The roofs of UK properties were traditionally made with the materials that were available to hand at the time, and in initially this was thatch. Thatched roofs offered several benefits and the materials were easy to get hold of and process wherever your house was in the country. However, the Great Fire of Southwark, London broke out in 1212 and changed many peoples minds on the continuation of using thatch. Even though it had already been banned within the capital city in a rule dating back to 1189, wooden properties constructed with overhanging thatch roofs caused the greatest spread of the fire and this led to a change in the materials used for building properties and shops moving forward.
After the insistence of using different widespread roofing material, roofing trends started to move towards tougher materials and clay, stone and slate were the most popular. That being said, the material used on your roof in the early days would very much depend on your location in the country, for example, the availability of raw materials for creating clay roofing tiles was dependent on a location being near to water – such as a river or the coast. Large clay deposits in the South East and Midlands influenced a greater number of clay-tiled roofs while access to harder slate in the North and in Wales made slate tiled roofs more popular.
Clay tiles had been widely during the Roman reign, however as the Romans left Britain so did their methods and practices for making clay tiles, leading the way for use of thatch for roofing which was much simpler for common folk to harvest and process.
It was only in the 19th Century, once the modern railway was introduced to Britain, that materials and minerals start moving around the country in greater quantities, making it easier for different roofing materials to be used in locations they weren’t commonly found.
Modern-day roofing trends now include a wide variety of materials and types with an increasing encouragement for roofs that provide energy efficiency and protection against severe weather forces. Many property owners choose to install solar panels on their roofs to offset their energy costs while others make use of cheaper, more durable materials including steel and concrete.