Skylights & rooflights in Hartshill
Cottage roofs, local stone and quarry-edge views.
Hartshill is a village of local stone, old quarries and the canal, so its roofs range from small old cottage slopes to later rear extensions where a single-storey addition has opened up the back of the house.
- North Warwickshire Borough Council
- Cottage and village roofs
- Canal and quarry village
Local stone and a ruined castle near the village centre
Hartshill is a big village and parish in North Warwickshire, 11.5 road miles out from Coventry. It runs straight into the much larger town of Nuneaton, whose centre is two and a half miles to the south-east, and the market town of Atherstone is three and a half miles to the north-west. The A5, the former Roman Watling Street, marks the county boundary. The census count for the village is 2,826.
The facts we hold describe a place built on stone. The village was recorded in the Domesday Book as Hardreshull, meaning Heardred's Hill, and the remains of Hartshill Castle, a medieval castle, stand near its centre. Local stone appears in its public buildings: the village bus shelter, put up in 1972 in memory of the Elizabethan poet Michael Drayton, is made from local stone and shaped like a scroll. Drayton was born in 1563 at Chapel Cottage in Hartshill Green.
Quarries shaped the working life of the village. At one time, industrial tramways served the local quarries and connected them to the Trent Valley railway line and the Coventry Canal. One of the parish's five pubs, The Anchor, sits on the canal. A village with a quarry past and a canal beside it tends to hold a mix of small stone and brick cottages, terraces built for working households and later homes on the edges.
For roofs, the cottage is the building to think about. A cottage roof is usually modest in size, with a steep or varied pitch, a covering of clay tile or slate and timbers that were cut by hand. The loft may be low, and the ceilings below are often small. A rooflight can suit such a house very well, provided the window is chosen to fit the roof and not the reverse.
Later in the twentieth century the village grew, and the homes of that time have a different roof: a wider, shallower tile roof over a loft that can often be converted. Both kinds sit side by side in the village, so a survey is always the starting point.
A rooflight is easier to picture once you have seen one on a similar roof, so a nearby example is a useful start. A neighbour who has had a rooflight fitted can tell you how it works in daily life, and we are always happy to be asked to match or improve on a nearby example.
The parish also borders Ansley to the south-west, Mancetter to the north-west and Caldecote to the east, which gives the area a continuous, linked pattern of villages. We include each in our rounds, and the surveys are easy to combine.
Because Hartshill touches Nuneaton, a street can pass from village to town without any visible line. Roofs on either side may come from different periods and have different frames. We never judge the roof from the road, because the only reliable guide is the structure itself, seen from the loft and measured on site.
Stone cottages, canal terraces, family houses: pick by roof
Old stone cottages, canal-side terraces and later family houses call for different units. Matching the unit to the roof is the survey's first job.
- Roof windowsA cottage or terrace roof with a usable loft takes a roof window sized to the rafters.
- Conservation rooflightsOn an older tile or slate roof visible from the lane, a flush conservation rooflight sits quietly in the slope.
- Flat roof rooflightsA single-storey rear addition, with a flat roof, takes a flat glass rooflight.
- Sun tunnelsA narrow cottage landing or bathroom under a low roof takes its light from a sun tunnel.
Also fitted here
Near Hartshill
- Ansley Common3 min
- Mancetter5 min
- Atherstone7 min
- Nuneaton9 min
Drive times from Hartshill.
North Warwickshire, and the cottage that might be listed
Hartshill answers to North Warwickshire Borough Council on planning. The facts we hold describe a medieval castle site and buildings of local stone, but name no conservation area, so we check your street before quoting. A cottage that is listed needs consent first, and Article 4 questions go to the council.
Building Control notification is made by us where the job requires it. The rooflight planning guide sets out the national position, and you can read it before the survey.
Say at the first contact whether your home is a cottage of any age or a listed building, since that changes what we check. Photographs are the quickest start: a view of the roof from outside and a shot of the room you want to light give us an early opinion on what might work before we visit.
01 Cottage roofs
Small slopes, hand-cut timbers and lofts that were never meant for a window.
On the roof
A cottage roof is a small thing, and every part of it counts. The rafters are close to the size of the room below, the pitch may be steep and the covering may have weathered unevenly. A rooflight there has to fit between the rafters with little to spare, and the survey records the exact gap at the exact position.
If the best position falls across a rafter, we have two options. A smaller unit can sit between the rafters with no timber cut. Or we cut one rafter and frame the opening with new timbers sized for the load. The quote names the choice, so you know what is involved.
The covering is next. A clay tile or slate roof is flashed with a kit that matches the profile or with lead dressed by hand. The tiles are lapped back over the flashing so water runs round the unit and onto the roof below.
