An island town of lias stone and pantiles
Glastonbury stands on a dry outcrop rising out of the Somerset Levels. Most of the town lies below about 35 metres, on the western slopes of Edmund Hill, also called Windmill Hill, and of the Tor itself, which reaches 158 metres. Wearyall Hill runs off to the south-west. Underneath is lias clay and limestone, and grey Blue Lias limestone is the stone you find in many older walls, often hidden behind render, roughcast or a later brick front.
Look at the listing descriptions for houses on Chilkwell Street, Bove Town, Benedict Street and the High Street and one roof covering keeps coming up: clay pantiles. Some are described in their listings as irregular, and here and there a slate roof breaks the pattern. Beyond the old core, the town grew steadily through the twentieth century, with its biggest jump between 1981 and 1991. That gives Glastonbury a large stock of post-war and late twentieth-century houses and bungalows, typically with concrete interlocking tiles and often with flat-roofed garages or extensions.
Weather off the Levels
West of the town, the Brue valley opens into miles of flat, open moor, so wind and rain reach Glastonbury with little shelter and strike its west-facing slopes side-on. That matters most on old pantile roofs, because many were laid with no underlay and rely on the tiles alone to keep out water. Under a driving westerly, rain can be pushed up between the laps and onto the ceiling below. In winter the moors around the town often flood. Long wet spells keep roofs, timbers and gutters damp, and moss and lichen take hold on north-facing and shaded slopes. Ridges, verges and hip tiles bedded in mortar are where we see storm damage first.
Age shows as well. On older houses the roof timbers may have sagged or spread a little over the years, opening gaps at the verges and around chimneys. In a town surrounded by wet moorland the air is often damp, so good roof ventilation matters, letting moisture that rises from the house into the loft escape rather than condense on the timbers. When we inspect a Glastonbury roof, we look inside the loft as well as on top, because that is often where the real story is.
Heritage rules in the old town
The Glastonbury Conservation Area, designated in 1976, is unusually large, covering about 114 hectares of the historic town. Inside it are more than 140 listed buildings, nine of them Grade I. The town's Grade I landmarks include the Abbot's Kitchen at the Abbey, the George and Pilgrims inn, the church of St John the Baptist and the Abbey Barn. Most of the rest are Grade II houses, shops and cottages, so it is worth checking your address on Historic England's list before planning any roof work.
For a listed building, Somerset Council will generally need to grant listed building consent before roof coverings are replaced, rooflights added or chimneys altered. In the conservation area, solar panels and some other roof changes may need consent too. We can provide photos and a clear description of the proposed work to go with an application. The planning team gives the answer, not us.
Common roofing work in Glastonbury
Much of our work on the older streets is re-laying pantile roofs on new underlay. We strip the tiles, save the sound ones, fit breathable membrane and new battens, and lay them back so the roof looks the same from the street but finally keeps the rain out. Where only a corner is affected, a targeted roof repair on the slipped or broken tiles may be enough.
Gutters work hard here. Moss and debris build up quickly in the damp, and an overflowing gutter soaks the wall behind it, so clearing, refixing and replacing guttering is a frequent request. When a storm takes tiles off, we make the roof safe, then document the damage with photos and a written report you can pass to your insurer through our storm damage and insurance roofing service. Whether a claim is accepted is up to the insurer. Glastonbury also has plenty of shops, workshops and industrial units, and the large former Morlands sheepskin factory site at Beckery is being redeveloped. We handle those buildings through our roofing for commercial buildings.
What happens when you call us
Phone 07933 861 087 or use our free quote request form. We will arrange a time to come round, and there is no call-out fee. Once we have been up, we show you photos of the problem and explain the options in plain English. Your written quote follows, with no pressure to go ahead. While we work, the site stays tidy, and at the end every scrap of old tile, timber and felt leaves with us.
Covering Glastonbury and the villages around it
We work across the whole town, including the High Street and Magdalene Street, Chilkwell Street and Bove Town, St Edmunds and Windmill Hill, Northover, Northload and Beckery. Out on the Levels we cover West Pennard, Sharpham, Godney, Meare and Westhay, and we are just over the River Brue in Street.
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