Bearing south-south-west, 21.5 road miles from Nottingham
Skylights & rooflights in Whitwick
A large Leicestershire village on the edge of Charnwood Forest, with evidence of an early castle, an old market place and rows of 1960s homes. The roofs differ by decade, and so do the dark rooms beneath them.
A monastery, a market and a castle site in one parish
Mount St Bernard Abbey was founded on Charnwood Forest in 1835, inside the parish of Whitwick. The village also had a weekly market, a railway and evidence of a castle. Old places like this hold roofs of every age, and we treat them one at a time.
Whitwick, parish by parish
Whitwick, a large Leicestershire village and civil parish under North West Leicestershire, has 10,455 people on the latest record. It is about two miles from Coalville and sits in an ancient parish that once included Thringstone and Swannington. We begin with the Forest and the old railway, then turn to the housing, the council and the choice of rooflight. For the whole service in brief, see skylight installation in Nottingham.
01
On the edge of the Forest
A forest edge, a lake and a nature reserve lie around the village.
Whitwick belongs to the country around Charnwood Forest, and the Forest is close. Mount St Bernard Abbey, a Cistercian monastery, was established there in 1835 within the Whitwick parish. Charnwood Lodge National Nature Reserve is 3 km from the village centre, Whitwick Park only 0.4 km, and Hermitage Lake is no more than about 1.5 km away.
Where a house stands near open water and woodland, damp air is worth planning for. For a rooflight, that is a reason to think about two things: how the joints cope with driven rain, and how the glass copes with damp air indoors.
Cold glass and damp rooms
The inner pane is usually the coldest surface in the room. Warm, wet air from cooking, bathing and drying clothes finds it and turns to droplets. A good sealed unit with an insulating spacer keeps that pane warmer, and a way to open the window lets the moisture go outside. In a bathroom under the roof, opening matters more than size.
| Feature | Type | Km away |
|---|---|---|
| Whitwick Park | Park | 0.4 km |
| Charnwood Lodge reserve | National nature reserve | 3 km |
The joints that matter
On pitched roofs the flashings are chosen for your tile or slate, and we inspect the battens and felt around the opening, so that rain runs past it and not under it. On a flat roof we raise the upstand clear of ponding and form the finish to fall away. Moss and leaf litter build up faster in damp country, so we point out where to look when the job is done.
Winter light is thinnest in the weeks around the shortest day. A rooflight that faces the open sky is the part of the house that gets the most of whatever remains.
One habit helps in any damp house: open the window of a rooflight for a few minutes after a shower, even in winter. Stale, wet air leaves quickly through a high opening, and the glass stays clearer afterwards.
02
A railway that left, and roads that stayed small
21.5miles
by road, out from the city
32minutes
about this long by van
1881built
Charnwood Forest Railway built (1881 to 1883)
The Charnwood Forest Railway was built between 1881 and 1883, and Whitwick had a station on it. That station is closed now, though the platform and the old station building survive, the building being home to the Whitwick Historical Group. The trackbed towards Coalville has become a footpath. Two other former stations, Coalville East and Coalville Town, are shown as closed within about two kilometres.
In practice that leaves the road. No A, B or M road comes closer than a kilometre to the village core, so the last stretch to most Whitwick streets is on local roads.
From Nottingham to your door
The village is 21.5 miles from Nottingham city centre by road to the south-south-west, about 32 minutes by van on a clear run. We cover places up to thirty miles out, so Whitwick falls inside our range with room to spare.
What a survey visit involves
The survey is free. We walk through the room first, noting where the light ends and where you would like it to reach. Then we examine the roof from outside and inside the loft where we can: slope, covering, timbers and the way rain leaves. A written quote follows, and it is the price you pay.
Streets in older parts of a village can be narrow, so once a date is set we ask about space for the van and the easiest way to carry a ladder round to the back.
Neighbouring places are listed on our areas we cover page.
03
Homes from the 1960s building boom
Whitwick grew quickly in the 1960s. Extensive housing development arrived in that decade. The Methodist church at the far end of Hall Lane, close to the Broom Leys cross-roads, was built in 1966 to serve it, and another church had its foundation stone laid in September 1964, a piece of Welsh slate presented by the dean of St David's.
Older roots show too. There is evidence of a timber castle and later a stone one, and a weekly market ran in Market Place from 1838 until the early twentieth century. The village is old, but the 1960s added a great deal of housing.
