Most older houses in Hexham are built of local sandstone and roofed in Welsh slate or thick sandstone slabs, and many sit inside the conservation area around the Abbey and the Market Place. Out in the countryside you find farmhouses and cottages with similar walls and deeper roofs. For all of them, we handle the survey, design, approvals and construction.
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Stone walls and heavy roofs
A sandstone house carries its roof differently from a brick semi, and the roof itself can weigh far more. Sandstone slates, laid in courses that shrink from eaves to ridge, were used on many older Tynedale houses and farms, while purple Welsh slate spread widely in the nineteenth century. Both can usually be reused. Stone slates need careful stripping and sorting, though, and any shortfall has to be made up with reclaimed or new stone of a similar colour and thickness.
Roof timbers in older stone houses
Under those coverings, the timbers are often older than the rooms below. Typical findings in a Hexham stone house include purlins that have dipped over the years, rafters notched or replaced in past repairs, and wall plates bedded into damp masonry. Before any design work, we check the timbers for rot, insect damage and movement, then decide which can stay, which need strengthening and where new beams must carry the floor. Thick walls help, since they usually give a solid bearing for steel or timber.
Windows that suit the roof
On a traditional slate or stone roof, slim conservation-style rooflights sit flush with the covering and suit a Velux conversion where headroom already exists. Where you need more standing height, a small gabled dormer with stone or slate detailing usually looks more at home than a wide flat-roofed box.
Do bats affect a loft conversion in an older roof?
They can, and in an older stone roof around Hexham, close to the river, woodland or open fields, the question needs answering before work begins. All bat species in England and their roosts are protected by law, whether or not the bats are there when you look. Northumberland County Council's ecology guidance asks for an ecology report where works will affect the roofs, roof spaces or wall tops of a building known to support roosting bats.
The usual first step is a preliminary roost assessment by a qualified ecologist, who inspects the loft and the outside of the roof for droppings, access gaps and other signs. If the building shows potential, emergence surveys follow, and these can only be carried out in the warmer months when bats are active. Where a roost is confirmed, the work may need a licence from Natural England and changes to the design or timing, such as keeping access points open or building in roost spaces. We put this into the plan from the start so a survey season is not missed.
Listed buildings and the Hexham Conservation Area
The conservation area covers the historic centre of Hexham, including the Abbey, the Moot Hall and the streets around the Market Place, and it contains a large number of listed buildings. Inside it, a roof extension is not permitted development, so a dormer needs planning permission, and the Hexham Neighbourhood Plan includes a design policy for new work in the conservation area. Rooflights may still be possible without an application, within size limits, unless an Article 4 direction removes that right. We check this before you commit, because a rooflight conversion that avoids a planning application can be the simplest route for a house in the centre.
If your house is listed, you need listed building consent for works that affect its character, inside or out. That includes a new floor structure, altered roof timbers and new openings in the slope. Carrying out such work without consent is a criminal offence, so we prepare drawings and a heritage statement explaining what will change and why. Keeping original purlins or trusses visible in the finished room can help the case.
What can a farmhouse or rural property offer?
Farmhouses in the countryside around Hexham often have a long attic with low eaves and plenty of floor, which suits a guest suite, a studio or a home office for working away from town. Many farmhouses have a rear wing, and an L-shaped dormer can join the main roof and the wing into one larger space.
Rural homes raise practical questions too. A house on private drainage, such as a septic tank or treatment plant, needs a check that the system can take a new en-suite. Narrow lanes affect how materials and scaffolding arrive, and protected species surveys are more likely where the house backs onto fields or trees. We look at all of this on the first visit and explain what it means for your plans, as we do with each of the conversions we offer.
What decides the cost under a stone roof?
The condition of the roof matters most. Replacing decayed timbers, sourcing matching stone slates, and stripping and relaying a heavy covering all add work that a newer house would not need. Ecology surveys, a heritage statement and listed building consent bring their own fees, and dormers in traditional materials take longer to build than simple boxes. Inside, an en-suite on private drainage or a staircase that has to fit around thick internal walls also affects the price. We itemise each of these in your quote so you can see where the money goes.
