Anstey, 27.3 road miles south of Nottingham's centre
Skylights & rooflights in Anstey
A large Leicestershire village of small hosiery-era terraces and post-war council houses, with a brook running through it. Many back rooms are shallow, narrow and dim.
Stocking frames, small terraces and a brook
Anstey grew on hosiery. The trade rose in the eighteenth century and carried on until the mid-twentieth, and it left rows of small houses for the people who worked in it. Small houses have small windows, and the roof is the one place to find more light.
Anstey, from terrace to brook
Anstey is a large village in Leicestershire, in the borough of Charnwood and to the north-west of Leicester, with 7,043 people on record. It sits towards the southern side of our service area, 27.3 miles from Nottingham by road. Below we cover the houses, the road, the council, the brook and the rooflights that suit. Our skylight installation in Nottingham page describes the service as a whole.
01
Hosiery terraces, prefabricated council houses and newer estates
Anstey keeps some of the charm of a traditional village, above all in the area just north of the village centre, and it is easy to see why people like it. Its industrial past also left many small terraced houses, and alongside them prefabricated post-war council houses in the 'Dutch barn' style. Hosiery began in the eighteenth century and carried on into the mid-twentieth, which explains the terraces. The Anstey Wallpaper Company once occupied a site east of Cropston Road, now covered by houses and a Co-op store. A housing development off Groby Road has added to the village.
Hosiery lifted the population to around 600 by 1800, then declined in the middle of the nineteenth century, and the village shrank for a time before the trade finally wound down. That gives three kinds of roof to think about, and each raises its own question.
Small terraces
A terrace of this kind usually has a pitched roof and a narrow plan, with the stairs against a party wall and a landing lit by nothing. That is a job for a sun tunnel: a small cap outside, a reflective pipe across the loft and a flat disc overhead. Where the loft has been boarded, a roof window lets the room look at the sky and ventilate.
| House type | Roof | First check |
|---|---|---|
| Hosiery terrace | Pitched | Rafter spacing |
| Dutch barn council house | Barn style | Construction |
| Newer estate house | Pitched | Trusses or rafters |
Dutch barn council houses
A Dutch barn style roof may be curved rather than plainly pitched, and that can mean more care with the cutting and flashing than on a straight slope. We look closely at the construction and covering before saying whether a rooflight can go in, and where. If the answer is no, you hear it on the survey.
Newer houses and extensions
Newer roofs are more often built from factory-made trusses, which cannot simply be cut through. How a roof is built is checked before any price is named. A flat-roofed kitchen at the rear is the easiest case, since a flat rooflight over the dim end lights the room from above.
02
The Western Bypass and the road home
27.3road miles
south of Nottingham's centre
37minutes
by van, with a clear run
Heading south from the city centre, Anstey is 27.3 road miles and about 37 minutes' drive. It is near the edge of our 30-mile area. The A46 runs within a kilometre of the village. Anstey is just off the A46 Leicester Western Bypass, which gives a fast link to the M1 southbound, with the A50 for the M1 north.
Neither a station nor a tram stop lies within 2 km. We come by van, so you can ignore the point.
Why the distance changes nothing
The survey carries no charge, wherever you are inside our area. We begin in the room where you spend the evening and where the light dies first, then go up to inspect covering, structure and the path of the rain. Pricing waits until we have seen it. Then comes a fixed written quote, and the figure on it holds on the day.
Planning the visit
On a street of small terraces, parking is a real question. When you ring to book, tell us where a van might park and whether a path leads round the back, and the ladders will stay out of your house.
Leicester side or Nottingham side
Anstey's place on the edge of Leicester can make it feel out of reach of a Nottingham firm. It is not. Our areas we cover page names every town and village inside our 30-mile road radius, Anstey included.
03
Charnwood Borough Council and the village conservation area
Anstey is in Leicestershire, and its planning authority is Charnwood Borough Council. It is neither Nottingham City Council nor a Nottinghamshire council, so planning questions go to Charnwood.
Anstey's conservation area and listed buildings
A conservation area named Anstey begins about 190 metres from the village centre point. It holds 18 listed buildings, every one of them at Grade II. In a 1.5 km radius, Historic England has 25 listed buildings: one Grade II*, 23 Grade II and one whose grade is not recorded.
For your address, we check with Charnwood before a rooflight is ordered.
