Alderley Edge rooflights, from cotton barons' villas to newer roads

Skylights and rooflights for Alderley Edge's Victorian villas and newer roads

Alderley Edge grew from Victorian villas in a mix of styles, then new roads and houses mostly finished by 1910, then post-war housing on its edges. We pick the rooflight to match the room and the person who will open it.

Villa roofs in Welsh slate or clay tile get a flashing kit to match
Tall villa rooms: a rod, a remote or electric opening, chosen at survey
We check your address with Cheshire East Council before quoting

11 road miles south-west of Stockport

Alderley Edge is a village at the foot of The Edge, a wooded sandstone escarpment looking out over the Cheshire Plain. Its best known houses are Victorian villas. The first went up in the early 1840s, and by 1850 thirty stood here, built mainly by Manchester cotton barons who moved out of Manchester as the railway came. They are a mix of mock Tudor, Italian, neo-Georgian and Arts and Crafts designs, in stone, brick, render or roughcast, under Welsh slate or clay tile. Sir Humphrey de Trafford then developed an estate of new roads and houses, mostly complete by 1910, and post-war housing followed on the north-eastern and western edges.

Each kind of house asks something different of a rooflight. In a villa the question may be how anyone opens a window set high in a tall room. In a house with a kitchen or garden room at the back it is more likely the blind, the afternoon sun and who cleans the outside of the glass. A survey here starts with how the room is used and who will open the window.

What suits a villa and a garden room

Five kinds of rooflight fit the houses in the village, from a lantern over a kitchen to an electric window in a tall room, with a listed-building route when a house needs one.

A sitting room with a dog asleep on the rug and French doors onto a frosty garden

Using a rooflight in an Alderley Edge villa

Where a villa room is tall, a window near the ridge is out of arm's reach, so a rod, a remote or electric opening does the work.
A lantern over a garden room catches the afternoon sun, and a blind worked from a remote is easier to use than one you have to climb for.
The outside of a lantern and the outside of a roof window are cleaned in different ways. We explain both when the work is finished.
VELUX fits a rain sensor to certain of its electric and solar roof windows, which closes a window left open if rain starts while the house is empty.

What an Alderley Edge house asks of its rooflight

From tall villa rooms to garden rooms on the newer roads, these are the questions a survey in the village works through.

The room under our villa roof is tall. How do we open a window we cannot reach?

Alderley Edge is known for its Victorian villas. The first went up in the early 1840s, and thirty stood by 1850. Where a villa room runs tall under a slate or clay tile roof, a roof window can sit well above head height, and the first practical question is how anyone opens it.

A rod, a remote or a motor

A manual roof window has a handle at the top, and a telescopic rod reaches it. That suits a window opened occasionally, over a landing for instance. A bedroom or study window you want open each morning is easier with electric or solar opening, worked from a small remote or a wall switch. Electric windows need a cable, which is simple when a ceiling is already open for other work. Solar ones need none, which helps in a replacement where the plaster inside should stay as it is.

Blinds on the same remote

A blind that is awkward to reach is a blind that stays open. On a high window, pick one that runs from the window's own remote. Blackout suits a bedroom, and a stairwell may want no blind at all. Our guide to blinds and controls sets out the choices.

Who uses the room

We ask who opens the window before we suggest one. The answer changes with the seasons too: a window that stays shut all winter can be a fixed one, while a bedroom window opened every day through the summer is better as an opening one with a remote. A teenager's room under the roof and a study off the stairs can end up with different controls in the same house. If a child sleeps there, read the child-safe opening guide first.

A tall villa room, planned for daily use

Covering: Welsh slate or clay tile, with a matching flashing kit
Window: Roof window sized to the rafters
Opening: Electric or solar for daily use, a rod for now and then
Blind: Run from the same remote
Paperwork: Building Regulations notification handled where the work is notifiable

We are adding a garden room to the back of the house. Would a lantern suit it?

A villa that has been extended at the back, or a post-war house with a flat-roofed kitchen, can take a roof lantern. A lantern is a small glazed roof that stands up from a flat roof. It gives a room height as well as light, and it suits a wide kitchen or garden room with the table in the middle.

The sun on the afternoon side

Glass over a dining table gets warm when the sun swings round. Solar control glass, or a blind under the lantern, deals with it, and the choice is easier to make at the survey, when we can see which way the room faces. Our guide to solar control glass explains what it does.

