11.3 miles south-south-west of the city centre, over the county line
Skylights & rooflights in Kegworth
A large village squeezed between the M1 and the River Soar, with old frames hidden behind newer fronts and a lot of low, grey sky above the river. The back rooms of its houses are where a rooflight earns its keep.
A village between the motorway and the river
The M1 runs along one side of Kegworth and the Soar along the other, and the A6 once ran up London Road, through the Market Place and down Derby Road to junction 24. Hosiery and lace gave way to light industry and the airport. What has not changed is the weather over the roofs, and a back room behind an old front can miss most of the daylight it brings.
Kegworth, from the Soar to the slate
Kegworth is one of Leicestershire's larger villages, with the M1 along its western side and the River Soar along its eastern. That river also marks the county boundary with Nottinghamshire, so although the village feels like part of the Nottingham orbit, its planning belongs to a different council. The sections below take the council first, then the buildings, the water, the roads and the products. For the rest of what we do, start at skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Across the county line: a different council decides
This catches people out. Kegworth is eleven miles from Nottingham, yet it lies in Leicestershire, and the Soar on its eastern edge is the line between the two counties. The local planning authority is North West Leicestershire District Council. A Kegworth homeowner should not ring Nottingham City Council, or Rushcliffe, with a question about a roof.
We cover homes on both sides of the county line, so the boundary does not change what we offer. It does change who holds the planning record for your address, and we ask the right office rather than assuming.
Thirty listed buildings near the village centre
No conservation area is recorded for Kegworth near the centre of the village. North West Leicestershire holds the current designations, so we ask the council about your address whenever a house is old or sits among older neighbours.
The listing record is richer. Historic England shows 30 listed buildings within a short distance of the centre: one at Grade II*, twenty-eight at Grade II and one entry with no grade given. That is a lot for a village. Some homes here may have a listed neighbour, or be listed themselves.
30listed
buildings on Historic England's list near the village centre
2counties
Leicestershire for planning, Nottinghamshire across the river
Listed house, new opening
Putting a rooflight into the roof of a listed home needs listed building consent, which is a separate permission from planning. If your house is listed, we say so on day one and talk through what the council is likely to accept: usually a small, flush conservation-style unit on a rear slope, kept out of sight of the street. Our page on conservation rooflights covers what that looks like.
The England-wide rules for permitted development and Building Regulations are set out in the planning permission for rooflights guide, and we leave them there. This section is only about Kegworth.
02
Old frames behind new faces
A walk up Packington Hill makes the point. Many buildings in Kegworth keep their oldest parts hidden. Stucco, plaster and modern fronts have been added over the centuries, and at the rear of some houses near the top of the hill, early eighteenth-century timber frames are still visible. What looks like a plain nineteenth-century cottage can be much older underneath.
The village earned its living in layers. Farming came first, then road and river traffic, then textiles, the railway and the canal, and now light industry, the motorway and the airport. Each phase left something behind, so the housing is more mixed than a single date would suggest.
Why this matters at the roof
An old frame under a newer face tells us two things. First, the roof structure may not look like the textbook version. Timbers can be irregular, spaced unevenly or later cut through for chimneys and stairs. We measure on the roof and in the loft before we name a size, so the opening fits the structure that is really there. Second, a house that has been altered several times may already have a rooflight, patched or replaced at some point, and the existing opening can save work.
Rooms lit from one side
Where an upper room has windows along one side only, that side is bright and the other is not. A roof window on the dim slope balances the room, and it reads as brighter under cloud because it takes light from above the whole space.
A flat-roofed back kitchen is the other common case. There, a flat rooflight or a lantern lights the middle of the room in January when the garden window is giving up. Our page on roof lanterns shows what the options look like.
- Rafter
- A sloping timber that carries the roof covering from ridge to eaves.
- Trimmer
- A short cross-piece that closes the frame round a hole cut in the roof.
- Stucco
- A smooth plaster coat on an outside wall, often hiding older brick or timber behind it.
03
The Soar, the new cut and the damp air
What water close by asks of a roof through a long grey winter.
Two watercourses run close to the village: the River Soar and the Loughborough Navigation, also known as the Soar New Cut. A nature reserve, Sutton Bonington Spinney and Meadows, lies about 2.3 km away. With the Soar and its navigation close by, damp air is part of the weather here, and a roof needs to be detailed for it.
Even grey, and how to use it
In a Kegworth December the light is soft and comes from no particular direction, so what helps is area rather than aim. A large, flat rooflight over the right part of a room lets in more of that diffuse light than a small window looking at the same cloud. Position matters too: over the middle of a deep room it lights both walls, where a window at one end lights one.
