26.9 road miles to the south-west, out where the National Forest starts
Swadlincote: rooflights and skylights, fitted and replaced
A town built on clay and coal, with a brick on its coat of arms. Houses of many ages, and plenty of rooms that need daylight from above.
A town dug out of the ground and fired into brick
Coal and clay under Swadlincote drew in collieries, brickworks and potteries, and the town grew round them. Its old crest shows a human arm holding a yellow brick for the local brick-making industry.
Swadlincote, from clay pit to rooftop
Swadlincote is a historic mining town in South Derbyshire, in the National Forest area, with a recorded population of 34,569. It has no railway station within 2 km, a conservation area that covers its centre and a forest park above it. We run through the industry that built the town, the woods around it, the road network, the council, and the products we would choose. If you have not met us before, the page on skylight installation in Nottingham explains what we do.
01
Coal, clay and the houses they paid for
The coal measures here sit alongside fire-clay with a high alumina content, and the pairing set the town's course. Collieries such as Granville Colliery, brickworks and potteries came to dominate the area, and urban growth followed the work. The old coat of arms carried a crest of an arm holding a yellow brick for the local brick-making industry.
Where a house is built of brick, the walls are rarely the question for a rooflight; the roof structure is what we check. Rafters or trusses? The loft hatch gives the answer, and that sets how wide a window can be.
Terraced rows and their dark middles
Where houses stand shoulder to shoulder, the middle of the plan is the dim part. A landing, a stair, a bathroom with no outside wall: none of them can borrow light from a window. A sun tunnel is a clean answer where a loft space sits above, and a small roof window works where the slope runs straight over the room.
Extensions at the back
Where a kitchen or dining room has been added at the back, the old back wall no longer lights the room. A lantern or a large flat rooflight over the new room replaces the light the old back wall used to give. Our roof lantern page covers frames, glass and how the upstand is built.
- Masonry
- Walls built from brick or stone, set in mortar.
- Lantern
- A glazed structure that rises above a flat roof, with glass on several sides.
- Sun tunnel
- A roof dome joined by a reflective tube to a diffuser in a ceiling below.
02
Inside the National Forest, with parks on every side
Trees keep a roof cleaner than you would think, and dirtier.
80acres
Swadlincote Woodlands Forest Park
40,000trees
more than this many, in that park
Swadlincote lies in the National Forest area. Swadlincote Woodlands Forest Park covers 80 acres, holds more than 40,000 trees and has two recreational trails and several viewpoints across the town. Closer to the middle are Diana Memorial Garden (0.2 km), Eureka Park (0.4 km) and Swadlincote Woodlands and Park (0.7 km), then Maurice Lea Memorial Park at 1 km and Cadley Park a little further, at 1.3 km. To the north-west, the suburbs of Newhall and Stanton lie along a green belt that stops the town merging with Winshill and Stapenhill in Burton upon Trent.
What trees do to a roof
Trees shade glass, drop leaves and drip sap. A rooflight under an oak or a birch gets less light in summer and more in winter, which is the period when the daylight is wanted. The leaves are a different matter: a flat roof traps them against the kerb where they block the run-off, and above a pitched window they slow the water leaving the glass. We set kerbs high, form a fall away from them and fit generous flashings so the roof can cope with wet autumn weeks.
Keeping the cold out of the glass
In a winter house the roof is where heat leaks first, and a poor rooflight makes a room feel colder. Modern glazing units use a low-emissivity coating and a gas-filled gap, and the frame is built to break the path of cold. We compare the units on offer with you at the survey and explain what each adds, so the choice rests on the room, not on a brochure.
Views up and down the hill
The forest park has a number of viewpoints across the town. For rooflights, the direction matters less in the grey months than a clear view of sky. We favour the slope with the widest sky.
03
Three roads in, and no station to meet us
Out to the south-west, Swadlincote is 26.9 road miles from Nottingham, and about 40 minutes behind the wheel in normal traffic. The town sits near the junction of the A514, running from Derby to the A444, and the A511 between Burton upon Trent and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Three classified roads run close to the middle: the A514, the B5353 and the B586.
Neither a railway station nor a tram stop lies within 2 km. That makes no difference to us, because we come in a vehicle with ladders and glazing, but it does mean that arranging a visit is straightforward only if you tell us where the van can pull up.
