North of the city centre, 26.7 road miles away
Skylights & rooflights in Shirebrook
A railway town where a model village was springing up in 1897, and where affordable homes are planned on part of the former colliery site. Old and new roofs sit within the same few miles.
A model village, a pit, and now new homes on the pit
In July 1897 the Derbyshire Times described a model village springing up near Shirebrook, with some 150 houses built and about 420 more to come. More than a century on, part of the former colliery site is getting homes of its own.
Shirebrook, railway town and model village
Shirebrook is a Derbyshire town with a railway station that is still open. Four rail routes once met here, and a model village was springing up by 1897. We have arranged this page around the questions a rooflight job raises in a town like that, from the station to the planning record to the product. If you want the wider picture first, our skylight installation in Nottingham page is the place.
01
A station that survived, three that did not
Shirebrook still has a railway station, mapped about 1.2 km from the centre point. Others nearby have gone. Shirebrook South, 0.7 km out, was on the Great Northern Railway's Leen Valley Extension, opened in 1901 and closed in 1931. Shirebrook North, 0.9 km out, opened in 1897 as Langwith Junction, was renamed in 1924, and closed in 1955. A fourth, Langwith, about 1.9 km away, has gone too.
Four routes once converged on the town. By the 1950s only the line to Lincoln was left. The Leen Valley line to Pleasley and Sutton-in-Ashfield closed in 1931, the line to Beighton via Clowne in 1939, and the one to Chesterfield via Bolsover in 1951, after Bolsover Tunnel was judged unsafe.
What this means for our visit
From the city centre it is 26.7 miles of road to Shirebrook, heading due north, and about 41 minutes behind the wheel. That is near the far edge of our area, so we plan to see everything in one trip. We work from the road network: the B6031 and B6407 pass close to the centre, and the A632 runs nearby between Mansfield, Worksop and Bolsover.
To make a single visit worth it, we ask a handful of questions beforehand. Where can the van stand? How do we reach the roof? Is the loft open to the hatch? Snapshots of the roof and the dark room help us arrive prepared.
26.7miles
of road from the city centre
41minutes
drive time on the map, a guide only
Then the survey
The survey costs nothing. We look at how light behaves in the room, then at the roof's covering, framing and drainage. A price in writing follows. It does not change once agreed, and the work starts on that number. Nearby towns and villages we serve are listed under our areas page.
02
Pit-era housing, first-time buyers and what is under the slates
Two chapters stand out in Shirebrook's housing. The first is the model village of 1897. The Derbyshire Times reported on 30 July that year that about half a mile from the old settlement, a model village was springing up, with some 150 houses erected and roughly 420 yet to build. The second is recent: as part of the government's Levelling Up programme, a plan to create affordable homes on part of the former colliery site has set up a First Homes pilot, letting local first-time buyers and key workers buy new builds at a discount.
Between those two sit the decades in which the town grew. Together the two chapters show that Shirebrook has both very old planned streets and brand-new homes, and the roofs behind them could not be more different.
Planned rows, a hundred and more years on
A row built in the 1890s has seen repairs, re-covering and perhaps an extension or two. We check what the covering is now, what the timber looks like and how sound the structure is round any place we wish to open. A cut-timber roof can take a new opening if the rafters round it are trimmed and the rest of the frame is sound.
- Model village
- A settlement planned and built as a whole by a company or landowner, usually with houses in repeated designs.
- Truss
- A ready-made roof frame that works as one piece, so a rooflight must fit between trusses or be supported.
- Re-covering
- Stripping an old roof covering and laying a new one over the same structure.
New builds
A recently built house usually has a roof of factory trusses, a membrane and tidy tiles. It is straightforward to look at, but trusses are not for cutting through casually, so the opening is planned between members or supported with extra timber. A new house also has its own warranty conditions, and we advise talking to the builder before altering the roof of a very new home. From the garden, a new window on a trussed roof should sit flat and square in the slope, with the flashing matching the tiles around it.
In either age of house, the quiet places for daylight are the same: the stair, the landing and the bathroom without a window. Our page on sun tunnels shows how little roof they ask for.
03
Bolsover, and a conservation area one village over
For planning in Shirebrook, the authority is Bolsover District Council. The town is in Derbyshire, so Nottingham City Council has no role.
What is recorded nearby
The only conservation area on record near Shirebrook sits 1.28 km away, called Upper Langwith, designated on 7 February 1979, with three listed buildings inside it: one Grade II* and two Grade II. It carries the name of a different settlement, Upper Langwith. We still check Bolsover's Article 4 list for your road, since that is what could remove the usual rooflight right.
