Bowdon villas, steep slate roofs and rooms built tall

Skylights and rooflights for Bowdon's Victorian villas on Green Walk and the Downs

By 1878 Bowdon was described as studded with handsome villas and mansions, and villas of that age have steep roofs and tall rooms, with extensions often added to the rear. A rooflight here is mostly a question of reach, of blinds and of getting at the glass.

Bowdon, Devisdale and Ashley Heath addresses checked with Trafford Council first
Reach settled for tall rooms: rod, remote or solar motor
Villa extensions weighed up for a lantern or a flat rooflight

14 road miles west of Stockport

Bowdon is a village of about 6,100 people, and it grew quickly once the railway opened in 1849. The railway made the clean air of Bowdon Downs attractive to developers. Terraces and semi-detached houses came first. Then merchant princes built large houses on Green Walk in the 1860s and 1870s, and by 1878 the place was described as studded with handsome villas and mansions. The Downs themselves were common land until about 1750, and Dunham Massey Hall and its deer park, which belong to the National Trust, lie within the ward.

Large Victorian villas have steep slate or clay-tile roofs and tall rooms, and the roofs are often broken up by hips and valleys. Extensions have often been added at the back. Those facts set most of the questions. A window in a steep roof is a long way up. A rear extension is a sizeable room that needs light and shade. We start every survey with who will use the room, then give a fixed written quote.

For a villa and its extension

Steep slate roofs, tall rooms and extended kitchens are the cases these five answer. Each page explains how the thing opens, how it is cleaned and what it asks of you day to day.

What a Bowdon villa asks of a rooflight

Tall rooms, a roof broken by hips and valleys, a rear extension and conservation areas. Here is what comes up when we survey in the village.

The roof of our villa is steep and the loft room is tall. How do we reach the window?

A villa from the Victorian years sits under a steep roof with decorative ridges, hips and valleys, and the rooms beneath are tall. Put a loft room inside one of those, and the window ends up well above head height. The window that suits a low cottage slope can be awkward here.

Opening a high window

A manual window with a top handle can be worked with a telescopic rod. That is fine on a landing that gets opened a few times a year. For a bedroom or a study you use every day, a remote or solar motor is less tiring. Electric models are wired in, which is simplest while the ceiling is open. Solar models need no cable, so they suit a replacement where you would rather leave the plaster alone. Our guide to electric or solar opening compares them.

Blinds you can work

A tall room invites a blind that hangs well out of reach. Choose one that runs from the window's remote, so closing it is a button rather than a stretch. Blackout is the usual pick for a bedroom. A landing or a stair hall may need no blind at all, since people pass through it rather than sleep in it. Our guide to blinds and controls sets out the choices.

Hips and valleys

A hip or a valley limits where a window can sit, because the rafters and the flashings have to line up. We look at the slope from the loft and from outside before we promise a position. Our guide to flashing for slate and tile shows how the weatherproofing is matched to the covering.

A villa loft room, on paper

Roof: Steep slate or clay tile, with hips and valleys
Window: Sized to the rafters, set where it can be reached
Opening: Solar, electric or a rod, by how often you use it
Blind: Blackout, worked from the same remote

We have extended our villa at the back. Is it a lantern or a flat rooflight?

Extensions have often been added at the back of Bowdon's villas, and a kitchen or a family room at the back is the natural place for a rooflight. It is a large space with the garden on one side, and the question is how much sky to bring in, and how you will live with it.

Flat rooflight

A flat rooflight lies low on its upstand. It is neat from the garden and easy to clean, and it suits a long, narrow extension. It brings light into the middle of the room without raising the roofline. Over a kitchen island it also means the light falls on the worktop rather than only on the floor, which is where you want it. An electric one opens from a wall switch or a handset, which is useful over a cooker. Ask about a rain sensor if the house is empty by day.

Lantern

A lantern rises above the roof in a glass frame, with more height and more sky. It suits a wider room, and the table underneath it is a good place to sit. A lantern on a new extension is assessed with the extension, while one added to an existing roof usually needs a planning application. The planning guide sets out the position, and we check it for your address.

Glare, heat and the glass

A south-facing glass roof can run hot in summer. Solar control glass and a blind keep a room comfortable, and the blind is worth asking about before you choose the roof, because a lantern needs a different one from a flat pane. For the outside, find out how the glass will be reached. A lantern with several bars takes longer to clean than one flat pane. Our guide to roof lantern sizes and kerbs covers the sizes and the kerb.

