to suit the pitch of the roof it covers as well as the colour of the one next door.
| Marley clay tile | Minimum pitch |
|---|---|
| Canterbury plain tile | 40 degrees |
| Ashdowne plain tile | 35 degrees |
| Hawkins plain tile | 30 degrees |
| Lincoln pantile | 15 degrees |
Chapter 02
Scattered hamlets, farm ranges and Dauntsey Lock
Wide ground, long runs of outbuilding and damp air near the canal call for a different survey.
Chapter 02In this chapter
With hamlets and farmsteads scattered along the valley, the first question on many jobs is how to get to the roof. A track may lead past a farmyard to a house set back from the road, and the lorry that delivers scaffold and materials needs a way in and a place to turn, and sometimes a neighbour's permission to cross a corner of their land. We settle that at the survey and put the access plan in writing, so the cost of reaching a distant roof is known and not a surprise.
In this chapter
Farm ranges bring a second set of questions. A large barn or workshop roof is closer to a commercial roof than a house roof, with wide spans, fibre-cement or metal sheeting, rooflights and long gutters. Asbestos cement sheeting is a particular care: HSE guidance separates careful removal of intact sheets, which is non-licensed, from sheets that are substantially broken, which is notifiable non-licensed work. We identify the material before pricing a strip, so the method and the cost are known in advance.
Outbuildings also bring flat roofs: a lean-to against the barn wall, a porch, a store behind the farmhouse. Water has to run off a flat roof, so it is laid with a slope. The code of practice BS 6229 asks for a design fall of 1:40, allowing for building tolerances, so the completed deck still sheds water at 1:80 or better. We measure the fall before choosing between a patch and a new covering.
Moss and the canal air
Dauntsey Lock was named after the canal, and damp ground and trees near water give moss a good start on a roof. Moss holds moisture against tiles and can block gutters. MyBuilder's 2026 cleaning guide puts manual scraping at £5 to £10 per m², soft washing at £15 to £20 per m², and pressure washing at £10 to £15 per m², with a caution against pressure washing on fragile tiles. Our roof cleaning and moss removal page explains which method suits which covering, and when cleaning is the wrong answer.
Gutters after a clean
Once the moss is off, the gutters usually need clearing too, and a gutter holding wet debris will rot a fascia board in time. Cleaning, clearing the gutters and a look at the fixings can be done in one visit, with a photographed record at the end so you can see the result. If the survey finds slipped tiles or cracked ridge bedding under the moss, we tell you and agree what to do, since the cleaning should not hide a repair.
On a farm range, the survey is mostly about the way in and the way water goes.
Chapter 03
Council houses of 1932 and 1938, St James's and the Green
Interwar and 1950s housing has ridges and verges that were bedded before modern fixing standards.
Chapter 03In this chapter
Council houses were built in Dauntsey in 1932 and 1938, and a 22-house estate called St James's followed in the 1950s. Houses and bungalows were added on both sides of the Green in the later twentieth century. These are ordinary family homes, and their roofs share a pattern: gable ends with a verge, a ridge along the top, and hips where the roof turns a corner.
In this chapter
Verges, ridges and hips were commonly bedded on mortar in that period, and the mortar cracks over decades. Under BS 5534:2014 every ridge and hip tile must be fixed mechanically, whatever mortar is also used. A dry-fix system dispenses with the mortar bed and uses clipped or screwed sections tested to BS 8612. MyBuilder's 2026 guide gives £40 to £60 per metre for dry ridge, and £300 to £600 for a typical re-bed or replacement of ridge tiles.
Verge or gable
The verge, the strip of roof along a gable end, is the other weak point. Where it was pointed in mortar alone, you will often see the bedding crumbling and tiles lifting at the edge. A new dry-fix verge, or a re-bed with proper fixings, ends the repeat call-outs. When the condition of the edge allows either, we cost both on the written quote, side by side, and leave the choice to you. See ridge, verge and dry-fix for the details.
- 1932first batch of council houses built in Dauntsey, followed by more in 1938
- 22houses in the St James's council estate of the 1950s
- 1884year by which the canal hamlet was known as Dauntsey Lock
Semi-detached and terraced homes often share a wall and a ridgeline, so a repair on one house can reach into the next. We look along the whole terrace or pair before we price, and the owners next door are told what we plan at the shared junction, so nobody finds scaffold or a lifted ridge on their side without warning.
Bungalows round the Green
A bungalow's roof is a single storey up, so access is easier and the cost of scaffolding is smaller. The risk lies elsewhere: a wide roof has long valleys and hips that carry a lot of water, and a bungalow roof is often the only thing between the weather and a lived-in ceiling. When we find a stain below, we trace it back along the roof and show you the photograph before we propose a repair. Water often travels along a rafter or a membrane before it drips, so the spot we fix has to be the spot the water is really using, and the photograph is the proof.
Map showing Dauntsey and the Stroud service radius, with nearby towns we also cover.
Near Dauntsey
Roof work we do here
Brick farmsteads and Dauntsey House beside the Avon
My Dauntsey farmhouse is brick with clay tiles. Do I need exactly the same tile again?
Not necessarily the same maker, but it must suit the roof's pitch and look right beside the original. We measure the pitch, check the manufacturer's minimum for the tile, and show you a match in colour and profile before anything is ordered.
A barn near a listed house needs a new roof. Does the listing reach it?
It can. Buildings standing within a listed house's grounds may share its protection, so ask Wiltshire Council's conservation officers before plans are drawn. We can survey and price the roof in the meantime, so you have figures ready.
The house I own sits at the end of a long lane off a hamlet road. Will that change the quote?
It can, and the change is shown openly. Distance from the road affects how materials arrive and where scaffold stands, so the way in is allowed for when the quote is written.
Can the ridge on a 1930s council house be re-bedded without stripping the roof?
Often, yes. If the tiles below are sound and the battens beneath them are firm, the ridge can be lifted, the old mortar cleared and the tiles re-set with mechanical fixings, or replaced with a dry-fix system, without touching the main slopes.