St Andrew's, Grade I
First listed on 5 April 1966; as a working Anglican church, its roof goes through the faculty route.
Roofers in Clayhidon
A Devon parish in the Blackdown Hills with a Grade I church
Clayhidon lies across the border in Mid Devon, inside the Blackdown Hills National Landscape. Its church is Grade I and 11 list entries sit near the centre. Each roof is surveyed first.
St Andrew's church, the Old School and the hills
The Old School, Grade II
Listed on 15 April 1987, so a roof change that affects its character needs listed building consent.
Homes in the National Landscape
The whole parish centre lies inside the Blackdown Hills National Landscape, which was an AONB until November 2023.
Street map of Clayhidon with Ashculme, Burnworthy, Blackmoor, Churchstanton marked around it, and Taunton.
Between Ashculme, Hemyock and Churchstanton
Ashculme lies just west of Clayhidon and Burnworthy to the east, while Blackmoor sits north, Churchstanton further east, Hemyock to the south-west and Wellington to the north-west.
About 7 miles south-west of Taunton, Mid Devon District Council and Devon County Council.
Clayhidon homes: our roof services
Four checks over the county line
Clayhidon roofs: Devon's councils, a Grade I church, chimney stacks and a county scaffold licence
Four things to know when a Taunton roofer works in Devon, from who decides planning to what the highway authority charges.
Check 1 of 4Mid Devon rules, not Somerset's
Who to ask on the Devon side
Clayhidon is in Devon, only about 8.1 road miles from Taunton. Our nearest customers across the line meet a different set of councils from the ones in Somerset. Planning is decided by Mid Devon District Council, which is the local planning authority here, while Devon County Council is the highway authority. Somerset Council, which handles planning for most of our other villages, has no say in Clayhidon, and the links and phone numbers on our other town pages do not apply. If a letter arrives with a Somerset reference on it, somebody has sent it to the wrong authority.
Who does building control?
Mid Devon District Council's website links to a building control service that it runs jointly with North Devon. That is the team to ask whether a re-roof or an altered stack needs an application, and it is better to ask before the roof is stripped than after. The national tests are the same wherever you are. Under the Planning Portal's test, a job that leaves the building envelope under 25 per cent affected, and the roof under 50 per cent, normally needs no application, while a new covering that is 15 per cent or more heavier needs Building Regulations approval. Somerset Building Control is not the body for Devon addresses, so its telephone number is no use here.
Does Clayhidon have a conservation area?
Ask Mid Devon District Council whether your address falls inside a conservation area, and whether the building is on the National Heritage List. We check the List ourselves at the survey. Our guide to planning permission for roof work covers the national rules, and the Devon officers apply them to your address.
Look for
- Somerset numbers on old quotes
- New roof windows towards the lane
- Listed status on a deed
- A neighbour's recent re-roof
Check 2 of 4St Andrew's church and the Old School
Two listings, two different routes
- Sound: slates overlapping evenly in rows
- Needs work: broken slate edge in the row
St Andrew's, the parish church, holds a Grade I listing dating from 5 April 1966, and Historic England's record shows the Old School listed Grade II on 15 April 1987. The National Heritage List has 11 entries within 500 metres of the centre of Clayhidon, so listings are part of ordinary life here. The two buildings follow different consent routes, and knowing which is which saves weeks.
What decides the price
- Whether faculty or consent applies
- Number of slates needing a match
- Height of the tower or gable
- Condition of the battens beneath
Who signs off church roof work?
It is an Anglican church with services still held in it, so a roof job there goes through that church's faculty system and not through listed building consent from Mid Devon. The parish sets it in motion, and the contractor follows the approved scheme. For us that means a survey with photographs, a plain report on what each slope needs, and a price for the specification and nothing beyond it.
What about the Old School?
A listed building that is not an exempt church needs consent under the listed building rules from Mid Devon District Council, the planning authority here, before anyone changes what gives it its special character. A straight repair with matching slate normally falls on the safe side of that line, but swapping the covering, adding a roof window or rebuilding a stack may not. Listing does not stop a roof being repaired. It makes sure that the repair is the right one. On a listed roof we write down the existing slate sizes and the way the courses step, so the replacement can be set out the same way, and the file travels with the quote.
Matching an old roof means size, thickness, colour and texture, and a patched roof can mix several. Where the slate is sound, we reuse it, and where a gap needs filling, reclaimed slate can blend better than new. Our slate roofing page sets out how we judge a roof for repair or replacement.