What a 1960s roof asks
Homes of that period are usually simple in shape, with plain pitched roofs, and many have trussed rafters, which are factory-made triangular frames. Trusses cannot be cut as freely as old rafters, so a new roof window needs trimming that keeps the frame stable. We find out how each roof is built before we name a size.
- Trussed rafter
- A factory-made triangular timber frame, set at intervals, that carries the roof.
- Trimmer
- A timber fixed across the gap where a roof is opened, to carry the load around it.
- Batten
- A thin strip across the rafters that the tiles or slates hang from.
Where the light is missing
A 1960s house often has a landing with no window, a bathroom on the inside wall, and a kitchen or dining room extended later toward the garden. All three struggle for daylight in winter. The sun tunnels we install suit a landing or bathroom, while a flat extension roof can take a lantern or a flat rooflight.
For homes built in that decade, we also look at the roof covering. Concrete tiles are common on estate houses of the period, and they need a flashing set made for them. We bring the right kit for the tile on your roof, which means no improvising on the day.
04
Which authority, and what is protected
Whitwick falls under North West Leicestershire District Council. That is the planning authority, and Building Control goes to its service or to a registered approver. Nottingham City Council, and Leicestershire County Council, play no part in the decision about a rooflight on a house.
Protected buildings
No conservation area is mapped around the middle of the village. We still put your address to the council before we commit to anything, so any Article 4 direction or listing comes to light early.
Historic England lists seven buildings nearby, one at Grade II* and six at Grade II. If your home is one of them, cutting into its roof needs listed building consent, and that conversation with the council comes before any order.
7listed
listed buildings across the wider village area
National rules, written once
What you can fit without applying, and what Building Regulations require when a roof is cut, applies the same across England. It is explained fully under planning permission for rooflights. On a Whitwick job our job is local: which slope, which council office, and whether a notification is due.
Where that applies, we send the Building Control notice, a building notice or full plans, to the district council or to a private registered approver. Afterwards you receive the paperwork, and the rooflight is built to current Building Regulations.
05
Choosing for a Whitwick house
We choose by room, then by roof. In housing like Whitwick's, with its mixture of older village streets and 1960s estates, a few combinations come up repeatedly.
Rooms in the roof
Fitting a roof window to the back slope opens up a bedroom or study. Cut between the trusses where we can, or with proper trimming where we must, it makes the room feel larger on a grey day.
For a deep kitchen or dining extension
A roof lantern over the dark end lights the area no wall window reaches. It draws sky from several faces, which helps when the cloud is thick and the sun is low.
For an older rooflight that has failed
A rooflight whose glass has gone cloudy or whose frame lets water through can usually be swapped for a new one on the same opening. If the upstand or flashing is tired as well, we say that on the survey and include it in the quote, so there are no extras on the day.
Every installation carries our written ten-year workmanship guarantee. Once the survey is done we write one price, and that figure stays put when the work begins.
Before choosing, stand in the room on an overcast afternoon and note where the light dies away. A new opening placed at that point does more than one fitted nearer the window, and on a damp-prone slope it also tells us where the upstands and flashings must work hardest once the rain sets in.
Fixed or opening?
Which rooms need to breathe? A bathroom, a kitchen and a loft bedroom do, so those get a unit that opens. A landing tunnel or a lantern over a dining table can stay fixed, since air already moves through the rooms around them. Choosing this at the survey keeps the price honest, because an opening sash costs more to build than a fixed pane.
What installation day looks like
We open the roof from outside, frame the opening, fit the flashing for your covering and then finish the lining indoors. Dust sheets go down first, and the room is left tidy. You see the new light come in before we leave.
Whitwick householders ask before we climb the ladder
Who decides on a rooflight in Whitwick?
North West Leicestershire District Council is the planning authority. Many rooflights on ordinary houses do not need an application, but a listed home needs consent for a new opening. We look up your address before ordering and handle any Building Control notification the job requires.
Our house was built in the 1960s. Can it take a roof window?
Usually it can, though the roof structure matters. Many homes from that decade have trussed rafters that cannot be cut freely. We see how yours is built from the loft, plan the framing around the opening, and give you a fixed written quote that shows the work.
We have a landing with no window at all. What are the choices?
A sun tunnel is the usual answer. It takes daylight from a small dome on the slope, sends it down a reflective tube and releases it through a diffuser, with no change to the layout. If the roof above is steep enough and the loft is clear, a small roof window may suit better. Both get looked at when we survey.
Is Whitwick too far from Nottingham for a survey?
No. It is 21.5 miles by road, inside the thirty-mile radius we cover, and the survey costs nothing. The visit comes to you, whatever the weather.