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Staffordshire blue     

Staffordshire Blue sandfaced clay roof tilesStaffordshire Blue smoothfaced clay roof tiles

This colour has the depth and subtlety of a true blue clay colour which can provide an effective contrast to light coloured stone and brick work.  It is deeper and darker than the Blue Brindle and Dark Heather.

Some companies produce a dark tile by the application of a spray on surface stain, however the Dreadnought range of genuine traditional blue clay colours, with their natural shade variations are obtained through the careful control of the kiln atmosphere that converts the iron content of the clay to blue in the manner of Staffordshire Blue bricks.  A skilled process established by generations of brick and tile makers which is unique to the Dreadnought Factory.

This tile works equally well for contemporary roofs as it does for heritage roofs.  A church reroof with Staffordshire blue smooth tiles won the Best Heritage Roof Award at the 2018 Pitched Roofing Awards and a highly contemporary selfbuild project featuring the same tiles has been awarded Best Small Project at the 2020 Roofing Awards.


This Staffordshire blue clay roof tile offers an alternative to natural slate with the potential to incorporate ornamental elements in the roof.

Available  in Smoothfaced/Sandfaced    Request sample

Case Studies

Remodeling a house in Shropshire

school house 1school house 2

The remodelling of this school house needed to be sympathetic to both the surrounding countryside and also the other buildings in this sought after Shropshire hamlet.  Handmade Staffordshire blue clay tiles were found on 2 neighbouring properties and the use here, of machinemade Staffordshire blue tiles, both plain and ornamental club, has added to the building's heritage Full details

Clean lines for contemporary newbuilds

Sabatini Homes 1Sabatini Homes

Using quality building materials and a simple minimalist design with incredible attention to detail, Sabatini Homes have created 2 highly contemporary, beautiful homes.  Careful planning and design has meant that no mortar has been used on either roof so they will require no maintenance over time, and have been built to last for generations to come. Full details

A grand design at Graven Hill

A Grand Design2A Grand Design1

Lynn Pratt is one of the pioneering self-builders at Graven Hill, a large self build homes development  in Bicester and her project featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs The Street.  Designed by Adrian James Architects, Lynn's house is highly contemporary and individual with Staffordshire Blue plain clay roof tiles cladding the exterior of the house from the roof all the way down to the ground. The edges are handled neatly by the use of cloaked verges and mansard tiles make the transition from the roof to the walls. Full details

New roof for St Mary's Bushbury

bushbury 1Bushbury 2

Winner of Best Heritage Roof at the 2018 Pitched Roofing Awards this complex reroof of a Grade II* church has alternating four-course bands of plain and  fishtail tiles in Dreadnought's Staffordshire Blue.   Architect Bryan Martin wanted to match the originals that were fitted back in the 1850's as closely as possible and he felt that the original tiles came from a similar source, and may have even been Dreadnoughts.  A total of 14,250 fishtail tiles and 32,000 plain Staffordshire Blue Smooth tiles were used as well as 2 matching bat tiles (one is just visible in the RH image  above) and approx. 140 300mm angle ridges.  Full details

Restoration of Lye & Wollascote Cemetery  Chapels

Lye and Wollascote Cemetery 3Lye and Wollascote Cemetery 2

Winner of a 2019 Victorian Society Conservation Award , this historically important gothic brick building was at risk until it was renovated by the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust in conjunction with Dudley Council.  The 2 chapels had been derelict for some time and were considered an eyesore.  The new scheme designed by Brownhill Hayward Brown, conservation architects has transformed the Chapels into one building now known as the Thomas Robinson Building and Stourbridge Registry Office.  The work was meticulously carried out by Croft Building & Conservation who used Dreadnought Staffordshire blue plain and ornamental spade tiles together with slotted ridges and bespoke ornamental ridge inserts to restore the roof. Full details

A selfbuild in the Cotwolds

Broadmere 1Broadmere 2

Right on the edge of an elevated village in the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this beautiful contemporary self build, designed by architect Adrian James, uses high quality building materials, stone, Staffordshire blue smooth clay tiles, and zinc to achieve a barn-like aesthetic.  The new building sits very comfortably in its surroundings and despite a tight budget, the money was spent on  quality building materials to create the right finish Full details 

