Nearly 24 road miles from Nottingham, to the north-north-west
Skylights & rooflights in North Wingfield
A large Derbyshire village with a Norman church at its heart and four old hamlets folded into it. Its centre is a conservation area with six listed buildings, and a rooflight here starts with a check on your address.
Four hamlets that became one village
Hepthorne Lane, Hillyfields, Highfields and Church Hill were once separate, and locals still use the names Hepthorne Lane, Highfields and Church Hill. Each grew on its own before they joined, so no two roofs get the same answer from us.
North Wingfield, hamlet by hamlet
With 9,545 people on the recorded count, North Wingfield is a big Derbyshire village and civil parish in the North East Derbyshire district. It lies about 7.2 km south-east of Chesterfield and 1.6 km north-east of Clay Cross. The chapters below start with the coalfield past, then take the council and the conservation area, the road that runs through the village, the open ground around it and the rooflights that suit it. To place us first, start at our skylight installation in Nottingham page.
01
A coalfield village of four hamlets
North Wingfield sits in the former coalfields, and collieries employed its people for most of its recent history. The village is made up of the former hamlets of Hepthorne Lane, Hillyfields, Highfields and Church Hill. Residents still call Hepthorne Lane, Highfields and Church Hill by their old names.
That matters for a roof. A village made from four settlements joined together may have several building periods rather than one. A street at Church Hill and a street at Highfields can differ in age, in material and in roof shape, even if they are a few hundred metres apart.
Starting with the loft
A village name tells us nothing about a roof, so we start at the roof. If there is a loft, we go up and look at the timbers, the underside of the covering and any signs of past repairs. We also look for daylight showing through the covering and for tide marks on the timbers, which show where water has found a way in before. We measure the rafter spacing, as it decides how wide a roof window can be without extra trimming.
What a former colliery area often asks for
Past coal working does not alter how a rooflight is fitted. The general rule still holds that older roofs carry older timbers. Where a rafter is old or has been cut for an earlier opening, we reinforce the trimming. We would rather say so at the survey than discover it on the day.
Every price we give is fixed in writing once we have seen the roof, so a hidden surprise on a roof is our risk to survey out, not a bill we add later.
02
The village conservation area and its listed buildings
6listed
buildings inside North Wingfield Conservation Area (1987)
14listed
entries counted by Historic England, 1.5 km from the centre
Parts of the current church, dedicated to St Lawrence, date from the Norman era, and some features are Anglo-Saxon in origin. A village with a building that old is likely to have a protected centre, and the records bear that out.
What the planning data says
North Wingfield Conservation Area lies right at the village centre point, 0.06 km away. It was designated on 2 September 1987 and holds six listed buildings, all Grade II. Across 1.5 km around the centre, Historic England's list has 14 entries: one Grade I and thirteen Grade II.
- Grade I
- The top listing grade, kept for buildings of exceptional interest.
- Listed building consent
- The approval needed to change a listed building, a new roof opening included.
- Registered building control approver
- A private body that can check building work in place of the council.
Which council
The local planning authority is North East Derbyshire District Council, not Nottingham City Council. It is the body we speak to about a rooflight in a conservation area, a listed house or a Building Control matter.
What that means for a rooflight
Anyone with a listed home needs listed building consent before a roof opening goes in. Inside the conservation area, permitted development still applies to a house unless an Article 4 direction has been made, and that is the one thing we confirm first. For a house near the church or on the old village streets, we check with the council first for any listing or Article 4 direction, and we say so in the quote.
Outside the conservation area, the ordinary national rules apply. You will find them in our write-up on planning permission for rooflights, which we keep current so this page does not have to.
When the job has to be notified, we send the notice ourselves, to the council or to an independent approver, and fit the rooflight to the regulations in force.
03
The A6175 runs through the village: reaching you
North Wingfield is 23.6 road miles north-north-west of Nottingham, about 35 minutes in a van. The A6175 runs through the village, linking the M1 motorway to the A61, and the B6038 passes inside a one-kilometre ring round the centre. The nearest station, Clay Cross at 0.9 km, has closed. We drive to every job.
What a longer drive means for you
For us it means we plan a visit properly rather than squeezing it in. We ask about the roof and the room when you book, so that the survey is not wasted. The survey is free, and you do not need to be at the house for the whole of it, though we like to see the dark room with you.
