BEST ROOF TILE APPLICATION
FOR A HERITAGE ROOF
WINNER
St Mary’s Church, Bushbury: Dreadnought Tiles working with Four Oaks
Product:
Staffordshire blue plain and ornamental
fi shtail clay tiles from Dreadnought Tiles are
recognised for their true clay colours - from
natural shades of blue and brindle to brown and
red. Their permanent natural burnt clay colours
are produced through control of the burning
process, without any surface stains, pigments
or coloured sands.
Project:
St Mary’s Church in Wolverhampton has 14th and
15th century origins, although in the 1850s, the
nave, the north and south aisles, and the organ
chamber were rebuilt.
The project comprised the re-roofi ng of the
56-degree roofs on the nave, the south aisle, the
chancel and the organ chamber, which were
covered with decayed blue clay plain tiles.
Architect Bryan Martin decided to re-roof
with tiles that matched the original as closely as
possible, laying in alternating four-course bands
of rectilinear and fi shtail tiles, as before.
Dreadnought provided Staffordshire blue tiles
and a total of 14,250 fi shtail and 32,000 plain blue
tiles were used, as well as two matching bat tiles,
and approximately 140 300mm angle ridges. In
addition to this, all of the old tiles were sorted,
and the best ones were re-used on the roof of the
organ chamber.
For Four Oaks, the company who carried out
the work, the site was diffi cult to access because
it wasn’t directly accessible via a road. To
overcome this, the team set up a site offi ce next
to a nursery school, with the equipment brought
in from the road, along a narrow path.
Scaffolding was carefully positioned to keep
access free along the path to the church. When
the replacement of two medieval oak trusses was
discovered, additional scaffolding was required
inside the church.
The age of the chancel building presented a
number of challenges, as this part of the roof was
irregular. The removal of the old tiles revealed
old lath and plaster beneath it, which meant
that fi xing battens to this would have destroyed
it. Fixing 2x2 counter battens, and then 2x1 tile
battens, created a void above the old lath and
plaster, thereby raising the height of the tiles
against the coping stones on the gable end. The
tiling was terminated short of the gable end,
leaving a small gap to create a neat lead-lined
secret gutter at the parapet abutment.
The Victorian roofs also presented challenges,
because the south eaves of the south aisle roof
had been altered to over sail a gutter system that
was carved into the head of the wall. Four Oaks
removed this and repaired the wall stonework.
New counter battens were fi tted and a sprocket
at the eaves was introduced to ensure that water
discharged into the restored cast iron gutter.
www.dreadnought-tiles.co.uk
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
“This project was a worthy winner because as well as it being steep and diffi cult to access
on-site, the completed roof was visually stunning. The delivery team was committed to the job and thorough
about how they went about carrying out the application.”
PITCHED ROOFING AWARDS 2018 19
/www.dreadnought-tiles.co.uk