Handmade Roof Tiles in Surrey
Handmade Roof Tiles
The unique appearance of the handmade roof tiles we manufacture and supply here at Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd is legendary in the roofing industry. We are market leaders for the simple reason that our handmade roof tiles stand out as the best you can buy and at a very competitive price.
The weathered appearance that can be achieved with our handmade roof tiles will allow your building project to blend in with the natural surroundings.
Using brand new tiles on an older property can really look out of place at best and ruin the aesthetics of the entire property at worst. Handmade roof tiles with their patina will look great from the outset, only improving as time goes by.
The slow and gradual build up of lichen on the handmade roof tiles will just make them look even more attractive. Our tiles will never look out of place on any property.
A little information about Surrey
West Saxon and English shire
In the 9th century England was afflicted, along with the rest of northwestern Europe, by the attacks of Scandinavian Vikings. The Surrey inland position shielded it from coastal raiding, so that it was not normally troubled except by the largest and most ambitious Scandinavian armies.
In 851 an exceptionally large invasion force of Danes arrived at the mouth of the Thames in a fleet of about 350 ships, which would have carried over 15,000 men. Having sacked Canterbury and London and defeated King Beorhtwulf of Mercia in battle, the Danes crossed the Thames into Surrey, but were slaughtered by a West Saxon army led by King Ethelwulf in the Battle of Aclea, bringing the invasion to an end.
Two years later the men of Surrey marched into Kent to help their Kentish neighbours fight a raiding force at Thanet, but suffered very heavy losses including their ealdorman, Huda. In 892 Surrey was the scene of another major battle when a large Danish army, variously reported at 200, 250 and 350 ship loads, moved west from its encampment in Kent and raided in Hampshire and Berkshire. Withdrawing with their spoils, the Danes were intercepted and defeated at Farnham by an army led by Alfred the Greats son Edward, the future King Edward the Elder, and fled across the Thames towards Essex.
A new wave of Danish attacks
Surrey then remained safe from attack for over a century, due to its location and to the growing power of the West Saxon, later English, kingdom. Kingston was the scene for the coronations of Ethelstan in 924 and of Ethelred the Unready in 978, and, according to later tradition, also of other 10th century Kings of England. The renewed Danish attacks during the disastrous reign of Ethelred led to the devastation of Surrey by the army of Thorkell the Tall, which ravaged all of southeastern England in 1009 to 1011. The end of this wave of attacks came in 1016, which saw prolonged fighting between the forces of King Edmund Ironside and the Danish king Cnut, including an English victory over the Danes somewhere in northeastern Surrey, but ended with the conquest of England by Cnut.
Cnuts death in 1035 was followed by a period of political uncertainty, as the succession was disputed between his sons. In 1036 Alfred, son of King Ethelred, returned from Normandy, where he had been taken for safety as a child at the time of Cnuts conquest of England. It is uncertain what his intentions were, but after landing with a small retinue in Sussex he was met by Godwin, Earl of Wessex, who escorted him in apparently friendly fashion to Guildford. Having taken lodgings there, Alfreds men were attacked as they slept and killed, mutilated or enslaved by Godwins followers, while the prince himself was blinded and imprisoned, dying shortly afterwards. This must have contributed to the antipathy between Godwin and Alfreds brother Edward the Confessor, who came to the throne in 1042.
The hostility climaxed in 1051, when Godwin and his sons were driven into exile; returning the following year, the men of Surrey rose to support them, along with those of Sussex, Kent, Essex and elsewhere, helping them secure their reinstatement and the banishment of the kings Norman entourage. The repercussions of this antagonism helped bring about the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror.
The Domesday Book and beyond
The Domesday Book shows that the largest landowners in Surrey at the end of Edwards reign were Chertsey Abbey and Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex and later king, followed by the estates of King Edward himself. Apart from the abbey, most of whose lands were within the shire, Surrey was not the principal focus of any major landowners holdings, a tendency which was to persist in later periods. Given the vast and widespread landed interests and the national and international preoccupations of the monarchy and the earldom of Wessex, the Abbot of Chertsey was therefore probably the most important figure in the local elite.
The Anglo-Saxon period saw the emergence of the shires internal division into 14 hundreds, which continued until Victorian times. These were the hundreds of Blackheath, Brixton, Copthorne, Effingham Half-Hundred, Elmbridge, Farnham, Godalming, Godley, Kingston, Reigate, Tandridge, Wallington, Woking and Wotton.
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Essex
High Quality Roof Tiles in Essex
Traditional clay tiles in Essex
Traditional roof tiles in Essex
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Hampshire
Handmade Clay Tiles in Hampshire
Handmade Roof Tiles in Hampshire
High Quality Roof Tiles in Hampshire
Traditional clay tiles in Hampshire
Traditional roof tiles in Hampshire
Clayhall Roof Tiles in Hampshire
Victorian Roof Tiles in Hampshire
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Hertfordshire
Clay Roof Tiles in Hertfordshire
Handmade Clay Tiles in Hertfordshire
Handmade Roof Tiles in Hertfordshire
High Quality Roof Tiles in Hertfordshire
Traditional clay tiles in Hertfordshire
Traditional roof tiles in Hertfordshire
Clayhall Roof Tiles in Hertfordshire
Victorian Roof Tiles in Hertfordshire
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Kent
High Quality Roof Tiles in Kent
Traditional clay tiles in Kent
Traditional roof tiles in Kent
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in London
High Quality Roof Tiles in London
Traditional clay tiles in London
Traditional roof tiles in London
Victorian Roof Tiles in London
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Surrey
High Quality Roof Tiles in Surrey
Traditional clay tiles in Surrey
Traditional roof tiles in Surrey
Victorian Roof Tiles in Surrey
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.