Historic England's list shows three listed buildings round the centre, a Grade II* and two at Grade II. Where a house is listed, its owner must obtain listed building consent before the roof is cut. A house next to a listed one is not bound by that rule, and its own permitted development right stands.
3listed
buildings near the centre (1 Grade II*, 2 Grade II)
1.28km
to the nearest recorded conservation area, Upper Langwith
National rules in a separate guide
The tests for permitted development, and the building rules that apply to a new opening in a roof, are the same everywhere in England. Rather than repeat them town by town, we hold them in the planning permission guide, and keep that one page right.
The local half is ours. We ask Bolsover whether your address has any special status. A notifiable job gets its Building Control paperwork from us, sent to the district or to a registered approver, and the rooflight is built to the Building Regulations in force.
04
A town centre being renewed, and the light behind its shopfronts
Small commercial roofs are part of what we do.
Plans have been set out to improve Shirebrook's market place. They include resurfacing the market square, building a new Town Council building and introducing themed markets such as craft, arts and flea markets. A separate two-year investment is meant to improve access to public services and stage community events.
Why mention it on a rooflight page? Because a town centre is made of roofs as well as streets, and some of them cover shops, stores and rooms over them. Small commercial jobs are welcome with us, as well as homes.
Dark back rooms
Behind a shopfront there is often a long room that gets light only at the front. A flat rooflight over the back brings daylight into a stockroom, kitchen or treatment room, and it does not take up wall space. For a larger, taller space, a lantern turns the ceiling into a source of light. Both are covered on the flat roof rooflights page.
| Station | Distance | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Shirebrook South | 0.7 km | Closed |
| Shirebrook North | 0.9 km | Closed |
| Shirebrook | 1.2 km | Open |
| Langwith | 1.9 km | Closed |
Flat roofs and their edges
The success of a flat-roof rooflight rests on its kerb, the raised frame it sits on, and on how the roof covering is finished against it. We make the kerb tall enough to keep standing water below the seal, and we set the covering to fall away from it.
Reading about daylight in the dull months, many people expect a rooflight to be a summer feature. Our grey day daylight guide explains why we plan for October to March first.
05
What suits a Shirebrook roof
Housing that runs from an 1890s model village to new builds rules out one stock answer. Three situations are likely, and each has its own fit.
A loft room in an older house
A room made in the roof wants sky to look at and air to breathe. A roof window supplies both. Two in a row light a long, narrow attic more evenly than one big unit, and each is sized to the rafter spacing so the timber is left as intact as we can manage.
A new-build kitchen or extension
Open-plan rooms in recent houses are often deep, and the far end can stay dim from October. Daylight reaches that end through a flat rooflight above it, or through a lantern if the ceiling has room to rise. The roof lanterns page covers proportions and how the join to the roof is made watertight.
Replacing what has worn out
Older rooflights can mist between the panes, leak at the edge or stick when you try to open them. We install new units and replace old ones. Sometimes the new rooflight can go on the existing opening, so the structure stays untouched, and the survey tells us when that is so.
The workmanship on each of these jobs carries our written guarantee, which lasts ten years.
Shirebrook: planning, new builds and the survey
Is Bolsover the council I need for a rooflight in Shirebrook?
Yes. Planning for Shirebrook falls to Bolsover District Council. The usual new rooflight on a house falls under national rules laid out in our planning guide; listed buildings are the chief exception. Before anything is ordered we put your address to Bolsover, and we file whatever Building Control notice the work needs.
Can I put a roof window into a house built in the last few years?
Usually yes, though a recent roof is likely made of trusses that cannot be cut through casually. The opening has to sit between members or be supported with extra timber. It is also worth asking your builder whether a warranty covers the roof before any alteration. We look at the structure first and quote afterwards.
We have a small shop with a dark storeroom behind it. Do you take on jobs like that?
Yes, we take on small commercial work as well as homes. Daylight usually arrives best through a flat rooflight above the storeroom or a back kitchen. The survey is free and covers roof and room together, and the quote that follows is written and fixed.
Shirebrook is a long way from Nottingham. Is it within your area?
Yes. At 26.7 road miles out, Shirebrook sits inside our 30-mile limit. The distance is why the survey is one full visit. There is no showroom to find: we come to you, and the price written down afterwards does not shift.