Back of the villa

A long, narrow extension suits a flat rooflight. A wide family room with a table beneath is where a lantern pays off.

Parts of Bowdon are conservation areas. What does that mean for a rooflight?

Planning.data.gov.uk records conservation areas in Bowdon that include Bowdon itself, designated in 1973, and The Devisdale, designated in 1974. In England, being in a conservation area does not by itself take away the permitted development right for a rooflight. Whether anything on your address changes the position is what we check with Trafford Council before we quote.

Listed houses

Historic England lists buildings in the village, among them the Church of St Mary the Virgin and Denzell House, both at Grade II*, and Vale House and The White Cottage at Grade II. On a listed villa, listed building consent is almost always needed for a new or altered rooflight, and that consent decides the job. The listed buildings guide walks through it.

A rooflight that sits quietly

On a villa slate roof a conservation rooflight is worth a look even where nothing requires it. It lies flush, usually with a slim central bar, and from the road it reads as part of the roof. It opens like any other window, so the questions of reach, blind and cleaning are the same. Our guide to what a conservation rooflight is covers the detail.

Paperwork on a loft room

Turning a loft into a room is building work, and means of escape is part of the design, as our Building Regulations guide explains. We take care of the notification for the roof windows we fit whenever one is needed.

Terms for a Bowdon roof

Conservation designation: An area the council has marked out for its character. The mark alone does not remove your rooflight rights.
Consent for a listed villa: Consent for changes that affect a listed building's character.
Conservation rooflight: A low rooflight made to sit flush with an older roof.
Flashing: The metal or lead trim that keeps water out where a window meets the roof covering.

We live in one of the earlier semis. Is a loft window different from a villa's?

Before the merchant villas went up on Green Walk, Bowdon was built with terraces and semi-detached houses. Those are smaller than a villa, with a lower roof and less headroom, and a loft window in one asks different things from the tall-roomed houses further up the social scale.

Less roof to work with

A semi often has a lower ridge and a shorter slope, so a window has less room between the floor and the ridge. The top of the window is within reach more often, which means a plain handle may be enough. What you gain in reach you lose in space for a blind and a sash, so we mark the position on the slope with you, standing in the room.

Headroom and the stairs

In a loft room the part of the floor under the low slope is not usable as standing space. The window usually goes where the roof is highest, close to the ridge, so you stand beneath it. A second, smaller window on the other slope gives cross light and helps a stuffy room in summer. Our guide to roof windows for loft conversions shows how the sizes and positions go together.

Living with it

If the room is a child's bedroom, ask about a restrictor and blackout. If it is an office, think about glare on the screen. We cover the blind, the handle and the cleaning at the handover, and you can ask us to repeat any of it.

Surveys in the village and beyond the Downs

Bowdon

Bowdon sits comfortably inside the 30 miles that our survey area spans.

Check your Bowdon postcode

Bowdon is 14 road miles west of Stockport. We survey from the villas around Green Walk to the streets near the church, so enter your postcode to see whether yours is on our list.

Nearest town pages

What Bowdon owners want to know

Who deals with planning for a Bowdon house?

Trafford Council. For the Building Regulations you can choose its building control team or a registered building control approver, and we explain how each works.

Can a roof window go into a hip or a valley?

Usually not into the valley itself, and a hip needs care. A window needs a clear stretch of rafters and flashing. We look at your roof from the loft and outside, then mark a position that works.

What is the way to clean a window on a steep slate slope?

With some types, from indoors, because a centre-pivot sash swings round. Others are cleaned from outside, which means roof access. See centre-pivot or top-hung windows.

Is a blind necessary under a lantern?

Not always. A lantern over a north-facing room may need none, while one over a kitchen that gets bright afternoons often does. We talk through the options for your room at the survey.

Does a house near the Downs get the same advice as a villa?

Yes. The choice follows the room, not the street. A bedroom, a landing, a kitchen and a bathroom each ask different things of a window, and the survey takes them one by one. Our guide to living with a rooflight describes the routine.

Does a villa window swap like for like?

Often, if the new one is the same size as the old, as the lining inside stays as it is. See new opening or same opening.

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