Victorian Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Victorian Roof Tiles
Victorian roof style design elements
The Victorian era was characterised by artistic and architectural innovations that are still seen, copied and celebrated today. One of the most prominent features of Victorian architecture is the roof style.
Clad in Victorian roof tiles with ornate ridge tiles and finials, the Victorians really knew how to create a stunning look with their architecture.
From the steep slope of the roof, which helped shed snow and rain, to the multiple chimneys that protruded into the sky like mini tower blocks, the properties stood out like no other.
Much like a scene from Mary Poppins, with the rooftop antics of singing and dancing chimney sweeps, the Victorian roof tiles became the backdrop for an architectural movement that had endured ever since.
The irregular shape of Victorian properties broke with tradition
Most modern houses have symmetrical and very standard rooflines, often covered in different types of roof tiles. Victorian houses were built in a vastly different way. They had a far more irregular shape, with different aspects of Victorian roof tiles sloping in several different directions. These houses often have multiple gables, spires, and turrets protruding from the roofline, which add much character to the overall design of the property.
Victorian roof tiles, finials, ridge tiles and Dormer windows
Dormer windows were another element of the Victorian architectural movement. Also clad in Victorian roof tiles, finials and ridge tiles, often incredibly intricate in their styling, these additions to the Victorian roofline have become synonymous with the period.
Chimneys, chimneys and more chimneys
The larger Victorian properties that belonged to the middle and upper classes had multiple chimneys. Chimneys of different heights were grouped together on virtually every part of the roof. Victorian roof tiles nestled between the chimneys as they directed the smoke up and away from the rooftops of the Victorian buildings.
So, some of the key design elements of Victorian roof styles seemed to centre around design looks over practicality, but it worked! It worked so well that even today many builders still like to copy the prestigious designs that made the Victorian properties so famous around the world. These roofs, covered in Victorian roof tiles are still considered some of the most beautiful and unique designs in architecture, and they continue to inspire architects and designers around the globe.
A little information about Cambridgeshire
Flag Fen Archaeology Park in Cambridgeshire
Flag Fen is just to the east of Peterborough and is a Bronze Age site developed about 3500 years ago. The site consists of more than 60,000 timbers arranged in five long rows, creating a wooden causeway across the wet fenland. The overall length of the causeway is approximately one kilometre. A short distance into the structure a small island was formed. Items associated with it have prompted scholars to conclude that the island was of significant religious importance. Archaeological work began in 1982 at the site, which is located 800 miles east of Fengate. Flag Fen is now part of the Greater Fens Museum Partnership. A visitor centre has been constructed on site and some areas have been reconstructed, including a typical Iron Age roundhouse dwelling that is well worth a visit.
Constructing the Cambridgeshire park
A Neolithic trackway once ran across what archaeologists have referred to as the Flag Fen Basin, from a dry land area known as Fengate to a natural clay island called Northey. The basin is an embayment of low lying land on the western margins of the Fens. The increase in traffic from the ever increasing population by 1300 BC led the occupants to construct a timber causeway along the trackway route. The causeway and centre platform were formed by driving thousands of posts with long poited tips through the peat mud and into the firmer ground below. The resulting structure covered three and a half acres.
Analysis by way of dating of the posts by studying the tree rings, led to an estimated date for the various stages of construction of between 1365 and 967 BC. Some of the timbers, such as oak, were not native to that part of Cambridgeshire, which suggested that the people who constructed the timber causeway wanted to use materials that had religious significance to their lives. They made a huge effort to transport the timbers to the site from remote areas. Similarly, scholars have traced the bluestone used at Stonehenge, Salisbury, as originating in the Preseli Mountains in Wales.
The purpose of the Cambridgeshire site
Many items denoting rank and prestige were deposited in the water surrounding Flag Fen, including swords, spearheads, gold earrings, tiny pins and brooches. The site was discovered by archeologists in 1982 and the findings would indicate that settlers often vied for social status by showing they could afford to discard valuable possessions.
Other finds included small, polished, white stones of a type not known in the local area, indicating that they had been intentionally collected and transported to and placed at the site. Other artefacts found were animal bones, including horse mandibles. Horses were very valuable to the prehistoric people, since they provided a means of transport and could supplement or replace man power. Horses could be used to carry or pull timbers on sledges over long distances. Significance is also taken from the discovery of the ritual deposits within thirty metres of the timber post line, and only on its southern boundary. The amount, type, and placement of deposits, which continued for more than 1,200 years, support the theory that at least one part of the site was intended to be used as a religious monument.
On Northey Island many round barrows contemporary with Flag Fen were found. These seemed to be constructed over the dwellings of chiefs. There is also evidence of farming, including sheep remains, contemporary with the Cambridgeshire site. Phosphate analysis reveals high concentrations of cremations in the barrows, in the form of satellite and secondary burials in the round barrows. This suggests that the primary burials may have been of chiefs, or powerful people, and that some people may have paid to be buried close to the person they respected or followed.
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Handmade Roof Tiles in Hertfordshire
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Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in West Sussex
Clay Roof Tiles in West Sussex
Clayhall Roof Tiles in West Sussex
Conservation Roof Tiles in West Sussex
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Handmade Clay Tiles in West Sussex
Handmade Roof Tiles in West Sussex
High Quality Roof Tiles in West Sussex
Traditional clay tiles in West Sussex
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Handmade Roof Tiles in Bedfordshire
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Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Cambridgeshire
Clay Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Clayhall Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Conservation Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Edwardian Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Georgian Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Handmade Clay Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Handmade Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
High Quality Roof Tiles in Cambridgeshire
Traditional clay tiles in Cambridgeshire
Traditional roof tiles in Cambridgeshire
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Oxfordshire
Clay Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Clayhall Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Conservation Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Edwardian Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Victorian Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Georgian Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Handmade Clay Tiles in Oxfordshire
Handmade Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
High Quality Roof Tiles in Oxfordshire
Traditional clay tiles in Oxfordshire
Traditional roof tiles in Oxfordshire
Products available from Heritage Clay Tiles Ltd in Suffolk
Clayhall Roof Tiles in Suffolk
Conservation Roof Tiles in Suffolk
Edwardian Roof Tiles in Suffolk
Victorian Roof Tiles in Suffolk
Georgian Roof Tiles in Suffolk
Handmade Clay Tiles in Suffolk
Handmade Roof Tiles in Suffolk
High Quality Roof Tiles in Suffolk
Traditional clay tiles in Suffolk
Traditional roof tiles in Suffolk
Further Information
If you would like to know more or are interested in a quote we would be happy to help. Phone us on 01634 471 344, email us at sales@heritagetiles.co.uk and we will be in touch as soon as possible.