Keeping the outside clean

Ask early how the outside glass will be reached, because a lantern on a high roof is a different task from one over a single-storey kitchen. We talk the options through before you choose, and the answer can change which lantern we recommend.

Planning

A lantern that comes with a new extension is looked at with the extension. A lantern on a roof that already exists may need an application of its own. The lantern guide and the planning guide show how to tell which applies.

Garden room, our advice

Decide who cleans the glass and how before you pick the lantern, not after it is on the roof.

Does it matter whether our roof is Welsh slate or clay tile?

Yes, though not for the reason people expect. Both coverings take a roof window well. What changes is the flashing kit, the set of pieces that makes the join with the roof watertight. Each covering has its own, so we note the covering at the survey and order the kit to match it.

What else we note

We look at where the rafters fall, because the size of the window follows them. We look at the pitch, because it affects how the window opens and how far you reach to the handle. And we look at the room below, because a window over a bed is a different choice from one over a landing.

Replacing an old window

If a villa roof already has a roof window, it may drop into the same opening. The label on the old frame carries a size code, and our guides to finding a VELUX size code and new opening or same opening explain what that means for the plaster inside.

Cleaning a roof window

A pitched window can usually be cleaned from the inside if it pivots, which is worth asking about when you choose one. A top-hung window opens differently and is cleaned in a different way, so the choice of hinge belongs in the conversation about how you will live with it. The guide to centre-pivot and top-hung windows sets out the difference.

Roof terms you will hear at the survey

Flashing kit: The set of metal pieces that seals the join between a roof window and the roof covering.
Centre-pivot: A window that turns on a bar across its middle, so the outer glass swings inside to be cleaned.
Top-hung: A window hinged at the top that opens outwards and upwards, like a skylight flap.
Size code: The letters and numbers on the old window's label that tell us its frame size.

Our villa may be listed. What would that mean for a rooflight?

Historic England lists buildings in Alderley Edge, from Chorley Old Hall, listed Grade I, to the Church of St. Philip and St James, listed II*, and Grade II buildings that include The Stone House and the range of barns at the Ryleys Farmhouse. If your house is on the list, listed building consent will almost always be required before a new or altered rooflight goes in. Our guide to conservation rooflights and listed buildings shows how that process runs.

Looking up your house

You can search the national list on historicengland.org.uk. We check your address with Cheshire East Council before quoting.

Permitted development and the villa

Listed or not, a house in the village can normally take a rooflight as permitted development, with conditions that the planning guide sets out. A conservation rooflight, which sits flush in the slope with a slim bar, is still worth a look on a slate villa because from the drive it looks like part of the slope.

Escape from a converted attic

An attic turned into a bedroom has to be planned with a route of escape. That sits under the Building Regulations, and the Building Regulations guide explains it.

If the villa is on the list

Settle the consent first. The rooflight design follows what the consent allows.

Across the village

Alderley Edge

Alderley Edge falls inside the straight-line radius the map draws around Stockport.

Does our work reach your road?

Alderley Edge is 11 road miles south-west of Stockport; the village runs from the villas at the foot of The Edge to the post-war housing on its north-eastern and western edges.

Nearest town pages

Alderley Edge house questions

Where do planning questions for an Alderley Edge house go?

Cheshire East Council. The council handles building control, or a registered building control approver. Before we write the quote, we look your address up with the council.

Can a roof window go into a Welsh slate roof?

Yes. The window is fitted with a separate flashing kit chosen to match the covering, and slate and clay tile each need a different one. We look at the covering at the survey. Our flashing guide explains the kits.

The kitchen at the back of our house is dark. Lantern or flat rooflight?

A lantern gives height and suits a wide room. A flat rooflight sits low and suits a narrow one. Both can be fixed or opening, and both can have a blind. We weigh them up at the survey; see choosing for a flat roof.

Will an electric window work if the power goes off?

That depends on the model, so we ask for the maker's details before you choose and explain what each one does. Solar models run on a built-in cell, and the electric or solar guide compares the two.

Do you work on villas that have been split into flats?

We survey the roof and the room below, whoever owns it. Planning permission is needed for a rooflight on a flat, and the freeholder usually has to agree too. Settle both first.

Our old roof window has misted up between the panes. Can the glass alone be changed?

Sometimes the sealed glass unit can be swapped and the frame kept, and sometimes the whole window is the better answer. We check the frame at the survey. The misted rooflight guide sets out how we decide between the two.

Free survey

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

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

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