Roofers in Rowde
From the George and Dragon to Myrtle Farmhouse and its barn
Rowde counts 24 listed buildings in a 500 metre radius, among them an inn, a farmhouse, a barn and a Grade II* church. A survey comes first.
Rowde roofs, from inn to barn
George and Dragon Inn
A Grade II listed inn, first listed on 19 March 1962, where a roof repair needs consent as well as care.
Myrtle Farmhouse and barn
The farmhouse and the barn to its west are each Grade II, so the two roofs follow the same consent route.
Houses by St Matthew's
Homes near the Grade II* church of St Matthew, among 24 listed buildings in the village.
Rowde and the Devizes side of the vale
South-east lies Devizes, with Potterne due south; Bishops Cannings sits to the east, while Urchfont is further off to the south-east of the village.
- Distance
- 29.9 road miles north-west of Andover
- Planning
- Wiltshire Council
The Rowde roof report
Local editionRowde, WiltshireInn, farm and village roofs
Rowde by Devizes: one council, a Grade II* church and the roofs that are not houses
Rowde lies north-west of Andover, 29.9 miles by road, beside Devizes. The report names the council in charge, explains what a listed inn, farm and church mean for a roof, and sets out the scaffold licence.
A village of 1,394 and Wiltshire Council
Rowde had 1,394 usual residents in the 2021 Census. It lies a short way from Devizes and answers to Wiltshire Council, a unitary authority with no county council above it. One council therefore decides planning applications, checks building work via its own Building Control Services and licenses scaffolding on the roads. That simplicity is useful, and we use it: one set of web pages to read, one set of contacts to ask.
Building control is run from Monkton Park in Chippenham, with bookings on 0300 456 0113, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm. Our other jobs sit in Hampshire, Berkshire and elsewhere, and each of those places has a different team. A survey in Rowde begins by confirming that Wiltshire is the council, so we read the right pages from the start.
A re-roof is first measured against the Planning Portal's thresholds: under 25 per cent of the building envelope and under 50 per cent of the roof, and building control can usually stand aside. A slipped-tile repair or a patched valley is well below the figures; a complete strip is not. Re-covering a barn or an outbuilding is measured the same way, against that building's own envelope and roof, not the farmhouse beside it.
Heavier coverings follow their own rule: an increase of 15 per cent or more in weight needs Building Regulations approval, and a prior structural opinion is wise. For a farmhouse with an old timber frame the question is a real one: heavy concrete tile on a roof framed for clay or slate is the combination to avoid.
You may prefer a private firm instead: a registered building control approver, under a registration regime that began on 6 April 2024. We set out both routes for you in writing, with pictures, before the scaffold is booked.
Rowde sits close to Devizes, and that matters for a roofer's diary as well as for the map. We take the address at the first call and check the council before anything else. It also lets us say early whether a quick repair or a larger plan is likely. A leak that is plainly a lifted tile is a different conversation from one with several possible sources, and in both cases the photographs from the survey settle it. Where the cause is not clear from the ground, you are told that, along with what we looked at, rather than being given a cause we cannot show.
Planning is a different question again. Our guide to planning permission for roof work covers houses, flats and listed homes, and applies equally well to a farm conversion.
St Matthew's, the George and Dragon and Myrtle Farm
Rowde's listings run from a church to a pub to a barn. The Church of St Matthew is Grade II* (National Heritage List entry 1272866), first listed on 19 March 1962. The George and Dragon Inn is Grade II (entry 1272822) with the same listing date. Myrtle Farmhouse is Grade II (entry 1243401), and so is the barn to the west of it (entry 1272905). Historic England's list holds 24 listed buildings within 500 metres of the village point.
St Matthew's is still an Anglican parish church, so roof works there need a faculty and not listed building consent. The inn and the farm are different. For a listed pub or farm building, listed building consent from Wiltshire Council is needed before work that alters its character. The same applies to the barn, even if it no longer holds livestock or crops. A listing follows the building and not its use.
Commercial premises raise one more point. A pub is a business that wants to stay open, so the order of work matters: the weather-tight shell first, then anything that can wait. For a roof that serves the trade, our commercial roofing page covers how we plan around a working building. We tell an owner or tenant what each day involves, and who is responsible for what.
On conservation areas, the nearest include Bromham, Devizes and Poulshot. Wiltshire Council's own map draws those boundaries, and a short call to its planning team settles whether your road is inside one. Check whether an Article 4 direction applies to your road with Wiltshire Council at the same time.
