Oxburgh Hall's Roof Project

We're currently adding 14,000 new black-glazed pan-tiles to the roof that have been chosen to look the same as those used over two centuries ago, which had become weatherworn, cracked and damaged. However, the black glaze on the new tiles was found to be too slippery for our resident bats. Looking for a solution, our bat expert carried out tests which found that a coating of paint mixed with sand of different sizes enabled bats to grip with their tiny claws to climb easily to the safety of the rooftop roosts.

Surveys found a total of six bat species flying close to the house but it is brown long-eared, common pipistrelle and soprano pipistrelle bats which roost in the building. The brown long-eared bats use attics and roof spaces, and all three species use crevices under roof tile, ridge tiles and lead flashing. We worked with our bat expert to create a new roost in the nearby Bell Tower and installed bat boxes in the trees on the north terrace to provide alternative roosting places whilst the roof works takes place. Currently the bell in the Bell Tower can’t be rung, so not to disturb the bats.

The builders have also ensured there will be 32 new bat openings around the roof - some under the ridge tiles, some lower on the roof under pantiles, and others on the dormer windows. The roof tiles near the openings have been given the specially developed bat coating. Several of the roosts have carefully designed gaps in the roof lining to allow brown long-eared bats to get into the attics and roof voids. We hope they enjoy their new home when they move back in.

The steel for the last of the dormer windows has now been installed. They also span an area of the roof which was previously damaged by fire during the Civil War and the charred timbers are now receiving support from the adjacent steelwork. The steelwork has been incredibly complex to design and place within the building, we are very grateful to the team who have done such amazing work completing this complex geometric puzzle.

Sections of the temporary roof across the North Range are starting to be dismantled, giving Oxburgh’s newly tiled roof its first glimpse of the sky. In the coming weeks some sections that are dismantled will also reveal the changes to the rest of the world, displaying the beautiful black tiles to our visitors. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice that we’re incorporating a copper strip at the ridge line of the roof which changes the acidity of the rainwater as it runs over the tiles, preventing moss growth and ensuring the tiles last for many more years to come.