Handmade Clay Tiles in Hertfordshire
Handmade Clay Tiles
Our handmade clay tiles are hung from the framework of the roof by fixing them with nails. The handmade clay tiles are usually hung in parallel rows, with each row overlapping the row below it to exclude rainwater and to cover the nails that hold the row below. There are also roof tiles for special positions, particularly where the planes of the several pitches meet. They include ridge, hip and valley tiles. These can either be bedded and pointed in cement mortar or mechanically fixed.
History of handmade clay tiles
Tiled roofs first replaced thatched roofs in ancient Mesopotamia. Fired roof tiles occur from as early as the third millennium BC in the Early Helladic House of the tiles in Lerna, Greece. Debris found at the site contained thousands of terracotta tiles which had fallen from the roof. In the Mycenaean period, roof tiles are documented for Gla and Midea.
The earliest finds of handmade clay tiles in archaic Greece are documented from a very restricted area around Corinth, where fired tiles began to replace thatched roofs at two temples of Apollo and Poseidon between 700 and 650 BC. Spreading rapidly, roof tiles were within fifty years in evidence at a large number of sites around the Eastern Mediterranean, including Mainland Greece, Western Asia Minor, and Southern and Central Italy. Early handmade clay tiles showed an S-shape, with the pan and cover tile forming one piece. They were quite bulky tiles, weighing in exess of 66 lb each. These handmade clay tiles were more expensive and labour intensive to produce than thatch.
Their introduction has been explained by their greatly enhanced fire resistance, which gave much better protection to those sacred temples.
The spread of the handmade clay tile technique should be viewed in connection with the simultaneous rise of monumental architecture in ancient Greece. Only the newly appearing stone walls, which were replacing the earlier mudbrick and wood walls, were strong enough to support the weight of a tiled roof. As a side effect, it has been argued that the new stone and tile construction also brought an end to Chinese roof construction in Greek architecture, as they made the need for an extended roof as rain protection for the mudbrick walls a thing of the past.
Production of Dutch roof tiles started in the 14th century when the leaders of cities required the use of fireproof materials. At the time, most houses were made of wood and had thatch roofing, which would often cause fires to spread quickly. To satisfy demand, many small handmade clay tile makers began to produce roof tiles by hand. Many of these small factories were built near rivers where there was a plentiful source of clay and much cheaper transport.
A little information about Hertfordshire
Not everyone has a bottomless pit of money and Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd are very proud to be able to cater to everyone and all budgets.
We keep our prices very competitive so that everyone can enjoy premium quality clay roof tiles, at a reasonable price. Many of the properties in and around Hertfordshire were built around the nineteen twenty and thirties and have glorious traditional clay tiled roofs. Our traditional manufacturing techniques ensure that your new roof tiles will never look out of place, or time on your property.
A little Hertfordshire history
Hertfordshire was the area assigned to a fortress constructed at Hertford under the rule of Edward the Elder in 913. Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing a watercourse.
The name Hertfordshire is first recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 1011. Deer feature in many county emblems. Many of the names of the current settlements date back to the Anglo-Saxon period, with many featuring standard placename suffixes attributed to the Anglo-Saxons, such as ford, ton, den, bourn, ley, stead, ing, lett, wood, and worth, and are represented in Hertfordshire by Hertford, Royston, Harpenden, Redbourn, Cuffley, Wheathampstead, Tring, Radlett, Borehamwood, and Rickmansworth.
Hertfordshire has a very rich heritage and the properties around this beautiful county deserve to have the best clay roof tiles to further enhance their beauty.
So if you live or work in or around Hertfordshire, and have a roofing project, give Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd a call to discuss the vast range of traditional stock and hand made clay roof tiles and accessories that we manufacture, stock and deliver.
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Further Information
If you would like to know more or are interested in a quote we would be happy to help. Phone us on 01708 853 953, email us at sales@heritagetiles.co.uk and we will be in touch as soon as possible.