From derelict farm buildings to family home

renovation of old barns 300 1renovation of old barns before 300

Renovating an old barn and a collection of derelict farm buildings required very careful materials selection and the owner/architects reused as many of the old materials as possible.  Dreadnought's staffordshire blue sandfaced tiles were chosen for the new single storey building as they provided a great colour match to the old handmade tiles that were reused on the renovated 2 storey barn.  Full details

Cumnor Hill

Winner of architectural merit award at clay roofing awards

Cumnor Hill Dreadnought Staffordshire Blue tilesCumnor hill Dreadnought Staffordshire Blue clay roof tiles

This project demonstrates very well the use of a traditional product in a contemporary design, producing a fantastic overall result.  Full Details 

Private house, Bedworth

Staffs Blue clay roof tiles on a self build house in Bedworth  A Staffs Blue roof being installed by a talented self build team

As authentic a self build project as you will ever find!  Peter and Jenny Marston can claim to be genuine amateurs in building terms and yet with only some occasional help from their children they have designed and built this house virtually unaided. Full Details 

 

 

Technical Info

Dreadnought Tiles conform to BS EN 1304:2013 and should be fixed in accordance with BS 5534 "Slating and Tiling" part 1 & 2 and BS 8000 Part 6.
Frozen-Icon2 webFreeze Thaw Standards require plain clay tiles for use in the U.K. to withstand at least 150 freeze / thaw cycles under method E of European Standard EN 539-2:2013.   At Dreadnought Tiles we regard this as too low for our climate and we therefore test our tiles to withstand in excess of 400 cycles. 

Download Freeze Thaw Testing Report 

Download this info as a pdf 

Download Specification sheet as a word doc 

  Tiles Eaves Gable
Size 265x 165 mm 215x 165 mm 265 x 248 mm
Weight 1.19 kg 0.95 kg 1.8 kg
Pattern Traditional Single Camber    
Material Etruria Marl Etruria Marl Etruria Marl

 

  Pitched Roofs Vertical
Minimum Lap 65 mm 32 mm
Maximum Gauge 100 mm 115 mm
Minimum Gauge 88mm 88mm
Approx Weight at
Maximum Gauge
71 kg/m2 63 kg/m2
Nails 38 x 2.65 mm alloy 38 x 2.65 mm alloy
Battens 38 x 25 mm 38 x 25 mm
Minimum Pitch 35 degree  

Quantity Guide

Tiles @ 100mm Gauge 60m2
115mm Gauge 53m2
Eaves/Tops 6/lineal metre
Gable (Tile and Half) 5/lineal metre of verge
Hips and Valleys 10/lineal metre of main rafter
Ridges Supplied in 300 mm and 450 mm lengths

Relevant Fixing Standards

BS 5534 2014 Code of Practice for Slating and Tiling
BS 8000-6.2013 Workmanship on Building Sites
BS EN 1991-1-4:2005+A1:2010 UK National Annex to Eurocode 1 -Actions on Structures - Part 1-4: General actions - wind actions

Environmental Info

Place of Manufacture: Brierley Hill, UK
Environmental Management:       ISO 14001        Download Certificate 
Quality Management:                    ISO   9001         Download Certificate  
Life Cycle: BRE 'A+' rating
Freeze Thaw Testing to in excess of 400 cycles  Download Freeze Thaw Test Certificate >>
Energy: Fired in gas kilns to 1130 degrees
Raw materials: Etruria Marl Clay from our local quarry in Brierley Hill, sand
Lifespan: > 60 years. Second hand tiles that have been on roofs in excess of 100 years often sell for more than new tiles on the 2nd hand market
Recyclability: Can be crushed and used as aggregate and/or as an inert bulk fill
Packaging: We keep packaging to a minimum using wooden pallets. We do not shrink wrap or use plastic straps.

Find out more about Dreadnought Tiles approach to sustainability

Download our Quality and Environmental Policy

Roof Components

Ornamental tiles

clubfishtailclub1 300x215

Further details

Ridges

Ridges-Group-Shot 300x213