Roofers in Thirsk

The roofs of Thirsk

Thirsk received its market charter by 1145 under the House of Mowbray, who also built a castle here, destroyed by 1176, and later a manor house that Scottish raiders destroyed in 1322. Thirsk Hall, Grade II* listed, dates from 1720 and was extended in 1770 by the architect John Carr, and the town's more recent history includes two serious rail disasters, one in 1892 that killed 10 people and one on the East Coast Main Line in 1967 that killed 7. Thirsk Racecourse's present course opened in 1923, continuing a tradition of racing at nearby Black Hambleton that goes back more than two centuries earlier.

What makes Thirsk different from every other town on our patch is that its most famous resident actually worked here. The veterinary surgeon James Alfred Wight based the semi-autobiographical books he wrote as James Herriot on his own practice in the town, and his former home and surgery is now a dedicated visitor attraction, The World of James Herriot. St Mary's Church, Grade I listed and roofed in lead, carries an odder detail still: gouges cut into its stonework by parishioners sharpening arrows and knives after compulsory archery practice, a genuinely physical trace of a law that has not applied for centuries.

The roofs around both attractions are recorded in real detail. Thirsk's 63 listed buildings carry pantile as the majority covering, 60 and 62 Market Place among the named examples with what the record calls a steep pantile roof, while Welsh slate appears on buildings including 35 Kirkgate and the 1799 Quaker Meeting House, and stone slate turns up on some outbuildings, among them parts of the stables at Thirsk Hall. A repair on any given Thirsk street depends on knowing which of the three you are actually looking at.