Due north out of the city, 18.5 miles by road
Skylights & rooflights in Mansfield
A market town with some long terraced rows, 119 listed buildings in the 1.5 km around its centre and seven conservation areas close to the market place.
Where a horse-drawn railway once ended
In 1819 the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway opened here as a horse-drawn plateway, one of the first lines bought by the new Midland Railway. The Swan, with its 1490 dating stone, still survives among the town's older buildings.
Mansfield, with the listing records open
Mansfield is the market town at the heart of the Mansfield district and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire after the city of Nottingham, with a recorded population of 63,448. It is also one of the more heavily recorded places we cover, with seven conservation areas close to the centre. Below is how that shapes a rooflight job here. For the wider picture, see skylight installation in Nottingham, our overview of the work.
01
Seven conservation areas within walking distance of the market place
Start with the council. Your planning authority in Mansfield is Mansfield District Council, and the town is where the district is run from, so planning and Building Control questions are answered nearby.
Seven conservation areas around the Market Place
The national planning data records seven conservation areas within about 0.6 km of the centre point of the town. They are Market Place, which covers the centre point and was designated in 1974, along with Bridge Street, West Gate, Nottingham Road, Terrace Road, Crow Hill Drive and The Park. Between them they record a long list of listed buildings: 31 inside Market Place, 27 along Bridge Street, 26 around West Gate, 8 on Nottingham Road, 4 at Crow Hill Drive, 3 in The Park and 1 on Terrace Road.
Take in the full 1.5 km around the middle and Historic England counts 119 listed buildings: one Grade I, seven Grade II* and 111 Grade II.
| Area | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|
| Market Place | covers centre | 31 |
| Bridge Street | 0.1 km | 27 |
| West Gate | 0.14 km | 26 |
| Nottingham Road | 0.31 km | 8 |
What that means for your roof
On a listed house, no rooflight goes in until consent is granted. Within a conservation area, the first thing we confirm is whether Article 4 applies, and we often put the opening on the back slope anyway to keep the street front plain. Boundaries and directions are the council's to confirm, so we check with Mansfield before anything is ordered.
The national side, permitted development and Building Regulations, does not vary by town and is covered in planning permission for rooflights. If notification is required, we make it and build to the regulations of the day.
Not sure which side of a boundary your street falls? Give us the address when you book and the council check is part of our survey.
On the day the order of work is the same on every roof: sheeting down in the room below, slates or tiles lifted around the opening, the framing trimmed and supported, the unit set and flashed into the covering, and the lining finished inside. On a November afternoon, with the light fading early, we plan the weather-tight stage first so the roof is closed up before dusk, and the dust sheets, off-cuts and old flashings leave with us.
7areas
conservation areas recorded near the centre
119listed
listed buildings, wider town
02
Mining rows, old inns and what each roof asks for
A few streets in and around Mansfield form long rows of terraced houses, reminiscent of the affordable housing built for mine workers when the industry was at its height. Coal mining was the main industry for most of the twentieth century. The town itself no longer shows signs of it, though some areas nearby still do.
Close to the market place, the picture is older. Travellers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries used inns and stable yards dating from the medieval period. The Swan survives with a dating stone of 1490, and the Ram has timber from before 1500. Leeming Street, near the market place, now holds the Mansfield Museum, the Palace Theatre and a run of bars and restaurants.
The terrace roof
On a long terrace, the front slope faces the street and the back slope faces a yard or garden. That back slope is where daylight can usually go, and a back addition or a rear kitchen is often the darkest room in the house. We measure the gap between rafters, because old roofs rarely have uniform spacing, and choose a size that fits cleanly.
Older, deeper, and more complicated
For a building with medieval timber, any roof work is a conversation. Beams and old joints are part of the character, and we avoid cutting what does not need cutting. We would rather hold back and fit a small, well-placed unit than force a large one into a frame that was built for something else.
Reading a row from the survey
On a long terraced row the extra rooms tend to sit behind the main house in a lean-to or an outshut. These are often the darkest rooms, with one small window and a low ceiling. Because the roof over them is usually a single plain slope, they are among the simpler places to add daylight, and the structure is easy to read from inside. We check the ceiling height first, then how the existing roof is covered, then the position of any party wall, since the rooflight must stay clear of it.
03
Parks, the River Maun and the forest edge
Open ground close to the centre, and the damp it brings.
