Roofers across North Yorkshire

The roofs of North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire pairs heritage cores with ordinary suburbs. York's medieval and Georgian centre inside the walls sits in one of the largest conservation areas in England, Harrogate's gritstone villas carry Welsh slate under a 1973 conservation order, and Scarborough's Georgian and Victorian resort terraces line South Cliff and the Esplanade. Around all three are Victorian railway terraces, inter-war council estates such as Tang Hall in York and post-war schemes such as Eastfield at Scarborough.

The roofs change with the ground. The Vale of York is pink brick and clay pantile country, a tradition that came from Holland in the seventeenth century and runs right down the east coast. The Dales and the Moors kept stone slate on their farms and villages, and the railways brought cheap Welsh and Cumbrian slate to almost every Victorian street. The National Parks between them hold dozens of conservation areas where like-for-like materials are expected.

The weather is two different climates. The coast at Scarborough, Whitby and Filey takes North Sea gales on five to ten days a year and sea fret in spring. The Vale of York is the opposite: frostier and foggier than the hills around it, with around 55 air-frost days a year, which means freeze-thaw damage to tiles, mortar and flashings is the everyday problem inland.