Roofers in Southam
Roofing at Southam, a village on the edge of Cheltenham where the church, the tithe barn, the manor farmhouse and the great house are all listed Grade II*. From Stroud the road runs 17 miles, heading north-north-east.
Southam at a glance
- Distance
- 17 road miles north-north-east of Stroud
- Council
- Tewkesbury Borough Council
- Listed Grade II*
- Church of the Ascension, tithe barn, Southam House
- Setting
- Edge of Cheltenham, north-east of the town
Southam's roofs: a barn, a farmhouse, a church and a house
Southam sits on the outskirts of Cheltenham, north-east of the town. Its name was in use by about 991, and Domesday records it as 'Surham'. That is a long record for a village, and it shows in what is left standing. For us it means the first visit is as much about reading the building as about measuring it, and we would rather spend an extra hour in the loft or under the barn timbers than price a roof we have not understood. A village of about 1,095 people carries a long list of protected buildings from that history, and the grade that keeps recurring is II*, the second tier of the listing system.
Southam House, now the Ellenborough Park Hotel, is thought to have been begun around 1500 by Thomas Goodman and completed by Sir John Huddleston, and it is listed Grade II*. The twelfth-century Church of the Ascension, restored in the nineteenth century, is Grade II*. So are Southam Tithe Barn and its shelter shed, and so is Manor Farmhouse. Historic England's entries for the barn and shed are numbered 1091668 and 1091667.
The covering varies from one Southam building to the next, so the survey names the material on yours. The record points to a cluster of old and protected structures, each with its own purpose: a farm building, a farmhouse, a place of worship and a hotel. Each owner needs a different conversation, and the questions about permission come before the questions about tiles.
If your own roof is in Southam, a photograph and a street name are enough to begin, and we can tell you early on whether the property is likely to be protected or to sit in a conservation area.
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
The tithe barn, its shelter shed and big agricultural roofs
A barn roof is long, wide and silent about its faults until a timber lets go.
Chapter 01In this chapter
Southam Tithe Barn and its shelter shed are both listed Grade II*, according to Historic England's list entries 1091668 and 1091667. A tithe barn is a farm building of unusual size, built to store the produce collected as a tithe. A shelter shed is an open-fronted farm building. Both have large roofs relative to their height, and both are the sort of structure where a small fault at one end can go unseen for a long time.
On a barn roof the survey starts from the inside. From below we study the covering's underside for chinks of daylight, the rafters and purlins for staining, and the wall-plate for any sign that water has run down it. A purlin is a horizontal timber that carries the rafters between the ridge and the wall. Light coming through the covering plainly shows a gap. Dark staining on a timber that has dried out since can be the better clue, because it shows where water has come in repeatedly over a long period, and which joints in the frame it has reached.
Outside, the long runs matter. A barn has a lot of ridge, a lot of gutter and often a long unbroken slope with a single downpipe at one end. If the outlet blocks, water backs up along the whole run. We photograph the gutter from a tower or a platform, clear the outlets, and note any lengths that are holding water.
Listed farm buildings
A listed barn is protected throughout, from the ridge to the floor. Any alteration that changes its character calls for listed building consent, which here is a matter for Tewkesbury Borough Council, and the sensible first step is a conversation with its conservation team about what it expects. We prepare the survey photographs and a description of the repairs so the discussion can be specific. Where a covering has to be partly replaced, we match it in type, colour, size and thickness, using new material rather than stripping another building.
Bats and birds in a barn
Protected bats and nesting birds like barns, so we check for signs before scaffold goes up and stop to take advice if we find any.
Planning the scaffold
Because a barn roof is so wide, scaffold is a large share of the work, and the quote shows it separately. The gable ends are tall, the eaves long and the access often a yard of mixed surfaces, so the lifts are planned in sections that can be built, used and moved along rather than all standing at once. A farm yard rarely has level, firm ground right up to the wall, so we plan base boards and the route for the delivery.
On a barn, the useful evidence is on the underside.
Myth: A tithe barn roof is just a big shed roof and any large-roof contractor can quote it.
Fact: A Grade II* barn needs consent before changes, and its timbers need reading from inside before anyone prices the covering.
Chapter 02
From crops and cider to a restored church roof
What happens to a roof when a building changes hands, function and condition.
Chapter 02In this chapter
The Church of the Ascension has an unusual story. Wikipedia records it as a twelfth-century church that was abandoned after 1646 and used for crops and cider-making. In 1862 the Earl of Ellenborough restored it, and Historic England's list entry 1303115 gives it Grade II*. A building that served as a farm store for over two centuries and then returned to worship has had more changes of use than most roofs ever see.
