Reroofing St Mary's Church, Knutton

Shortlisted for Best Heritage Roof at 2025 Pitched Roofing Awards

Contractor - Roofcare North Staffs

Roof tiles : Staffordshire blue plain Rustic tiles with blue brindle fishtail and club ornamental tiles

Architect - Wood/Goldstraw/Yorath

Background

St Mary’s Church, Knutton in Staffordshire, is known for its magnificent ornamental tile roof pattern. On 15 April 2024, the 150-year-old church suffered extensive damage when a tornedo swept through the village, causing trees to fall onto the church roof. This necessitated the complete re-roofing of the north side of the church as well as some patch repairs on the southern side.

Challenge

Recreating the decorative roof tile pattern required like-for-like ornamental replacements that would integrate seamlessly with the weathered originals on the South side, whilst meeting modern performance standards stipulated by the loss adjusters.  Over a century of weathering had caused the original red tiles to resemble old Staffordshire blue tiles, and Dreadnought's plain tiles with their single camber shape and natural clay colours, produced the traditional way through careful control of the kiln atmosphere, were considered by the architects to provide the best match to the original tiles on the South side of the church.   Dreadnought were also able to make both the fishtail and club ornamental tiles required to recreate the detailed diaper pattern. 

The roof was extremely steep in places with a pitch of 60° at the top, levelling out to 35° via a curved sprocket at the North Aisle. With long rafters measuring up to 9 meters, it was an exceptionally challenging roof to work on. Stripping off the old tiles demanded careful attention as any loose materials could come down the roof at speed.  Roofcare North Staffs managed to salvage most of the ridge tiles and re-lay them.

Result

Richard French F.IoR. from Roof Care (North Staffs) Ltd. said: “We’re very proud of this job. The tiles are well-made and were good to work with. They should hopefully make the roof last another hundred years! Our craft operatives and apprentices get so much self-satisfaction and pride from working on projects like this with such complex designs and historical value to the locality. Most were either born or live very close to the church, and even got married or had their children baptised in the church, which makes it even more special to us as a company to have a vested interest locally." 

Reverend John Alessi, vicar of St Mary’s Church said: “We’re really happy with the roof and the quality of workmanship. The way that the tiles just blend in with the original parts of the roof is even better than we expected. “Most of the new tiles were laid on the north side of the church, which is somewhat hidden from view – we just wish it were visible from the road so that everyone can appreciate the lovely clay pattern!"