Roof cleaning across Billinge
Moss comes off a Billinge roof by hand and the tiles get a low-pressure biocide treatment, so nothing gets cracked and the growth carries on dying long after we pack up.
Billinge stands higher than anywhere else on Merseyside, with Billinge Hill topping out at 179 metres, so the village takes the full brunt of weather rolling in off the plain. Driving rain soaks the walls and roofs facing the prevailing wind, while the wooded crown of the hill and the hedged lanes on the farmland edges trap shade and damp on the sheltered sides. Between the exposure up top and the slow-drying north-facing slopes, moss, algae and lichen never go short of moisture here, and they return fast unless the growth is properly killed rather than rinsed off.