In this chapter
That is no claim that this building's roof was ever in poor condition. But the story is a useful illustration of what happens to any roof when a building stops being used for its intended purpose. Gutters go unmaintained, a broken tile is not replaced, a small leak runs for a season, and a rotted timber gives way where no one is looking. Restoration then involves repairing the damage, not just covering it, and the repair is layered over what came before.
That layering is something we look for on any old roof, because repairs made without knowing what lies beneath them tend to trap the next problem rather than cure it. A restoration in 1862 means that part of the roof may carry Victorian work on top of medieval timbers, and the two do not always agree. Nails of different dates, patches of lime mortar next to cement, and lead of different thickness all tell us who worked on the roof and when. We record these on the survey, and use the record to decide what to keep.
A church in use
A church used for worship is exempt from listed building consent, but roof work needs a faculty from the diocese. The usual supporting papers are a specification, photographs and costings. Our roof repairs page explains what we do for leaks while a faculty is pending, and a temporary make-safe can usually be arranged without waiting for the permanent repair to be approved.
Cement and lime
On a restored building, repairs in modern cement mortar can trap damp in softer old stone. Where we re-bed ridge tiles or point a parapet, we ask what the original mortar was and match it, and BS 5534:2014 adds a mechanical fixing to the ridge, so the ridge tiles do not depend on mortar alone.
- 1646year after which the Church of the Ascension was abandoned
- 1862year the Earl of Ellenborough restored the church
- c.991approximate date by which the name Southam was in use
Chapter 03
Southam House and a hotel roof that stays in use
A Tudor house with guests needs its roof repaired around them.
Chapter 03In this chapter
Southam House, now the Ellenborough Park Hotel, is thought to have been begun about 1500 by Thomas Goodman and completed by Sir John Huddleston. It is listed Grade II*, under Historic England's list entry 1155737. Manor Farmhouse is also Grade II*. In both, the roof forms part of the protected fabric, so work on either begins as a talk with the council and only later turns into a talk about price.
A hotel roof is a special kind of job because the building keeps working. Guests sleep under it, events are held in it, and a leak in the wrong room cancels a booking. So a repair here depends on programme as much as method. We agree which areas can be closed, which days are quiet, and where scaffold can stand without blocking an entrance or a fire exit. Work on the highest sections is often timed for the part of the year when the building is quietest, and we say in advance how long each phase will take and which days involve noise.
The roof of a house begun around 1500 is likely to be a complicated one, with several ranges, valleys between them, chimney stacks and parapets. Water can find its way in at any of those junctions. A valley is the inner angle between two slopes, taking the run-off of both, and a parapet is a low wall along the roof edge, normally with a gutter tucked behind it. We survey them one by one and record the findings on the photograph set.
Occupied buildings and temporary protection
Any section we open is covered again before we leave each evening, because rain does not wait for the weekend. We give leaks and storm damage priority, and a roof admitting water is made safe before any permanent work is planned.
Commercial work
A hotel falls under our commercial roofing work, though the listing makes it a specialist version of it. The quote is itemised line by line after the survey, and where the work needs consent, it waits for the council. Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Building Control is the council's service for Building Regulations here, and we handle the notification for notifiable work.
Manor Farmhouse
A farmhouse of this kind is a home first. Its owners are living in the building, and the same like-for-like principle applies as at the house: what comes off is replaced in the same material, and the record shows where it went.
Map showing Southam and the Stroud service radius, with nearby towns we also cover.
Near Southam
Roof work we do here
Tithe barn, Ellenborough Park and the Ascension church
What does a roofer check first inside a Grade II* tithe barn like Southam's?
The underside of the roof. We look for daylight, staining on rafters and purlins, and damp at the wall-plate, then go outside to the long gutter runs and the outlets.
The Church of the Ascension was restored in 1862. Does that affect repairs now?
It means the roof can have several layers of work on it, from different dates. We record each layer and ask the diocese for a faculty before any repair beyond a make-safe.
Can you repair a hotel roof without closing the hotel?
Usually yes, with a plan. We agree which areas can close, the quiet days and the scaffold position, and cover every open section at the close of the working day.
Does Southam's Manor Farmhouse need listed building consent for roof work?
Because it is listed Grade II*, the council, Tewkesbury Borough Council, must authorise changes that touch its character. We prepare the photographs and the repair description for that application, and we do not start before it is decided.