Stone-slate roofs and wet days in Penistone

Skylights and rooflights for Penistone's stone houses in the Pennine foothills

Penistone is a market town in the Pennine foothills, where moorland rises to the west and dry stone walls line the lanes. We fit rooflights built for stone roofs, rain and cold, and easy to open and clean.

Stone-slate and slate roofs read at the survey before a flashing is chosen
The Penistone conservation area checked with Barnsley Council before we quote
Glass and opening chosen for a high, wet town, with rain sensors explained

28 road miles east of Stockport

Penistone is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on the south bank of the River Don. At the centre it stands about 230 metres up, in the foothills of the Pennines, with gentle slopes rising to bleak moorland to the west and dry stone walls, hamlets and farms around. The town remained small until the railway came in 1845, although some buildings from before the 19th century survive, and it was long renowned for Penistone cloth, a rough home-spun cloth.

The underlying geology is the coal measures, and sandstone flags were quarried here. That is the setting a rooflight has to work in: stone walls, the stone-slate or Welsh-slate roofs common in Pennine foothill towns, and weather that arrives sideways on high ground. So we ask the practical questions. How does the roof sit, what is it covered with, and who will open, shade and clean the window? The fixed written quote follows from those answers.

Rooflights for stone and slate in a high town

These five suit older stone roofs, wet weather and cold rooms, each chosen for who uses the room and how.

What a Pennine foothill town asks of a window

From stone-slate roofs to wet days on high ground, these are the questions we hear at Penistone surveys.

Our house is stone with a stone-slate roof. Can a rooflight sit in it without looking wrong?

Pennine foothill towns in South Yorkshire commonly have gritstone houses with stone-slate or Welsh-slate roofs, and sandstone flags were quarried in Penistone. A new window in a roof like that has to fit the slope it sits in. We look at what covers your house, how thick the slates are and what holds them up before we say anything about a model.

Why a flush window suits

A conservation rooflight sits low in the slope with a slim frame and a central bar, so from the lane it looks like part of the slope rather than a plastic box set on top. It is built for older roofs and is usually double glazed. The page on choosing a conservation rooflight sets out what to compare.

The flashing follows the covering

Every roof window needs a flashing kit made for the covering around it. Stone slate is heavier and less regular than machine-made slate, and the surround is dressed to suit it. A page on how flashing meets slate and tile shows why we check the covering first.

Opening it

A conservation rooflight can be fixed or opening. If you want to open it daily, a motor or a remote is easier than a handle. If it lights a landing, fixed may be enough. We decide with you, room by room.

Blinds under old stone

A bedroom under a stone roof wants blackout, in a blind made for a sloping window. A landing can go without. A light fabric in a kitchen keeps the room bright while cutting glare. If the window is out of reach, the blind can be worked by the handset that opens the window, so there is only one control to find.

Roof words from a stone-slate survey

Stone slate: A roof covering of thin split stone, heavier and less even than machine-made slate.
Flashing: The metal surround that keeps water out where a window meets the roof.
Flush: Sitting low in the slope, with the glass close to the line of the slates.
Rafter: The timber under the covering that the window is sized to fit between.

We are about 230 metres up. How do we keep a window dry when it rains and the room warm?

The centre of Penistone sits about 230 metres above sea level, and on high ground, exposure and wind-driven rain are fair things to plan for. That does not rule out a window that opens. It means the day you leave it ajar and go out matters more than it would in a sheltered valley, and it means the glass deserves some thought.

Rain when nobody is home

The makers' electric and solar windows, VELUX among them, can carry a sensor that shuts the window as soon as it detects wet. A manual window has no sensor, so there the habit of shutting it before you leave is the safeguard. See the page on rain sensors for how they behave.

Cold rooms and glass

A room under a roof on high ground feels the cold at the glass, and steam on the pane in winter is a sign that damp air has met a cold surface. Glass choice helps, and so does opening the window a little each morning. The guide to condensation on rooflights explains the causes, and the page on triple glazed rooflights covers a further choice.

Open a little, not wide

In a shower, a window open a few centimetres lets in less rain than one flung wide, and a restrictor holds it there. It also suits the winter habit of cracking a window to clear steam without chilling the room.

Cleaning the glass in a wet town

Rain leaves its mark on the outer pane. A window that turns, so the outside can be wiped from within, saves a ladder on a steep roof. On a flush conservation rooflight the pane is close to the slope and can sometimes be reached from a ladder at the eaves. We tell you which applies to your roof before you order.

