Spital Tongues sits on the north-western edge of the city centre, with the Town Moor to the north and Castle Leazes and Leazes Park to the east. The name is thought to come from land given to the medieval hospital of St Mary Magdalene, with "tongues" meaning outlying pieces of ground.
It grew as a mining village after Spital Tongues Colliery opened in 1836, and its housing has been rebuilt in waves ever since. You will find workers' terraces with back lanes, Tyneside flats, stone villas, bungalows, a tower block and 1980s homes, plus the Victorian streets of Framlington Place. Many properties are let to students and hospital staff. Newcastle Roofs repairs pitched and flat roofs across Spital Tongues, with no call-out charge and free quotes. Here is a guide to what we tend to find.
A village that kept rebuilding itself
The colliery's owners wanted a wagonway across the moor to carry coal to the river. When that was refused, they built the Victoria Tunnel instead, dug between 1839 and 1842. The pit closed in 1860, but by then a small industrial village had grown up, with workers' housing, shops, a church and a pub.
The streets that followed show each era. Belle Grove West was laid out in 1870, and Belle Grove Villas were built in local stone. Workers at Robson's furniture factory, which opened in the 1880s, lived in Sheraton Street and Chippendale Place. Tyneside flats went up on Morpeth Street in the 1920s, bungalows replaced terraces in 1959, the 15-storey Mill House replaced more, and 1980s housing followed on Hunters Road and Magdalene Court.
That mix means a single street can include a slate roof well over a century old next to a tiled roof a few decades old.
Framlington Place: a Victorian suburb under protection
On the side nearest the Royal Victoria Infirmary and the university, the Framlington Place Conservation Area was designated in 1976. Framlington Place itself was built in four phases between 1851 and 1867, and the area also takes in Claremont Place, North Terrace, Claremont Terrace and Claremont Street. It contains 35 Grade II listed buildings.
The council's character statement notes that most terraces here have pitched Welsh slate roofs over brick or rendered fronts. It also flags how dormers and rooflights added one at a time have eroded the roofline of terraces such as North Terrace and Claremont Terrace.
If you own a property here, repairs with matching slate and lead are straightforward. Adding a dormer or rooflight, especially on a listed building, is a different matter, and the council's conservation team should be your first call. We can provide photographs and a description of the roof to help.
Life on the edge of the Town Moor
The Town Moor is a large, open stretch of grassland with few trees or buildings to break the wind. Homes on the moor side of Spital Tongues take the full force of westerly gales and driving rain.
On exposed roofs like these, a few problems come up again and again:
- ridge tiles loosened as old mortar bedding breaks down
- slates lifted at the verges and eaves, where wind gets underneath
- chimney pots and stacks weakened by rain driven into the brickwork
- lead flashings that lift and let water track behind them
- gutters loosened on their brackets, so water spills down the wall
After a big storm, it is worth checking the roof from the street or the moor side. A missing slate or a lifted ridge is far easier to deal with before the next spell of heavy rain.
Shared houses, flats and rear offshoots
With the RVI, Newcastle University and the city centre all within walking distance, much of the housing in Spital Tongues is rented. In a shared house, the loft and top-floor bedrooms are often occupied, so a small roof leak can quickly become a tenant complaint.
Behind the terraces and Tyneside flats, rear offshoots usually hold kitchens and bathrooms under a small flat or shallow-pitched roof. These collect water from the main roof above, so a blocked gutter on the main slope can overload the offshoot below. Felt coverings on these roofs crack and blister with age; EPDM or fibreglass are durable alternatives when replacement is needed.
Steam from busy kitchens and bathrooms in shared houses also ends up in the loft. Good roof ventilation and insulation laid without blocking the eaves help keep condensation under control.
Arranging roofing work in Spital Tongues
Get in touch with your address and a description of the problem. We will inspect from the street, the back lane and, where possible, the loft, taking photographs as we go. You then receive a free written quote with no obligation.
Back lanes behind many terraces are narrow, so scaffold positions and deliveries are planned with neighbours in mind. For landlords, we can arrange access directly with tenants if you prefer. For emergencies, our 24/7 service can make the roof safe.
If you manage several lets across Spital Tongues, a single round of inspections in late summer, before the autumn gales arrive, is an efficient way to spot slipped slates, blocked gutters and tired flat roofs before tenants notice them.
