Rawtenstall rooflights, from mill-worker streets to mill-owner villas

Rooflights and skylights for Rawtenstall, the Rossendale Valley town the mills built

Rawtenstall grew with the cotton mills at the centre of the Rossendale Valley, and the people who ran them and worked in them both needed houses. We choose the rooflight for the room and for whoever opens it.

Article 4 directions touch parts of the town, so every address is checked first
A loft window in a narrow room chosen for reach as well as light
Bigger roof windows weighed up for a mill-owner-era house

26 road miles north of Stockport

Rawtenstall is a town in the borough of Rossendale, Lancashire, at the centre of the Rossendale Valley, with the River Irwell passing through it. Growth came with the Industrial Revolution as cotton mills were built; only a few of them survive and none operate. Quarrying and small-scale coal mining ran alongside, and slipper-making was one of the last survivors. The Whitehead brothers built mills and large numbers of terraced houses for their workers, and substantial houses for themselves at Holly Mount. The house now called The Whitaker, in Whitaker Park, went up in the 1840s for the mill owner George Hardman.

So there are two kinds of house in the story, and each asks something of a rooflight. A worker's terrace can have small rooms and little space under the roof, so reach and cleaning count for more than size. A bigger house of the mill-owner era can have larger roofs and rooms, and a larger window may call for a motor and a heavier blind. We do not assume which you have. The survey starts with the room, who opens the window and how the outside glass is reached, and the fixed written quote follows.

Fittings for terraces, villas and dark landings

Five fittings for the kinds of house the town's mills left behind, from a daylight tube in a stair to a conservation rooflight on a protected roof.

A fitter fixing a timber trimmer beside a roof window opening in a loft, insulation between the rafters

A rooflight in daily use in Rawtenstall

In a narrow attic the window can sit close to the bed, so a restrictor and a handset kept on the landing can matter more than a motor.
A bedroom under a slope wants a blind that runs in rails and works from the window's own remote.
A sash that turns lets you wipe the outside from the room, which suits a roof you would rather not climb onto.
Larger windows in bigger houses need their motor and blind chosen alongside, and we cover that at the survey before any quote.

Terrace, villa and listed church: Rawtenstall questions

Four questions that follow the town's own building story, from the rows built for workers to the houses of their employers and the protected areas between.

How do we reach and shade a loft window in a narrow room?

The Whitehead brothers built large numbers of terraced houses for their workers. We do not know how many survive, and we do not assume that yours is one. If you live in a terrace, though, the space under its roof is likely to be narrow, and the window that goes in it has to work with a bed, a desk or a child's play area right underneath.

Close to the bed

When a window sits above a bed, the person lying there can reach the handle. That is convenient, and it is also the reason to think about a restrictor if a child sleeps in the room. The page on opening that suits a child's room covers the choices. One check goes with it: if the attic depends on this window for escape, an adult must be able to override the restrictor and open it to the full. A handset on the landing, out of a small hand's reach, solves it without any fuss.

Shade without a stool

The blind is the other half. In a narrow room under a slope, light comes in at a low angle early on and a plain curtain does not help. A blind that runs in side rails stays put when the window is open a little. Blackout is for a bedroom, and pleated is for a room used in daylight. Read blinds and controls for VELUX windows for the fabrics.

Cleaning from the inside

A sash that turns lets the outside of the glass be wiped from the room, which suits a roof you would not want to climb onto. We tell you which models turn and which do not, and we show the sash being turned so you can judge the weight of it yourself. The guide to roof windows in converted lofts sets out sizes and positions.

A narrow attic, thought through

Window: Sized to the rafters, set so the bed is not directly under it
Opening: Pole or handset, with a restrictor if a child sleeps there
Blind: Rails, so it holds still when the sash is part open
Cleaning: A sash that turns, if the roof is not safe to climb

What should we expect from a sun tunnel on a grey Rossendale day?

Rawtenstall sits at the centre of the Rossendale Valley, and like anywhere it has its dull days. A sun tunnel works from daylight, not from sun alone, so it still gives light on a dull day. It gives less than on a bright one, and we say so rather than promise.

What the parts do

A dome on the roof gathers light. A tube carries it down through the loft. A diffuser in the ceiling spreads it into the room, and for the diffuser to fit, an opening is cut in the ceiling. You see the tube end as a round or square panel, flush with the plaster. Nothing opens, there is no blind and there is no handle to forget.

Where it works and where it does not

A stair, a hall or a bathroom with a loft above it suits it. A room where you sit and read in the evening does not. A tube is not a window: you cannot look out, and by the evening a lamp is still needed. The page on which rooms a tube suits lists the spaces, and sun tunnels and the rules explains the paperwork side.

