South-south-west of the city centre, 22.9 road miles out
Skylights & rooflights in Markfield
A large village inside two forests at once, built on its own hard granite, with a conservation area right by the centre. Roofs here deserve to be looked at before they are cut.
A village that quarried its own hill
Markfield gave its name to markfieldite, a very hard microdiorite quarried locally and used for roadstone and railway building. The quarried outcrop at Hill Hole is now the highest point in the village, with views that run for miles.
Markfield, inside two forests
Markfield is a large village in Leicestershire with a recorded population of 4,761, and it sits inside two forests at once: the National Forest and Charnwood Forest. The page starts with the setting and works towards the practical matters, namely who decides, what the quarrying past leaves behind, how we reach you and the products we would propose. To meet the firm first, go to skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
Two forests, a nature reserve and a hill with a view
Trees, weather and light in a village on high ground.
Markfield lies in both the National Forest and Charnwood Forest. The village has two nature reserves on its doorstep: Hill Hole to one side and, almost touching it, the Altar Stones and Blacksmith's Field reserve. Markfield Hill is mapped about 0.5 km from the centre.
Hill Hole is the highest point in the village, and from the top of the quarried granite outcrop the view runs across the Midland Plain. On a clear day it reaches as far as the Clent Hills, 43 miles away, with the Cotswolds to the south and the edge of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire to the east. A place with that much sky is rarely short of light in summer. It is the dull months we think about.
Wooded edges and a roof
Where trees stand near houses, their shade moves across a roof through the day and falls longest in winter, when the sun is low. We note it. A slope that looks sunny in June can lie in shadow from October, and for a rooflight the position that gets the most open sky is more valuable than the one that gets a little direct sun.
Leaves are the other effect. They drift into the valleys of a pitched roof and bank against the kerb of a flat rooflight. We fix the kerb tall enough to stand clear of a puddle and finish the flashing so the first leaf fall does not become the first leak.
| Place | What it is |
|---|---|
| Hill Hole | Nature reserve, highest point |
| Altar Stones and Blacksmith's Field | Nature reserve |
| Markfield Hill | Hill, about 0.5 km out |
Height and exposure
High ground catches wind. Rain driven sideways finds every weak point, so on exposed slopes we pay extra attention to how the flashing is lapped into the covering. Our note on daylight on grey days explains the reasoning behind planning for the dull months first.
02
Hinckley and Bosworth, and two conservation areas by the centre
2areas
conservation areas on record, both called Markfield
6listed
buildings on the national list nearby (1 Grade II*, 5 Grade II)
Markfield sits in Leicestershire, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district. The planning authority is Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. The city council plays no part.
The conservation record
Markfield has two conservation areas, both carrying the village name. The nearer lies 0.19 km out from the middle of the village and encloses four listed buildings, a Grade II* with three Grade II. The other is 0.41 km away and has none. In 2012 the borough council published an overview of the Markfield conservation area, which is the document to look for if you want the council's own account.
Historic England's list holds six listed buildings in all, counting those inside the conservation area, for the 1.5 km around the village centre: a Grade II* with five at Grade II. A house could stand close to any of them, so we check each address against the list.
Why it affects a rooflight
In a conservation area, the national allowance for a rooflight on a house can still apply, but a council may have withdrawn it with an Article 4 direction, so that is the first thing we check for any slope seen from the street. Where a house is itself listed, consent of a different kind has to be granted before the roof is touched. In both cases we put the question to the borough before an order is placed, and the answer decides which slope we propose.
Markfield rooflights and the rules that are national
The permitted development tests and the Building Regulations for a new opening do not vary from village to village, and you will find both in our planning permission page. For notifiable work, the Building Control notification is ours to make.
03
Quarrying, hard ground and what lies under a roof
Markfield has a long association with quarrying. It has a particular granite, a microdiorite, named after the village, known as markfieldite. It is a very hard stone found in the local area and used for roadstone and in railway construction. The Hill Hole outcrop, the highest point in the village, is itself a quarried granite face.
For a skylight, that history carries a lesson about patience. Hard ground makes digging slow, and hard materials ask for care. Roof structures call for a similar attitude: we want to know what we are cutting into before the first tile is lifted.
