Clay, kilns and the cost of survival for UK tile manufacturers

Pantiles, seen on rooftops across Britain, have a distinctive curved shape.

The machine Oldroyd is using dates back to the 1920s. Some equipment on site is much older and the work is far from easy.

“The most challenging thing for me probably would be lifting the clay,” she says.

But she wouldn’t trade her job.

“I’m glad to be actually making history.

“When I think about this site and how old it is and we’re still carrying on this tradition and the fact that lots of the tiles, if not all of them, will be here for hundreds of years to come.”

The work Oldroyd and her co-workers do today is part of a tradition stretching back centuries.

Though clay roof tiles were introduced by the Romans, the English industry grew up in the eastern part of the country during the 12th century.

By the early 1700s, pantiles were being made, with East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire becoming major centres of production.

Today about a dozen old school firms survive across the UK, according to the Roof Tile Association. William Blyth, founded in 1840, is among them.