A Mendip village of grey limestone cottages with clay tile roofs

Roofers in Glastonbury

Glastonbury stands on a dry rise in the Somerset Levels, a south-westerly 27.4 road miles from Bath. Roofs in the abbey town run from the stone-tiled medieval abbey barn to the late Georgian Town Hall, and we work on them with heavy stone, thick timbers and strict listing in mind.

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Local roofs

An abbey town on an island of dry ground

Glastonbury stands on a dry point in the low-lying Somerset Levels, and in winter the moors around it are often flooded. The town grew around its abbey, and after the Dissolution the abbey's buildings were progressively destroyed as their stones were taken for use in local building work. Some of what you see in the town's walls was therefore cut for something else, which is worth bearing in mind whenever an old wall is repointed or a stack rebuilt.

The town centre is dense with protected buildings. The Glastonbury Conservation Area Appraisal of July 2010 counted approximately 170 listed buildings or structures within the conservation area, eight of them Grade I and six Grade II*. The George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn, built in the late 15th century to accommodate visitors to the abbey, is Grade I. Glastonbury Town Hall, on Magdalene Street, was built in 1814 with a two-storey late Georgian ashlar front, and is Grade II*.

Among the survivors from the abbey estate is the 14th-century abbey barn that houses the Somerset Rural Life Museum. It was built from local shelly limestone, with thick timbers supporting the stone tiling of its roof. That one sentence is a short lesson in how heavy, stone-covered roofs work, and we return to it below.

Somerset Council holds the planning, consent and building control brief for Glastonbury. For a house inside the conservation area, we report our findings with pictures of your roof, then follow with a priced scope on paper that marks where consent may come into it.

Council: Somerset Council
From central Bath: 27.4 road miles, south-west
Listed structures: About 170 in the conservation area (8 Grade I, 6 Grade II*)
Abbey barn: 14th century, stone-tiled roof on thick timbers
Town Hall: Magdalene Street, 1814, listed II*

What we find

Stone tiles, reused abbey stone and wet gutters

The abbey barn lesson: stone tiles and heavy timbers

A 14th-century barn roof shows that the covering and the frame beneath it must be thought about together.

The abbey barn is an instructive building for any roofer. Its walls are local shelly limestone, and its roof is stone tile carried on thick timbers. The two parts are matched: the timbers are as heavy as they are because the tiles are, and neither would last without the other. If a roofer treats one part in isolation, the whole structure can pay for it.

Stone tiles go on in courses that usually shrink as they climb, the biggest at the eaves. They are hung from battens or pegged to them and are very much heavier than slate or clay. A roof that carries them has to be strong enough, so before any stone-tiled slope is lifted we assess the rafters, the purlins (long timbers laid across the slope to hold up the rafters at mid-height) and the wall tops that take the load. Sagging, rot at the feet of the rafters and old insect damage all alter what can safely be done.

Weight is also the reason that a change of covering is a structural question, not only a visual one. Approved Document A comes into play where a new covering weighs 15% or more over the old: approval is required, with a structural check of the roof frame. The reverse also needs thought: a covering much lighter than the old may lift in wind or change how the roof behaves. This is why we match materials, and why we look at reclaimed stone tile before suggesting any substitute.

Sound tiles are lifted, sorted by size and relaid. Broken ones are replaced with stone of the same character. The underlay and battens, if they have failed, are renewed before the tiles go back. Our pitched roofing page describes the sequence in full.

It is slow work, and priced as such. The survey sets out how many courses can be saved, how much stone needs replacing and what the timbers need, so the figure you are given is for the roof as it actually is.

Myth

A lighter modern covering is always a safe upgrade on an old stone-tiled roof.

Fact

A change in weight alters how the frame carries load, and on a listed building the covering is part of what was listed, so the swap needs both a structural look and consent.

A conservation area with fourteen top-grade buildings

With roughly 170 listed structures in the conservation area, many roof questions begin with the council.

The 2010 appraisal counted about 170 listed buildings or structures in Glastonbury's conservation area. Eight are Grade I and six Grade II*, the two highest categories, and the George Hotel and Pilgrims' Inn and the Town Hall on Magdalene Street are among the best-known. A conservation area adds its own layer to the picture: it concerns the character of a whole area and not only of individual buildings.

For you as an owner, there are really two questions. First, is your building listed? The National Heritage List for England, kept by Historic England, will answer it. If it is, changes that affect its special interest need consent, granted by Somerset Council as listed building consent, and going ahead without it is an offence. Second, does your street sit within the conservation area, which can bring extra controls on exterior work. The council answers both, and asking early costs nothing.

We find it most helpful to arrive at that conversation with a clear description. What is the covering now? What would it be afterwards? Where is lead being replaced, and how is it being formed? Are chimneys being rebuilt, and in what mortar? With those answers, a planning officer can respond with specifics. Without them the process is slower for everyone.

Repairs that keep existing materials and details are the least likely to raise difficulty. A like-for-like repair, a tidy re-fix of loose stone tiles or a lead flashing renewed in lead is typically a smaller conversation than a new roof window or a change from natural to artificial slate. A legal ruling is outside our remit.

If your building is not listed or in a protected area, the Building Regulations side may still apply to larger re-roofing work, and we will tell you clearly where it does. Where a stack is part of the job, chimney repairs explains the options.