On a roof that is visible from the lane, a flush conservation rooflight reads as a line of glass in the slope and keeps the character of the cottage.
Cottage gutters are often fixed directly to the rafter ends, and the eaves are low. We take care with ladders and access, and we protect the garden and the path while we work.
If the covering is old and fragile, tiles near the opening may need replacing with a close match. We source a close match and tell you what we used.
In the room
A cottage bedroom under the roof is often small, with a sloping ceiling and a low window. A roof window above the bed adds daylight from a second direction and changes how the room feels. The room seems taller, and the sky becomes a feature.
The reveal is framed in timber and lined with insulated plasterboard, then splayed where the depth of the roof allows. A cottage ceiling is often rounded or uneven, and the plasterwork follows it by hand so the junction looks natural.
If the ceiling is lath and plaster, we cut back to sound edges first. A careless cut sends cracks across the whole ceiling, and avoiding that is part of the job.
The room is left ready for paint, with a clean reveal and a smooth edge.
A low ceiling benefits from a lively reveal. We shape the splay so the plaster slopes upward toward the ceiling, and it directs light along the sloping ceiling and down the walls.
In a bathroom under the roof, an opening unit is a useful addition, giving ventilation without a fan.
For a cottage with a boarded loft above a small landing, a sun tunnel is often the neatest answer. The tube runs up through the roof space to a small dome on the slope, and the ceiling diffuser is a single clean disc. It needs very little cutting and gives a dim landing a real daytime glow.
Thick stone walls make for deep window reveals downstairs, and the contrast with a bright rooflight upstairs is part of a cottage's charm. We aim to keep that balance and not flatten it.
Where two cottages share a roof, we keep the work well within your own half and say so in the quote.
The short version
On a cottage roof, a window that fits the rafters is better than a bigger one that does not.
02 Rear additions and garden rooms
Single-storey extensions, barn-style rooms and conservatories with a roof that can do more.
On the roof
Cottages gain space at the back. A single-storey addition, perhaps a kitchen-diner or a garden room, extends toward the garden, and its roof is flat or shallow. That roof is where a flat glass rooflight or a roof lantern belongs.
We check the deck first. A sound deck takes a new insulated upstand and a rooflight sitting on it. The covering goes up the kerb and slips beneath the unit's flange, so water cannot enter. If the deck is soft or ponding, we deal with it before the unit is fitted, and the work is included in the same fixed quote.
A barn-style addition, with a pitched roof and exposed timbers, suits a roof window or a conservation rooflight in the slope. The unit follows the angle of the roof and sits in line with the covering.
An older conservatory with a polycarbonate or glass roof that has misted can be replaced with a solid insulated roof and rooflights, though that is a larger project we cover at the survey.
A garden room is often used all year round, so the glass specification matters. Better glazing keeps the room warm in winter, and solar control glass keeps it cooler in summer. We talk through the options at the survey.
Gutters, downpipes and the junction with the old wall of the cottage get a close look too. Where a new roof meets an old stone wall, the flashing is chased into the wall, or a stepped cover flashing is fixed to the face, so the abutment stays dry.
In the room
A single-storey addition has one great advantage. The ceiling can be opened to any shape the roof allows. We cut the opening wide, frame it and splay the sides, so the light is spread across the table and the worktop.
In a barn-style room with exposed timbers, the position of the opening is set by the structure. We choose a spot between the timbers and let the light fall on the beams, which brings out their colour.
The plaster is finished smooth and the edges are made good. Decoration can start the day after.
When the room is used as an office or studio, steady light from above is a real asset. It does not flicker across a screen or cast hard shadows on a drawing board, and the splay can be angled to put the light where the work happens.
A rooflight above a back door or utility space is a small change with a big effect. These rooms are the working end of a cottage, and daylight there makes them easier to use at every hour.
Every detail is written into the quote before the work begins, so there is no uncertainty about what is included.
The back of a cottage is where the house opens out, and the roof is where it lets the light in.
Steep cottage roofs and stone-and-tile looks: Hartshill
My cottage has a low, steep roof. Can a window fit?
In most cases a smaller roof window can sit between the rafters. We measure the gap and the pitch at the survey and tell you which unit suits. If a rafter must be cut, new framing carries the load round the opening, and the quote says so.
Would a rooflight spoil the look of a stone and tile cottage?
A flush conservation rooflight on a rear slope sits level with the roof and keeps the roof line quiet. We show you a sketch of the position before you decide, and if the cottage is listed, consent comes first.
Is Hartshill easy to reach for a survey?
Yes. Allow about 22 minutes from Coventry, with Nuneaton, Atherstone and Ansley Common beside it. A form or a WhatsApp message will get a survey booked.
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