Slate working

Roof slates

Vernacular slating is found on a great number of buildings in the UK with many regional variations relating to the local available materials and building styles. Slates are made of various different stones and vary in size, as they were cut in the quarry to the sizes of available stone.

Modern slates are regular in size and nailed to battens, whereas vernacular slates are usually of random sizes and are fixed by a peg to the top of battens where they are held under their own weight.

Slate making is now mostly mechanised with quarries producing slates in various regular sizes and shapes. Random sized slates are not being produced in great numbers and are therefore not readily available for vernacular roofs.

Handmade slate objects

The craft started as an offshoot of the slating industry. Households would fashion useful items for people and created decorative items from offcuts of slate.

The provision of slate memorials is still surviving helped in part by some parishes insisting on British rock over imported rock, which although in low numbers has helped a couple of practitioners to continue.

Slating is divided into two areas, which are generally practised by different craftspeople:

• Cutting/riving slate: the craft of cutting slates, usually in the quarry, for use in roofing
• Slate working/slate masonry: the craft of working slate to make household objects

Vernacular slating techniques are highly regionalised, depending on the local stone.

The Stone Roofing Association and the technical advice notes produced by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) provide details on regional variations.

• Garden ornament making
• Slate headstone making
• Household objects – cutting boards, coasters, ornaments etc.

• Market issues: Vernacular slates are more expensive than modern slates and are often not readily available for vernacular roofing projects.
• Skills shortages: The skills of both roof tile making and household goods manufacturing are in desperate short supply and heavily reliant on craftspeople that are reaching retirement age.
• Supply issues: Quarries often can’t respond quickly to demand and so lead times can make using the vernacular tiles less viable.
• Lack of skills and knowledge of regional slating types: Vernacular slating techniques are highly regionalised, and the viability of the craft varies depending on the slate or stone type, and hence depends on the region.
• Conservation of buildings: The protection/conservation for vernacular slating styles and techniques vary across the country, and in some places they are discarded and substituted with modern slating.
• Whilst there may be an intention to replace vernacular roofs, a lack of availability of slates and budget constraints have meant that many historic roofs have been lost.
• Competition with large companies: smaller slating companies and craftspeople are out competed by bigger building companies
• Ageing workforce: particularly in relation to Westmorland slate working
• Availability of raw materials
• Competition from cheaper imports

• Stone Roofing Association
• Historic England – for Grade I and II* listed buildings where grants are involved
• Cadw – for Grade I and II* listed buildings where grants are involved
• Historic Scotland – for Grade I and II* listed buildings where grants are involved
• Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)
• Stone Federation Great Britain
• Worshipful Company of Masons

Roofing slates

• Richard Jordan
• Terry Hughes

Slate masons

• Lakeland Stonecraft
• Honister Slate Products
• Liam Cartmel – Burlington Slate
• Gordon Greaves Slate
• Parkin and Jackson – Monumental Masons
• Norman Garside – Stoneage
• Brendan Donnelly

Welsh slate crafts

• Snowdonia Natural Slate Products
• Valley Mill Slate Crafts
• Bacchante Crafts
• In Slate
• The Slate Workshop

http://www.stoneroof.org.uk/cnts.html

https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/sourcingslates/sourcingslates.htm

SPAB Technical Advice Notes – https://www.spab.org.uk/advice/technical-advice-notes

Our thanks go to our 2025 reviewers:

• Brendan Donnelly

We consult with a wide range of practitioners and organisations to review and update the Red List. Some choose to remain anonymous but all feedback is taken into account.

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