The loft in between

The run through the loft must be clear. If the loft is boarded or crowded, the route changes, so we look before we quote. A flexible tube goes round pipes; a rigid one goes straight.

A bigger house from the mill-owner era: what sort of roof window suits it?

The Whitehead brothers put up substantial houses for themselves at Holly Mount, and the mill owner George Hardman had The Whitaker built in the 1840s. If your house belongs to that tradition, the roof is larger, the rooms beneath it are larger and the windows can be too. That brings its own questions about weight, reach and the blind.

Big glass, heavy sash

A large roof window has a heavy sash. A manual handle on a high, wide window is hard work, and an electric or solar motor takes the effort away. The comparison of wired and solar opening shows when each suits. A pair of windows side by side can be run from one remote, and the blinds go with them. In a stairwell or a double-height room, a wall switch at a height you can reach is worth asking for, because a handset left on a shelf has a way of vanishing.

Light in a big room

A large window brings in a great deal of light, and in a south-facing room that can mean glare and heat. Solar control glass and a blind take the edge off, and our page on solar control glass explains the coating.

The old roof

A bigger house has a bigger roof to read. We look at the covering and the structure around the opening, because the window sits in what is already there, and a big window needs sound timbers round it. If a house is protected by a boundary or a listing, the next chapter explains the check.

A big-house rule

The bigger the window, the more the household depends on its motor and blind, so pick those with the glass.

Rawtenstall has conservation areas and Article 4 directions. What gets checked?

Planning.data.gov.uk records conservation areas in Rawtenstall that include the town centre area and Fallbarn, and it records Article 4 directions over parts of the town. We do not know what each direction restricts, so we do not guess. We check the address with Rossendale Borough Council before quoting. Sitting inside a conservation area does not by itself stop a rooflight; a direction can, and that is why the address check is first. The planning guide explains how rights can be removed.

Listed buildings

Historic England lists the Rawtenstall Cenotaph, Crawshaw Hall and the Church of St Nicholas with St John at Grade II*, and Longholme Methodist Church and the Church of St Mary at Grade II. A rooflight on a listed house almost always requires listed building consent. The page on listed homes and rooflights shows how that works.

A low profile

Where a roof is protected, a rooflight that sits low with a slim bar tends to suit it. See VELUX conservation roof windows. Bring a photograph of the roof and any decision notice for earlier work. A condition on an old permission can remove rights, and the notice is the quickest way to find out.

Terms on the council's map

Direction: A council order taking away some permitted development rights in a marked-out area, so that work there needs an application.
Higher grade: A higher grade of listing than plain Grade II, given to particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
Decision notice: The document that grants a planning permission and sets out any conditions.

Across the Rossendale Valley town

Rawtenstall

Rawtenstall is inside the circle on the map, and that circle is a straight line out from Stockport, so the postcode box is the proof for our road-mile cover.

See whether your Rawtenstall road is covered

Rawtenstall is 26 road miles north of Stockport, and our surveys take in the whole town, from the centre to the streets climbing the valley sides. Enter a postcode to check your road.

Nearest town pages

Straight answers for Rawtenstall homes

Who decides planning for a house in Rawtenstall?

Rossendale Borough Council. Rossendale's own building control team can inspect the work, or you can hire a registered building control approver. We check your address with the council before quoting and explain what we find.

Does a new roof window have to match the size of the old one?

Not always, but where a matching size exists the new window can go into the same opening and the lining indoors can stay as it is. The size code is on a label on the old sash. See the page on keeping the opening or moving it and the one on replacing an old VELUX window.

Does a loft conversion need anything beyond the roof windows?

Yes. A loft that becomes a bedroom is a project with its own rules, and the Building Regulations guide sets them out. Where a notification is needed for our part of the work, we file it.

Is a sun tunnel noticeable from inside?

Only as a flat panel in the ceiling. The diffuser sits flush with the plaster once the opening is finished, and we show you the finish at the survey so you know what the ceiling will look like.

What does the guarantee cover?

For a roof window or conservation rooflight fitted in Rawtenstall, our workmanship guarantee lasts 10 years, and the makers' guarantees on their products differ. At handover we explain the controls, the blinds and the cleaning. See our guarantee.

Free survey

Book your free survey

Tell us about the room and the roof. We visit, measure and send a fixed written quote for the job in Rawtenstall.

Fixed written quote
We handle the Building Regulations notification where the work is notifiable
10-year workmanship guarantee

Request my survey

OrWhatsApp 07880 284133