Rubble stone and pantiles on the hillside
Frome is built unevenly on high ground above the River Frome, with older streets climbing steeply out of the centre. The town grew on the woollen trade, its main industry from the fifteenth century, and the last cloth mill did not close until 1965. That wealth left an unusual legacy: some 370 listed buildings, the most of any Somerset town apart from Bath, and a conservation area, dating from 1973, that has grown to about 100 hectares and takes in most of the centre.
The typical old Frome house is built of rubble stone, often local Forest Marble, with a clay pantile roof. Read through the listing descriptions for Trinity Street, Trinity Row and Catherine Hill and the same words appear again and again: "rubble" walls, "pantile" roofs, stone chimney stacks. A few houses keep stone tiles in places, such as the cottage beside Bridge House, and some of the bigger eighteenth-century houses have mansard pantile roofs with a parapet, like Catherine Hill House.
Trinity and the early industrial terraces
The Trinity area is a rare survival of early industrial housing. More than 300 houses were built here between 1660 and 1756 on an early planned grid, as homes for working people. About half were demolished in the 1960s under a slum clearance order, but the rest were restored between 1980 and 1984.
These small houses bring particular roof problems. Low two-storey roofs with pantiles laid on battens, often without any proper underlay, rely on the tiles alone and on lime torching underneath. Over time the torching crumbles, battens rot, and slipped pantiles let rain blow in. Repairs need patience and the right materials: matching clay pantiles, lime mortar where it was used originally, and careful work around stone chimneys and gable copings. For these cottages, our restoration of old pantile roofs usually beats stripping everything and starting again.
Twentieth-century Frome and the new estates
Frome barely grew in the second half of the nineteenth century; its population in 1901 was lower than in 1831. Growth returned after the Second World War with council housing, the Marston Road trading estate and new homes, and the population nearly doubled to over 23,000 by 1991. Today the town takes in areas such as Packsaddle, Easthill, Fromefield, Keyford, Critchill and Berkley Down, and the most recent estates are mostly around Adderwell.
Many of the newer homes have concrete tiles. Common jobs include rebedding or replacing loose ridge and hip tiles, fixing leaks around soil pipes and rooflights, replacing failed felt on flat-roofed extensions, and swapping rotten fascias and soffits for low-maintenance ones. Once a post-war roof reaches the stage where tiles soak up water and the bitumen felt has gone brittle, re-covering it with fresh battens and a breathable membrane gives the longest-lasting result.
Weather on Frome's hills
Frome's outer areas sit between about 90 and 135 metres above sea level, with annual rainfall of roughly 800 to 900 mm. That is wetter than much of lowland Somerset, and the steep streets mean some roofs face the full force of the prevailing south-westerly wind while their neighbours sit in the lee. North-facing pantile roofs in the old town, shaded by the slope, tend to grow moss and lichen, which keeps the tiles damp for longer and ends up clogging the gutters. We clear moss carefully by hand and check gutters and downpipes at the same time, since overflowing rainwater soaks rubble stone walls.
Listed buildings and planning in Frome
With so many listed buildings and most of the centre in a conservation area, it is common for Frome roof work to need consent from Somerset Council. Listed building consent normally applies to roof alterations, such as changing the covering, adding rooflights or rebuilding a chimney differently. Inside the conservation area, even solar panels can call for permission. Talk to the council first; our dated photos and job specification can go straight into an application if one is needed.
Old roofs can also house bats, which are legally protected. If we find signs of a roost, we pause and advise you to arrange a survey before work continues.
What to expect when you call us
Pick up the phone to 07933 861 087, or email hello@somersetroofing.co.uk with a line or two about the problem. Coming to see the roof is free; we do not charge call-out fees. We get up close, photograph every defect and email you the pictures along with a free, written, itemised quote, so you can decide in your own time. Once work starts we look after your property, and at the end we clear up and take all waste away. Online, the quickest route is to ask for a free roof quote in Frome using our form. For larger jobs, see our new roof installations.
We work all over Frome, including Trinity, Catherine Hill, Fromefield, Keyford, Packsaddle, Easthill, Critchill, Berkley Down and Adderwell, and in villages around the town.
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