Comments on: Terracotta Rooftop Finials

By: N

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 22:43:44 +0000

Hi Jamie,

Out of interest, what is your company called and is it still around?

Interested to know for a friend.

By: Linda Grant

Linda Grant — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 09:38:02 +0000

In reply to Jamie Underhill. I would like a dragon for my new house, where can I get a catalogue of what is available please?

By: JJ

JJ — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 10:30:44 +0000

I moved house to the seaside and on the roof was a dragon. I absolutely love it.

By: Diana Stone

Diana Stone — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 11:29:06 +0000

Dear Gizella,
I am pleased to discover your interest in roof-top decorations. Now living in the wilds of central France, I have become interested in such details, called here epis de faitage or poinçon, evident everywhere from townhouses to chateaux and country cottages. At their inception, they served a specific purpose – that of protecting the join of three or more roof planes. My research here goes very slowly because French is such a difficult language and often people do not respond to my email queries. Within the last eight to ten years, there have been exhibitions at small museums but that was before I moved here and I can’t get any of them to respond to my queries about details, printed or otherwise, from these displays. I have never seen a similar application of these finials when I lived in England. In France, they were certainly utilitarian before they were decorative features. They are now found in various designs and made of metals as well as terra cotta – both glazed and unglazed. At one period, inverted pots were used at the joining points. We had such a pot on our roof before we had it re-done, and sadly, before I had any idea what it was doing up there.

If you would like to start a dialog about these fascinating objects, please respond to my email address above. I am particularly interested in the history and evolution of their designs, and also in the fact that many people who are renovating old properties here are installing them – sometimes in inappropriate places – showing interest in the decoration but not their useful application. I have discovered a couple of French books that look useful, and ordered accordingly. I would really like to find if the English examples were ever used to keep damp from entering roof joins! Does anyone know of any documented history?

Thanks for your attention, and hopeful of a response,
Diana Stone

By: Gizella

Gizella — Wed, 05 Aug 2020 19:30:04 +0000

In reply to Jamie Underhill. Hi Jamie, thank you for the lovely feedback. I fully agree, these finials are fantastic and give a nice finish and touch to period properties. If I lived in one, I definitely would want a rooftop finial. Great to know that your company is around and still produces roof finials. Again thank you.

By: Jamie Underhill

Jamie Underhill — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 19:34:13 +0000

Hi, we really enjoyed reading this excellent blog post and we love the selection of original roof finials featured in the post. It really captures and shows just how skilled the original craftsmen were in creating wonderful roof detail at a time when architectural and intricate detail was in fashion and very popular. Back then there were many tilieries producing fantastic ridge tile and roof finial designs to adorn the buildings and it is always great to see that original examples still exist to appreciate the craftmanship, time and skill that went into producing the original features

We are one of the few companies left that still produces roof finials today. I am pleased to say that we not only repair or produce replicas that feature on grade listed, period, Victorian and Edwardian properties but also produce finials on new builds too which is a great recent trend as it helps to keep an English tradition alive and adds interest and detail to roofs