25listed
buildings in a 1.5 km radius
18listed
of them inside Anstey conservation area, all Grade II
What a listing or a boundary changes
A listed house cannot have its roof opened without consent. On most houses a rooflight is permitted development even in a conservation area, and the Article 4 register is the thing we check first, before any slope is chosen. Where the building calls for it, a slim rooflight sitting close to the roof plane suits an older roof. From the road a rear-slope window cannot be seen, and from the garden it should lie flat against the covering with a flashing in the same tone. Weather matters to the position too: a slope facing the prevailing rain takes more on its flashing, so we weigh that against the layout of the room below. Ladder access is usually along the side of the house, and we agree the route with you beforehand. Our conservation rooflights page shows how those units differ from a standard one.
Charnwood's part and the notification
Permitted development and Building Regulations work identically across England, and our planning permission for rooflights guide holds them in one place.
Notifiable jobs are our responsibility to report to Building Control, and the rooflight conforms to the regulations of the day.
04
Rothley Brook, packhorse bridges and open green space
Water, old bridges and parkland: the setting a roof has to live with.
Anstey lay between Charnwood Forest and Leicester Forest. Rothley Brook flows through the village on its way to the River Soar, and there are two ancient bridges, the Packhorse Bridge and King William's Bridge, as well as an old water mill. Cropston Reservoir is within about 1.5 km.
Anstey also has a standing stone and a place called The Leys, which marks the route of the Bradgate Ley running towards Old John in Bradgate Park. Open space is never far. Lower Green is about half a kilometre from the centre, Castle Hill Park and Ruskin Field 0.6 km, Long Close Park 0.7 km and Castle Hill Country Park 1.2 km. Bennion Pools Nature Area lies a little over 2 km off.
Leaf fall and the kerb
Parks and a brook mean trees. Come October, leaves bank up against a flat rooflight's kerb and keep water standing. A taller kerb and a roof surface that falls away from it stop the puddle reaching the glass. Pitched roofs rely on flashing cut to the covering, which lets leaves slide on by.
Damp ground, chilly panes
A village beside water often has damp mornings, and the glass in a window or rooflight is the first surface that chills. Good sealed glazing narrows that chill, and a rooflight that opens gives cooking and bathroom steam a way out.
Open ground also gives a roof a wide view of sky, which is what a rooflight needs. Under heavy cloud, a wide flat unit takes in more of the grey dome than a small one tucked beneath a gable. That is why we ask which way the dim room faces on the survey, and why the answer matters less than people expect: in the dull months what counts is how much open sky the glass can see, not which compass point it faces.
05
Rooflights that suit terraces and extensions
Small terraces, barn-style council houses and newer extensions each suggest a different product.
For a landing or a hall
A sun tunnel is the quiet answer to a windowless landing. The roof gives up a small round opening and so does the ceiling, and that is all. We choose a rigid or flexible tube depending on the loft space between the two.
For a loft room
A roof window in a boarded or converted loft lights the room from above and opens for air. We fit it at a height that lets someone in a chair look out, with flashing to match your covering.
- Kerb
- A box-like upstand on a flat roof, round the opening.
- Truss
- A factory-made roof frame that cannot be cut through like a plain rafter.
- Diffuser
- The ceiling fitting at the bottom of a sun tunnel.
For a rear extension
A flat-roofed kitchen at the back of a terrace is where a rooflight does the most. It sees a wide piece of sky, so it keeps working in the dull months. The kerb is built high enough that standing water cannot reach the glass.
Replacements and small commercial jobs
Rooflights that have clouded between the panes, or whose frames are worn, can be replaced. On the survey we decide whether the existing opening can be reused. Small commercial premises are welcome too, and we survey them the same way.
Everything we fit is covered by a written guarantee on workmanship, which runs for ten years. Whatever the roof shape, one fixed quote follows the survey, and it names a single price for the whole job, including the Building Control notice where one is needed.
Asked by Anstey homeowners before the survey
Which council handles planning for a rooflight in Anstey?
Charnwood Borough Council, since Anstey is in Leicestershire. If your house is listed or under an Article 4 direction, we settle that with Charnwood before we order anything. We also file the Building Control notice where the work needs one.
Will a rooflight work on a Dutch barn style roof?
Sometimes. A curved or unusual roof shape needs more care in the cutting and the flashing than a plain pitched one. We examine how it is built and covered, and tell you on the visit whether a rooflight can go in and where. If one can, the price is fixed in writing afterwards.
My terrace landing has no window. What would you suggest?
Where a loft lies above, a sun tunnel is often neatest: daylight runs down a mirrored tube to a ceiling diffuser. Should the stairs climb into the roof space, a roof window may suit better. Roof first, then explanation.
Is Anstey too far for a Nottingham firm?
No. Anstey is 27.3 road miles from the city centre, within our 30. The survey is not charged for, and we come to your home.