170

Listed buildings or structures in the conservation area, approximately

Of those, Grade I listed

Of those, Grade II* listed

Figures: Glastonbury Conservation Area Appraisal, July 2010, as cited on Wikipedia

Reused abbey stone, walls and chimneys

In a town that built from its own ruins, the stone in the walls may be older than the house.

After the Dissolution, the abbey's buildings were pulled down over time and the stone was carried away for new work around the town. It is a hard fact to prove for any one wall, and nobody can say from the street that a given house contains abbey stone. The point is more practical. In a town where building stone has been recycled, walls are often irregular, with a mixture of sizes and finishes, and chimneys on them take the same irregular form.

Irregular walls need pointing that suits them. A hard cement mortar on soft limestone traps moisture, and the stone is what decays. Lime is a softer, more permeable material that lets damp pass out through the joints, which is why it is the right choice for old stone work. When a stack on a historic house is repointed or the flaunching renewed, we use lime, and we keep the joint profile of the existing work.

Chimneys are the most exposed part of a roof. They stand clear of the ridge, take wind on every face, and rely on lead and mortar at the point where they pass through the slope. A step flashing is lead folded in stair-like pieces along the side of a stack, and the back gutter is the lead trough on its uphill face that sends water round it. When these fail, the early sign inside is often a stained chimney breast.

Reused stone may include pieces that have decayed in odd patterns. Where a quoin or a cap has gone, we ask for the right replacement stone and have it cut, instead of filling the gap. Where a stack leans or has opened up, the right answer may be to take it down and rebuild it, which on a listed house means consent from Somerset Council before the first stone is lifted.

In the 2026 MyBuilder chimney guide, UK repairs typically fall at £500 to £2,000, while a stack rebuild runs higher still, at £2,000 to £10,000 or more. Our own figure waits for the survey and the access.

Words you will hear

Flaunching: The sloped mortar bed around chimney pots that holds them and sheds rain.
Step flashing: Lead pieces folded in a staircase to seal a slope against the side of a stack.
Back gutter: The lead channel behind a chimney that diverts water round it.
Quoin: A dressed stone at the corner of a wall or stack.

Life at the edge of the Levels

Wet ground, winter flooding and long periods of damp air test a roof differently from a hillside town.

Glastonbury stands on a dry point, and when the moors flood in winter, the town is an island in a wide wet landscape. A roof here is not above the damp. Air that carries moisture settles on cold surfaces, and shaded slopes stay wet for days after rain. The effects are slow and cumulative: moss on the north-facing pitches, algae on the stone, and silt in the gutters.

Moss is more than untidy: it keeps water pressed against the covering, lifts the edges of tiles as it grows, and can block valleys and gutters when it comes loose. Cleaning is a legitimate part of maintenance, but the method matters. MyBuilder's 2026 cleaning guide cautions that high pressure can harm delicate tiles, and it lists typical UK prices of £450 to £850 for pitched roofs and up to £1,000 for slate. We prefer gentler methods on old coverings, and we tell you if the surface underneath is too far gone for cleaning to help. The roof cleaning page covers the methods.

Gutters and downpipes take the same punishment. A gutter that cannot drain, perhaps because the downpipe runs to a ground that is saturated, spills against the wall. Over a winter that means stained stone, damp in the wall base and, in time, decay of the fascia or eaves timbers. We confirm the outlets run clear, the falls are right and the water has a proper place to go.

Access is the practical side. Soft ground, a high water table or a flooded lane can make it hard to get a scaffold or a delivery lorry to the house. We look at this when we survey and say in the written price how the work will be reached. In a wet winter we plan to work in sections so that the roof is never left open to the weather.

Wind across open moorland can be strong, so ridge and verge fixings are worth a check, and a mechanically fixed system is the sensible choice where those parts are renewed.

Nearby

Roofers near Glastonbury

Roofing services in Glastonbury

Local questions

Asked on the dry rise above the Levels

My Glastonbury house has a stone-tiled roof. Can slipped tiles simply be pushed back?

Rarely. A stone tile slips because its peg or nail has failed or the batten beneath has rotted, so pushing it back leaves the cause in place. We lift the neighbouring tiles, look at the fixing and batten, refix the tile properly and check the courses above. If a number of tiles have gone the same way, the whole slope is telling you something about the timbers.

Is my street in the Glastonbury conservation area, and does that affect re-roofing?

The conservation area has been mapped by the council, and Somerset Council's planning team can confirm whether your address falls inside it. Being inside can bring extra controls on external changes, particularly where a building is also listed. Like-for-like repairs raise the fewest questions, and we set the intended work out on paper, ready to hand to the council.

The winter floods mean my lane is often wet. Does that affect when a roof can be done?

It affects how we plan more than whether. Soft ground limits where a scaffold or a lorry can stand, so we look at access at the survey. In the wettest weeks we choose repairs that can be dried in the same day, and leave larger re-covering to a settled spell, laying the roof open only a section at a time.

We run a guest house in a listed building near the Abbey. Can work be planned around bookings?

Yes. We agree the scope and a start date with you, work in sections and keep noisy or intrusive tasks to times you can plan for. Because a listed roof may need consent first, the sequence is usually consent, materials, scaffold and then the work, and we tell you how long each step is likely to take.

Get your free survey

Get your free roof survey

Tell us what's happening and we'll call you back to arrange a visit. Prefer to talk? Call 01225 285181.

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