Slate and stone roofs are a significant feature of many historic buildings. To repair and conserve them successfully necessitates the use of appropriate traditional materials and techniques. A stone slate roof, providing it is well maintained, can last for at least a century and possibly much longer. This section of the website gives details on production, traditional techniques, conservation and sources of further information.
Stone Slate Roofing Technical Advice Note
The Stone Slate Roofing Technical Advice Note provides guidance for specifiers, conservators, contractors and building owners on the repair or reroofing with traditional stone slates in England. It deals specifically with slates produced from limestone and sandstone, rather than from real (or metamorphic) slate.
The guidance provides an overview of current practice and includes
- stone as a roofing material
- principles of stone slate roofing
- planning and legislation
- investigation and recording
- repair and reroofing
- life cycle costs
- checklists for recording historic materials and construction details
Swithland Slating
Swithland slate roofs are an important feature of historic buildings in the East Midlands. This film records the award winning reslating of a manor house in Leicestershire and demonstrates traditional techniques used to prepare and relay slates and apply torching.
Watch the Swithland Slating video
Collyweston Slating
In 2004 the east wing of Apethorpe Hall (Grade 1 listed) was stripped and reslated with Collyweston stone slates. The film demonstrates the techniques of splitting, dressing and holing the limestone slates and then setting out the roof and laying a laced valley.
Watch the Collyweston Slating video
Horsham Stone Roofing
Horsham stone is a group of sandstone beds in the Wealden clay of West Sussex in south-east England. Difficulties in obtaining stone slates for roof repairs resulted in a change of detailing to make the slates go further. The traditional double-lap was changed to a single-lap system and this resulted in confusion between the two systems. The Horsham stone roofing guide describes the current state of knowledge and offers guidance in conserving, specifying and constructing these important and often complex roofs.
Other Relevant Publications
Traditional roofing has a vocabulary of unfamiliar technical terms for materials and techniques. You can download 'The Glossary of Stone Slate Roofing' from the Stone Roofing Association's website. This short publication explains the terms used in stone roofing and illustrates many of them.
England's Heritage in Stone
The English Stone Forum have published the papers from a conference held in 2005 on England's stone built heritage. The publication covers the following topics:
- England's Heritage in Stone
- Historical Perspective of Conservation
- Building Stone as a Resource
- Vernacular Slate and Stone Roofs in England
- The development of the Victorian Stone Industry
- Vernacular Stone Buildings in Northamptonshire
- A Geologist's Guide to Building Stone
- Limestone Petrography and Durability in English Jurassic Freestones
- Field Guide to the Upper Permian Cadeby Formation (Magnesian limestone) of Yorkshire
- Hopton Wood Stone, England's premier decorative stone
- Conference Abstracts