23.6miles
road miles, Nottingham to North Wingfield
35minutes
in the van, Nottingham to North Wingfield
At the house
We look at the room as it feels in your own routine. Where do you sit? Where is it gloomiest in the afternoon? Then the roof: the covering, the structure, the way water leaves it. A priced quote follows, fixed in writing.
Access matters on a road through the middle of a village. Can a van pull up, and is there a side path to the back? Carrying long ladders through a house is nobody's favourite.
If the day is a long one for you as well, say so. We can fit the roof inspection and the room measurements into one visit, so you are not asked to take a second morning off.
| Route | Status |
|---|---|
| A6175 | Through the village, M1 to A61 |
| B6038 | Within about 1 km |
| Clay Cross station | Closed, 0.9 km |
Nearby places
Clay Cross is about 1.6 km away and Chesterfield about 7.2 km. We cover addresses up to 30 miles around Nottingham by road, and our areas we cover page shows how the patch fits together.
04
Nature reserves, washlands and open ground
What an open edge to a village does to a roof.
North Wingfield Nature Reserve lies about 1.1 km from the centre, and Avenue Washlands about 1.8 km. Washlands are low ground set aside to flood, which says something about how water moves through this landscape.
A village on the edge of open land sees wind and rain arrive without much shelter from other buildings. A roof there needs careful detailing, and a rooflight should be no exception.
Flashings and fixing
On a pitched roof, the flashing is the part that keeps weather out. We order the set made for your tile or slate and look hard at the battens round the opening. Wind-driven rain finds any gap, so the lap between the flashing and the covering is the detail we look at twice.
Frost and damp
Cold glass makes condensation in kitchens and bathrooms. Glazing with a warm-edge rim helps, and a rooflight that opens gives steam an exit. On a grey January morning, check which room runs with water on the glass; that is usually the room where an opening sash earns its keep. In an older house with little loft insulation, we also look at whether warm air from the room is reaching the roof space around the new opening and what to do about it.
Debris and the upstand
Flat-roofed extensions collect leaves and grit. The upstand lifts the rooflight above any standing water, and we leave a clear fall across the roof so that water moves to the gutter rather than sitting at the frame.
None of this needs a special product. It needs the survey to look at the roof edge, the gutter and the nearest trees, and the quote to include the detail that handles them.
05
Rooflights that suit a village of mixed ages
With houses of several periods, we pick the rooflight by the room, never the street. Three starting points help.
Under the roof
In a bedroom or a study upstairs, a roof window is the straightforward choice. In older roofs the rafter spacing sets the window width, so we measure before we name a size. Several small windows, such as the two in the photograph below, can suit an old tiled slope better than one large one.
A landing with no daylight
A sun tunnel gathers light at a roof dome and passes it down a bright metallic tube, ending at a diffuser in the ceiling. It suits an upstairs landing with no window, because the roof opening is small and the change inside is large. Before we promise a tube, we check the loft above it: a clear, straight run keeps the picture bright, and each bend costs some light, which we explain at the survey. See our sun tunnels page for how far one can run.
A flat-roofed extension
On a flat-roofed rear extension, a flat rooflight or a lantern above the room's far end lights the part the back door never reaches. Our roof lanterns page covers the raised option.
Swapping a tired North Wingfield rooflight
An existing rooflight that has misted or tired can often be swapped in its own opening, which is tidier than cutting a fresh one. A ten-year workmanship guarantee, in writing, covers every installation and replacement we do. The survey settles which route your roof suits.
What North Wingfield homeowners ask before a survey
Am I inside the conservation area?
The national records show a North Wingfield Conservation Area covering the village centre, designated in 1987, with six listed buildings inside it. Give us your address when you book. We confirm your house against the council's records before ordering a rooflight, and explain what the status means for the slope you are considering.
Who decides on planning here?
North East Derbyshire District Council is the planning authority for North Wingfield. Most rooflights on a house are permitted development, though listed buildings need consent, and an Article 4 direction can remove the right altogether. Any Building Control notification the job needs is ours to send.
Can a rooflight go into an old tiled roof?
Yes, with care. Old roofs can have uneven rafters and mixed repairs, so we measure the spacing, check the covering and plan the trimming at the survey. A flashing set cut for your tile or slate keeps the weather out. The quote is fixed in writing after the roof has been seen.
Do you come to North Wingfield for a quote?
We do. At 23.6 road miles from Nottingham it is comfortably inside our 30-mile radius. Surveys cost nothing, and with no showroom to visit, we come to you.