Mansfield lies a few miles from Sherwood Forest, which William the Conqueror made a royal hunting forest after 1066 and which is still famous for its link to Robin Hood and the Mercian kings. The River Maun flows close to the middle of town, and the town has a ring of parks: Titchfield Park at 0.6 km, Carr Bank Park at 0.7 km, Fisher Lane Park and Jacksons Park at 1 km, and others close behind. Quarry Lane and the two Oakham local nature reserves lie further out, between 1.1 km and 1.7 km away.
Trees, leaves and the flashing
Green ground nearby means leaves, and leaves gather against the upstand of a flat rooflight or the flashing of a roof window. The upstand goes high enough for water to drain below the glass line, and flashing kits follow the roof covering so debris is carried clear.
Condensation in older stock
Old houses with new glazing often see condensation on the coldest pane first. A good unit with warm-edge spacers keeps the inside glass less cold. An opening rooflight lets steam out of a bathroom, and in a kitchen it lets cooking moisture leave before it settles on the glass.
None of this changes what we can fit. It changes how often a roof near trees needs a quick look, so we leave you with a short list of things to check each autumn. The river and the parks do not change what is allowed. They change how the roof has to be kept, so we say so on the survey, in plain terms.
04
Getting here: the A60, A38 and the Mansfield and Ashfield Regeneration Route
By road Mansfield is 18.5 miles out, due north, and the drive is about 34 minutes. The A38, A60, A6009, A6191 and B6033 are the classified roads recorded close to the middle of the town. A bypass, the Mansfield and Ashfield Regeneration Route, opened in 2004 to take through traffic around the town and link the A617 at Pleasley with the A617 at Rainworth.
Mansfield station is open and 0.3 km from the middle of town. We still travel by van, but the station is useful context if you are working from home or away on the day of the visit.
Which part of town?
The neighbourhoods around the centre include Ladybrook, some 1.3 km out, and Berry Hill, about 2.1 km. We cover both, along with every other part of Mansfield. Tell us the street, the type of house and the room you want lit, and we can prepare before we arrive.
18.5miles
by road, city centre to town
34minutes
driving, clear roads
One free visit, then one fixed price
At the survey we study the room, the roof and the route water takes off it, measure, and talk through choices. The quote we write afterwards is fixed: what it says is what you pay. Our areas we cover page lists nearby towns on the same basis.
Parking and access
Close to the market place, parking can be tight. At booking we check van parking and the route to the back garden, so no ladder has to pass through your hall.
05
What tends to suit a Mansfield roof
With terraces, old frontages and some newer building, Mansfield asks for a range of answers. Three come up most.
Back kitchens and rear extensions
A flat-roofed rear extension is often bright at the garden doors and gloomy near the hall. A roof lantern gathers light from several faces and so still reads bright on a cloudy day.
Loft rooms
A steep rear slope suits a roof window. It gives a view out and fresh air, and the loft room feels like a proper bedroom or study in winter. A good survey checks head height at the window position, so the view works from a chair.
- Lantern
- A raised glass box on a flat roof, with glass on several sides.
- Listed building consent
- A separate permission for altering a listed building, which covers cutting a new opening in its roof.
- Sun tunnel
- A small roof dome and reflective tube that carries daylight to a ceiling diffuser.
Landings and internal rooms
Terraces often have a landing or bathroom in the middle. A sun tunnel from the roof to the ceiling brings in daylight without cutting a large opening, and its low dome sits quietly on whichever slope suits the loft.
A failed rooflight can often be swapped on its existing opening, which beats cutting afresh, and every job is covered by our written workmanship guarantee, ten years long.
Asked at the door in Mansfield
My terrace is in one of the conservation areas. Can I still have a rooflight?
Usually, yes. Class C still covers a house in a conservation area, bar an Article 4 direction, so we check that with Mansfield District Council first. A listed house needs consent for the opening. We confirm status before ordering and see to any Building Control notification.
How do I find out if my house is listed?
Ask Mansfield District Council, or search the National Heritage List for England. The national list shows listed buildings by area, and the council confirms the position for your own street. Tell us your address at booking and we cross-check it before the survey.
Which roof suits a dark back kitchen on a terrace?
It depends on what is above. If the kitchen has its own flat roof, a lantern or a flat rooflight lights it best. If it is under the main pitch, a roof window in the back slope is the answer. We weigh both at the survey before any figure is written down.
Do you cover Ladybrook and Berry Hill as well?
Yes. Ladybrook and Berry Hill both belong to Mansfield and sit inside our 30 mile road radius. No charge for the survey, and the quote after it is fixed and written.