Wet ground, wet air
Where the land sits near water, the air carries more moisture through the cold months. Kitchens and bathrooms add their own. Moisture settles on glass first, then runs to the edge of the frame and sits. Choosing glazing with a better thermal performance helps keep the glass from getting so cold, and you can read more in our guide to energy-efficient rooflights.
We also look closely at how water leaves the roof. On a pitched slope the flashing is the thing that fails first, so we match the kit to the covering and lap it properly. On a flat roof the upstand needs enough height that standing water in a wet winter never reaches the glass line.
Inside the room
Condensation is not only a roof issue. If a bathroom has no extractor and no opening window, a rooflight that opens can give the steam somewhere to go. We will say on the survey whether an opening unit makes sense for your room, or whether a fixed one with better glazing is the better buy.
04
From junction 24 to your front door
Kegworth sits 11.3 miles from the city centre on the south-south-west side, about 18 minutes' drive in ordinary traffic. The A6 is the classified road nearest the middle of the village. It once ran straight through, up London Road, across the Market Place and down Derby Road to meet junction 24 of the M1, which gives you a sense of how much traffic passed through here before it was moved.
There is no working railway station to rely on: the old Kegworth station, 1.3 km away, is marked as closed. Everyone arrives by road, ourselves included. The motorway to the west and the airport nearby keep the area busy, so we ask you to tell us any awkward parking details beforehand.
Booking a visit
A survey costs nothing and takes place at your house. We stand in the room and see where the light stops. Then we check the roof above and the loft or ceiling space below. When that is done, the price goes into a written quote, and it will not move after you accept it.
It helps to tell us a few things beforehand. Can the van stop near the property? Is there a loft hatch? Is the house listed, or beside one? A photograph of the dim room, taken in the afternoon, is more useful than any description.
| Detail | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Road distance, city centre | 11.3 miles | By road |
| Typical drive | 18 minutes | Ordinary traffic |
| Nearest main road | A6 | Past the centre |
| Old station | 1.3 km, closed | Disused |
Roads we use
Because the A6 and the motorway join Kegworth to Loughborough, Derby and Nottingham, we can reach the village from any of them. If you are comparing towns we serve, the areas we cover page lists them all.
05
What tends to suit a Kegworth roof
Housing with this much age and variety rewards a choice made room by room. Here are the three jobs we would expect to talk about most.
A deep extension or a flat-roofed rear room
If the back of the house has been extended into the garden, the middle of that room is farthest from any glass. A lantern or a large flat rooflight lights it evenly. We would discuss whether the existing roof can carry the extra weight, and how the upstand is built so the roof stays watertight.
A loft room under an old roof
An old timber roof with a bedroom or study in it usually suits a roof window. It gives light and fresh air, and you can see the sky from a chair. We fit the flashing to the covering, and the finish inside is taken neatly back to the plaster.
A landing, hall or bathroom with no outside wall
A sun tunnel is a rigid or flexible tube. A little dome catches the daylight on the roof and the tube carries it down to a diffuser in the ceiling. It suits a space with no wall facing outwards, and it is a small job compared with a window. Our guide to sun tunnels explains how much light to expect.
Replacing instead of adding
If an existing unit has misted, dripped or become stiff, replacing it on the opening you already have is often tidier than cutting a new one. We look at the frame and the flashing during the survey, and say what we think before you decide anything. Whatever we fit carries a ten-year written guarantee on the workmanship.
Questions from Kegworth before the survey
Kegworth is near Nottingham but in Leicestershire. Which council do I deal with?
For Kegworth the planning authority is North West Leicestershire District Council, because the village lies in Leicestershire and the Soar is the boundary with Nottinghamshire. We contact them about your address when the house is old or listed, and we deal with any Building Control notice a job needs.
My cottage looks Victorian but the loft timbers look much older. Is that a problem?
Not in itself. Many Kegworth buildings carry old frames behind newer fronts. It means we measure rafters and spacing on site instead of working from a standard drawing, and sometimes we reinforce around the opening. The survey tells us how much, and the quote reflects it.
Can a rooflight go into a listed house here?
It can be possible, but listed building consent is needed before the work starts. Councils generally prefer small units on a rear slope, kept low and flush with the covering. We tell you at the survey whether your roof looks suitable, and we do not order anything until consent is in place.
The glass in our extension rooflight is fogged between the panes. What are our options?
A fogged unit has lost its seal, and the gap will not clear. If the frame and upstand are sound, a new sealed unit can go on the same opening. If the frame has also tired, the whole rooflight is replaced. We check both during the survey and put the answer in the written quote.