What we check in the loft
The roof over your head is read in the loft, not from the road, and what we find there decides the size and the position. On the survey we look for these things:
- whether the roof is framed with cut rafters or factory trusses
- how the covering is laid and whether it is sound around any opening already there
- how much clear height there is under the ridge for a sun tunnel or for the inside finish of a window
- where wiring, pipes or a chimney stack sit near the place we hope to use
In older cut-timber roofs, rafters can be trimmed back around a new opening. A truss is not for casual cutting: the opening must fall between members or be carried on extra timber. Both routes work, and the survey tells us which one your roof allows.
- Microdiorite
- A hard, fine-grained igneous rock. Markfieldite, quarried locally, is a granite of this kind.
- Truss
- A ready-made triangular roof frame that works as one piece and is not cut through freely.
- Article 4 direction
- An order by a council that takes away the standard national allowance for jobs like rooflights in a named area.
Light for a roof room
If a loft has become a room, a roof window is the usual answer, because it adds a view and an opening for air. A pair of windows side by side spreads light along a long room better than a single big one, and we set the height so you can look out while seated.
04
The A50, the M1 and a van with no station to use
Markfield is some 22.9 miles away along the road from the city centre, to its south-south-west, and the drive is around 31 minutes. The A50 is the only classified road mapped near the centre, and the village lies to the south-east of Junction 22 of the M1 and to the south of that A50. We come by van, door to door. A Travelodge stands on the A50 as a landmark for anyone navigating by road.
One visit, properly prepared
As this is in the outer part of our area, we prefer a single well-prepared visit to repeat trips. When you get in touch, we ask what the room is like, whether you can show us the roof from the garden and how to reach the loft. Photographs help, but nobody needs to produce drawings.
The survey is free. At it, we spend time in the dark room itself, then climb up to look at the pitch, the covering, how it is framed and where the rain goes. After that we write the price down. That figure is fixed, and it is the figure on the day of the work.
22.9miles
road miles from Nottingham centre
31minutes
drive time as mapped, a guide only
Across the county line
Markfield is in Leicestershire, not Nottinghamshire, and that makes no difference to us. Our area reaches 30 miles out of Nottingham on the road network, and the villages and towns near Markfield are listed on our areas page. We work in homes and small commercial buildings, and we come to you, with no showroom to visit.
05
Rooflights we would plan for a Markfield house
A village that sits high, under open sky, with trees about, suggests a few clear choices. Each solves a different problem.
Wide and flat over a deep room
A kitchen or living room extended into the garden often has a far end that stays dim. A flat rooflight placed there draws daylight straight down. The flat roof rooflights page covers the sizes and how we make the opening watertight.
A lantern where there is a flat roof and ceiling height
If the ceiling can rise into a raised frame of glass, a lantern collects sky from several directions, and that is why it holds up under cloud. Our page on roof lanterns explains proportions and construction.
Replacing a worn unit
An older rooflight may have fogged between the panes or a seal may have given way. We install new rooflights and replace old ones, and the survey tells us whether the existing opening can be reused. A written ten-year guarantee covers the workmanship.
A landing with no window
Where a landing or an inside bathroom has no outside wall, a sun tunnel is the modest answer. A small dome on the roof collects light, and a mirrored tube carries it down to a ceiling panel. It does not need a big opening, so it often sits well in a roof where a larger window would be awkward.
On a listed house, consent from the council comes first; in a conservation area we look up whether an Article 4 direction applies, and otherwise none of this changes.
Markfield, two conservation areas and a pitched roof
Who handles planning for a rooflight in Markfield?
The planning authority is Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. For the typical house, national rules apply, though a listing, or an Article 4 order for the road, can alter that. We contact the borough on your behalf before ordering and prepare any notification Building Control needs.
The planning map shows two conservation areas near the centre. Does that include my street?
Possibly. Both carry the name Markfield and both lie within half a kilometre of the village centre point. Send us your address and we will ask the council which side of each boundary it falls on. That happens before anything is ordered, and it costs nothing.
Can a roof window be fitted in a loft with factory trusses?
Usually, though never by cutting a truss and leaving it. The roof's load path is studied first. Then the opening goes between members, or extra timber takes what the removed piece used to carry. This is among the first points the survey settles.
Is Leicestershire within your area?
Yes. The county line does not matter to us. Markfield is about 22.9 road miles out, comfortably inside our area, and we visit you at home. A fixed written quote follows a free survey.