The survey
Surveys cost nothing. We stand in the room, notice where daylight stops and then climb to the roof to look at the covering, the framing and the way water drains. Our quote afterwards is written down and fixed, and nothing is added on the day.
| Place | Type | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Upper Midway | Suburb | 1.2 km |
| Lower Midway | Suburb | 1.3 km |
| Church Gresley | Suburb | 1.5 km |
| Oversetts | Suburb | 1.8 km |
Midway, Church Gresley and Oversetts
The town has named parts that are worth listing. Upper Midway is 1.2 km from the town centre point, Lower Midway at 1.3 km, Church Gresley at 1.5 km and Oversetts 1.8 km. All are in our area, and so is the rest of South Derbyshire within 30 miles. See where we work for the wider map.
26.9miles
heading out south-west
40minutes
at the wheel, usual traffic
04
South Derbyshire decides, and the centre is a conservation area
Your planning authority is South Derbyshire District Council, in the county of Derbyshire. Not Nottingham, and not the county of Staffordshire next door, even though Burton upon Trent is only a short way off.
A protected town centre
A Swadlincote conservation area covers the town centre point. It was designated on 16 August 1990 and holds eight listed buildings, all Grade II. Across a wider radius of 1.5 km, Historic England has 18 listed buildings on file: a single Grade II* and 17 at Grade II.
So a house near the middle of town may be inside a protected area, or may be listed, and we find out which before an order is placed. A listed house must have consent for a new roof opening. In a conservation area the standard house allowance normally still applies, and we search the district's Article 4 records before we propose a slope visible from the street.
8Grade II
listings inside the centre area
1990year
the centre was designated
The general rules
Most of what applies to a rooflight on a house is the same all over England. It is gathered in our page on permission for a rooflight, kept in one place so it stays right. Our job in Swadlincote is to bring the local detail: which council, which slope, which listings.
If Building Control must be informed, we handle the notice, sent to a building control body (council-run or registered), as the job requires. The fitting is built to current regulations.
One tip before the survey: find out whether the house is a flat, a maisonette or a listed building, since those are the cases where permitted development does not apply in the usual way. A house in the middle of town is most often an ordinary house, and the answer is quick. We check the council's Article 4 list in any case, and tell you what we find before you commit to a quote.
05
What we would suggest in a town like this
Here are three jobs that match the housing a mining and brick town leaves behind.
A kitchen extension with a brick surround
If the room has a flat roof and walls on three sides, a lantern or large flat rooflight over the middle brings sky into the centre of the room. A lantern looks smart from the garden, and a flat unit is plainer and lower. A blind, an opening vent and a better glazing unit can each be specified at the quote stage, so you see them as separate lines before you commit.
A loft you would like to use
A roof window set into the back slope opens the loft to sky and air. Slate and tile roofs both take a purpose-made flashing kit, and we match the kit to your covering.
A terrace or lightwell
Where a flat roof is walked on, a walk-on rooflight lets daylight reach a room below. These are chosen for the load they bear, and we cover that detail at the survey.
A landing with no wall to borrow from
In a mid-terrace the stairs and landing sit between the party walls, with no window of their own. A sun tunnel borrows light through a reflective tube, from a modest cap on the roof to a panel in the ceiling. The landing gets a window of sorts, and on a grey afternoon it looks like another room.
Replacing what is there
If an older rooflight has gone cloudy or leaks, a new one often fits the existing opening. We tell you at the survey whether that is the case. All our work comes with a written guarantee of ten years.
A quick test before the survey: stand in the room on a grey afternoon and see where the light fades. That spot is where we aim the opening.
Asked in Swadlincote about roofs and glass
Is the town centre protected, and does that stop a skylight?
The centre is a conservation area, designated in 1990, with eight Grade II listed buildings inside. That does not stop a skylight: a house rooflight there remains permitted development, unless South Derbyshire District Council has made an Article 4 direction or the building is listed. South Derbyshire hears about your address from us before any glass is ordered.
Will brick walls and an old roof make a rooflight harder to fit?
Not usually. What decides it is the roof structure, not the wall. We measure the rafters on the survey, then size an opening to suit. A written fixed price follows, and the figure holds on the day.
We have trees all round. Will a rooflight just collect leaves?
It can, so we plan for it. A flat rooflight sits on a raised kerb with a fall away from it, and a pitched window gets a flashing with a generous lap. Brushing leaves off in autumn is all it needs after that.
You are in Nottingham. Do you really come all the way to Swadlincote?
Yes. It is 26.9 miles by road, inside the 30-mile area we serve. We visit your home for a free survey, because there is no showroom to go to.