A bedroom on high ground, point by point

Opening: Motor and remote, or a rod for now and then
Rain: A sensor on the electric or solar models that carry one
Glass: Picked with condensation in mind
Habit: Open a little each morning, shut before you leave

We are converting a barn on the edge of town. How do we light a very large roof space?

The land around Penistone has hamlets and farms among the dry stone walls, and a barn or farmhouse roof can be very large. A big roof space is a different problem from a small loft. It can take several windows, and the question becomes how they work together.

Several windows, one set of controls

Where a roof has a row of windows, electric or solar opening lets you run them from one remote. Opening each by hand across a tall space gets tiresome, and a rod does not reach a high ridge. We note which windows you will use daily and which stay shut, and fix the others, which leaves less to clean.

Blinds on a big roof

A large area of glass in a south-facing slope can warm a room in summer. Blinds, solar control glass or both answer that. The guide to blinds and controls shows what is on offer for windows that are hard to reach.

Planning and building control

A barn becoming a home has its own planning route with Barnsley Council, and the way it became a home can affect the rooflights too. We deal with the rooflights, and the planning guide sets out the position for rooflights on a house. A new bedroom floor needs a safe way out, and the regulations guide covers how. Where the work is notifiable, the notification is ours to make.

Cleaning and reach

On a large barn roof, the outer glass of the top windows may be a long way up. Ask at the survey how each will be cleaned. Windows that turn on a pivot can be wiped from inside, and low ones can be reached from outside. Some can only be cleaned by someone on the roof, and we would rather you knew that before you chose them.

A large roof space

Open the few windows you will use daily from one remote, and fix the rest.

Is our street in the Penistone conservation area, and what does that change?

planning.data.gov.uk records a conservation area in Penistone, and Barnsley Council publishes a page on its conservation areas. We look up your address against both before we quote. Living in the area is no bar to a rooflight on its own, and the planning guide explains what does change the position for a house.

An old town with newer parts

The Penistone Cloth Hall, or piece hall, was built by subscription in 1768 for regular sales to wool merchants. The line to Huddersfield opened in 1850 and the town became a railway junction. With that history, we look at each house as it stands rather than assume its age.

Which slope it goes on

Some of Penistone's buildings are older than the 19th century. On an older house, a rooflight on a back slope is seen less from the street. We point out which slope is which at the survey.

Churches and listings

Penistone's Historic England entries include the Church of St John, which is Grade I, with its churchyard cross, a telephone kiosk and a lamp standard. If your home is listed, listed building consent almost always comes with a new or altered rooflight, and the council's decision on it shapes the design. Whether the home is listed is one of the first things we check at the survey, and we ask about it before we talk about glass or frames. The listed homes guide explains how that works.

Penistone and the farms around it

Penistone

Penistone lies inside the straight-line ring the map draws around Stockport. Our own cover is set in road miles, so the postcode check is what counts.

Does our map reach your postcode?

We cover Penistone, 28 road miles east of Stockport. Type your postcode into the box to see whether you fall inside our area, then ask for a free survey.

Nearest town pages

Penistone, asked and answered

Who decides planning for a Penistone house?

Barnsley Council, whose records we read at the survey. Barnsley Council can act as building control, and a registered building control approver is the other route; where the work is notifiable we make the notification.

Will a rooflight make a cold stone house colder?

It depends on the glass and the fitting, which is why we discuss the specification at the survey. Makers offer double and triple glazed units, and the right one is chosen with the room in mind.

Can an old roof window be replaced without redoing the plaster?

Often, provided the new window suits the existing hole. The old frame carries a size label. See replacing an old VELUX window.

Does the railway history matter to a roof?

Only as background. Penistone stayed small until the railway arrived in 1845, so its houses can date from either side of that line. We read each roof at the survey and choose the window to suit what we find.

Can a window be worked by someone who cannot reach it?

Yes. A motor and a wall remote at a sensible height suit an older relative or a child's room better than a rod. We set the controls up for whoever uses the room most.

What do you explain at the end of the job?

We go over the controls, the blind and the cleaning plan with you at the end. A written 10-year workmanship guarantee stands behind the fitting on a Penistone roof, and makers' own guarantees differ.

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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 Penistone.

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

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