Check 3 of 4Chimney stacks, breasts and party walls
Before a stack comes down
Some houses carry a chimney stack that no longer serves a fire, and owners sometimes ask whether it can simply go. Two separate rules sit behind that question. The Planning Portal is firm that taking out a chimney breast always brings Building Regulations approval into play, because a breast is part of the building's structure. Do not let anyone start without it. And where the breast stands on a party wall, shared with a neighbour, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 lets an owner cut back a projecting chimney breast, once notice has been served. A stack is the part above the roof, the breast is the part inside the room, and the two are often confused.
A stack that serves no fire still carries weight, water and a neighbour's interest.
From the ground
- Damp patches on the breast
- Cracks running up the stack
- Leaning pots or a cracked cap
- A stack nobody has used for years
Leave to a roofer
- Repointing the stack in lime or cement
- Re-dressing lead at the base
- Capping off a redundant flue
- Taking a stack down to the roofline
How much notice does a neighbour get?
Under section 3 of the Act the notice must reach the neighbour at least two months before work begins. GOV.UK includes taking chimneys off a party wall in its list of notifiable work and cautions that a neighbour's silence is not consent. Where the two of you cannot agree, a surveyor is appointed. Questions about party walls belong with a party wall surveyor, not with building control. We raise this early because those two months can set your start date.
What do repairs to a working stack cost?
MyJobQuote gives a typical UK range of £450 to £1,200 for chimney repointing (Oct 2026), and £350 to £920 for full chimney leadwork, with scaffold a large part of the swing (Sep 2026). Chimney breast removal is given as £1,200 to £3,500, with an average of £2,500 (Aug 2026). Those are national guides, so a survey of the stack and the roof around it is what sets the figure for your house. Our chimney repairs page shows how each repair is done, and a survey tells you which one your stack needs.
Check 4 of 4A Devon scaffold licence and the price
Devon's highway rules, then one price
Scaffold that overhangs or stands on the public highway needs a licence under section 169 of the Highways Act 1980, and in Devon the highway authority is Devon County Council. Devon County Council takes licence applications from scaffolding companies acting for their customers, not from householders. The licence costs £158.00, runs for the dates of the works to a maximum of 12 weeks, and needs a minimum of 10 working days' notice to process.
What decides the price
- How many weeks the licence must run
- Scaffold on the highway or on your land
- Wildlife checks before the roof opens
- How much of the covering is worn out
What if the job runs over?
An extension or amendment costs £100.00, and a further £103.95 is charged if a site visit takes place. An emergency application with less than 10 working days' notice is charged at an increased £238.00. We plan around these figures together with the scaffolder, so that a roof is not left open to the weather while a licence is chased. Winter weather can add days to any job, and a longer licence is cheaper than an emergency application at £238.00. Scaffold within your own boundary does not stand on the highway, so no highway licence applies to it. That is one reason we ask early where the scaffold would go, and walk the garden before we price.
What else sets the price?
The covering, the number of slopes, the height, and what the survey finds beneath it. If a bat roost or an active bird's nest turns up, the work waits. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes intentional damage to a nest in use an offence, and GOV.UK treats bats and their roosts as fully protected.
When the survey is complete, pictures of every slope come to you with one written price for the job. Send us your Clayhidon address and say which of these four checks fits your house, and we will shape the survey around that.
Walked the roof?
- 1 read
- 2 not read yet
- 3 not read yet
- 4 not read yet
When you have read the checks, we walk the roof and show you the photos.
Clayhidon roofs, from the border to the stack
Which council decides planning for a roof change in Clayhidon, given how close it is to Somerset?
Mid Devon District Council, because Clayhidon is in Devon, even though it lies only about 8.1 road miles from Taunton. Devon County Council is the highway authority. Somerset Council has no role here, so a planning officer in Somerset cannot answer for a Clayhidon address, and we send you to the Devon officers.
Who signs off repairs to the Clayhidon church roof?
The parish, through the faculty system of the Church of England. St Andrew's is Grade I and still used for worship, which keeps it outside the council's listed building consent. The parish brings the application, and the contractor then follows the scheme approved. Houses nearby stand or fall on their own listing, which we check at the survey.
Do I need to tell my neighbour before I remove a chimney breast in Clayhidon?
When the breast is on a party wall, yes. GOV.UK treats removing chimneys from a party wall as notifiable work, and the notice has to go out two months or more beforehand. Building Regulations approval always applies to removing a breast, so involve a party wall surveyor and the joint Mid Devon and North Devon building control service early.
How long can scaffold stay up under a Devon licence in Clayhidon?
A Devon licence covers the dates of the works, up to 12 weeks, and extending or amending it costs £100.00. The licence itself is £158.00, and Devon County Council takes the application from the scaffolding company, not from you. Scaffold on your own land is not on the highway and needs no licence.
Other places across the Blackdown Hills
A survey for your Clayhidon roof
Send your Clayhidon address and tell us about the roof or stack in question, and the visit gets planned.