On an old farm building, the survey looks at things a house survey would not: wide spans, heavy purlins, rafters that have bowed over time, and coverings that were meant to keep out weather and not to look neat. Matching those coverings is a matter of material and fixing, and the pictures show what is there.
A pub roof carries its own pressures. Kitchen and cellar vents, flues, signs and aerials all pierce it or sit on it, and each is a place where water can get in. Our survey of an inn photographs every penetration, every flashing around a flue and the guttering above the entrance, and notes which are original and which were added later. Additions are one place a leak can start. A lean-to against an older wall, a dormer or a later flue each needs its own flashing. The same goes for a farmhouse with a later extension: the joint between old roof and new is the first place we look.
“Rowde's listings run from a church to a pub to a barn, each with its own route.”
The scaffold licence and the work in Rowde
Scaffolding that stands on the highway needs a licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and in Rowde Wiltshire Council grants it. Applications reach Wiltshire Council through MiPermit, submitted by the scaffolding firm. Wiltshire Council's fee turns on notice: £143.80 for an application lodged more than three working days ahead, £164.70 for a later one. Licences last 28 days from the start, so timing counts. A farm yard or a drive of your own keeps the scaffold off the highway.
Scaffolding and hoarding are licensed apart, and a marked bay for parking requires its own suspension. A pub forecourt might have such a bay. The survey notes anything of this kind, so the first morning holds no surprises.
Rowde's services are as varied as its buildings. For houses, we take roof repairs after slipped tiles, split valleys or failed flashings, and pitched roofing where a slope needs more than a patch. For older stone or slate houses, our slate roofing page covers how slates are lifted, sorted and relaid. A farm barn may need only a handful of sheets or tiles replaced, and the written price reflects that.
One difference between house and barn is access. A barn roof can be high and wide with no neighbouring walls to rest a ladder against, and the scaffold plan has to cover the whole of the working face. We photograph the access as well as the roof, so the price covers what the job needs and no more.
Timing in the countryside depends on more than paperwork. Access for a lorry to deliver tile or lead, a yard to stack materials and a safe place for waste all shape the plan, and the survey records them. A farm drive that is narrow or muddy may mean smaller deliveries, which we allow for in the plan and the price.
Chimneys on older houses and farmhouses deserve a close look. A stack with failing pointing sheds water into the loft, and a lifted flashing lets rain behind the brick. Lead flashing can last for over 80 years (MyJobQuote, September 2026), so on an old house we look for movement or poor fixing before blaming age. We photograph the stack from the roof, then explain what we found and what we would do.
The site is left tidy and waste taken away. On a farm that matters twice: loose nails and broken tile are a hazard to animals and tyres, and we sweep the ground where we have worked before we leave.
What we can do for your Rowde roof
Rowde roofs: inn, barn and church
Can the George and Dragon's roof in Rowde be repaired without consent?
The inn is Grade II listed, which means Wiltshire Council's listed building consent is needed before changes to its character. A repair in matching tiles may not change its character, and the council can say. We photograph the covering first, and, if the pub is trading, plan the work around its opening hours.
Is Myrtle Farmhouse's barn covered by the same listing?
The barn to the west of Myrtle Farmhouse has its own Grade II entry, 1272905, separate from the farmhouse's entry 1243401. Each needs listed building consent before anything alters its character. A listing follows the building, not its use, so a barn stays protected whatever it is used for. Each roof gets its own survey pictures.
Is my Rowde road in a conservation area?
The nearest conservation areas include Bromham, Devizes and Poulshot. Wiltshire Council's map is the authority for your road, and its planning team can confirm in a short reply whether your house is inside one. We send photographs of the roof with the question, so the planning officer can judge the covering from them.
How do I sort out a scaffold licence on a Rowde street?
Wiltshire Council licenses scaffolding and takes the application from the scaffolding firm through the MiPermit portal. Wiltshire Council's fee is £143.80 for more than three working days' notice or £164.70 for less, and each licence lasts 28 days. A yard or drive of your own keeps the scaffold off the highway. Ask the scaffolder to confirm dates with us before booking, so the dates on the licence match the job.
Around Devizes from Rowde
A Rowde roof survey, inn to farmhouse
Tell us the postcode and attach a picture. We survey, check with Wiltshire Council, then quote one written total.
10-year workmanship guarantee, in writing.