24 road miles west of Bournemouth
skylights & rooflights in puddletown
The Square and High Street hold the thatched cottages, with brick terraces and newer streets beyond them. The same tape goes on every Puddletown roof, and the readings stay with you.
the houses of Puddletown, one road at a time
- Cob and thatch cottagesListed cottages on The Square and the High Street.
- Brick village housesTiled or slated roofs with attic bedrooms under the slope.
- Newer estate homesTrussed roofs and regular tiles on later streets.
- Garden extensionsLow roofs on kitchens and garden rooms added at the back.
the records that come before a Puddletown quote
- planning authority
- Dorset Council
- listing and conservation
- check the address on Dorset Council's map
- road miles
- 24
the square and high street
Hardy's Weatherbury and the roofs under it
Thomas Hardy used Puddletown as the model for Weatherbury in Far from the Madding Crowd, and a good part of what he saw is still standing: thatched cottages with cob and brick walls, many of them listed. Around them sit later houses with very different roofs.
Roof terms you will hear at a Puddletown cottage
A few old building words come up on a village survey, and each one changes what can be fitted.
Historic England's list describes Puddletown's older houses in terms of their building materials. The cottages on The Square and High Street are recorded as brick, plastered or colourwashed walls, in some cases with cob, under thatch, and Hardy's Weatherbury is the village as he knew it. The entry for 9 High Street records walls partly of colourwashed brick and partly of plastered cob under a hipped thatched roof, and the entry for 6 The Square describes a plastered, thatched house at the end of a terrace. These houses were built by local hands to local habits, and their roofs carry the same variety. A pair of cottages built together can differ in rafter size from one bay to the next, so nothing is assumed from the house next door.
Athelhampton House lies close to the village, and Hardy's family ties to the parish are what bring many visitors. The homeowner's concern is smaller and closer: a bedroom that is dark at noon, a landing without a window, a kitchen that has never had a view of the sky.
Because the materials are older than the regulations, a survey in Puddletown spends part of its time translating. A homeowner may talk about the thatch, the eaves or the gable, while the builder is thinking about wall plates, purlins and trimmers. The survey sheet puts the plain version beside the trade word.
The practical point is that thatch is its own trade. A window cut into a thatched slope is work for a thatcher, with the council's conservation officer involved. Our rooflights are for the parts of a house with a slate or tile covering: a rear extension, a later outbuilding, a flat-roofed kitchen, a garage room, or one of the village's newer houses.
Cottage roof words, in plain terms
- Cob
- A building material of earth, straw and water, used for the thick walls of many older Dorset cottages.
- Eaves
- Where the roof overhangs the wall at its lower edge. Thatched cottages carry low, deep eaves.
- Gable
- The triangle of wall at the end of a pitched roof, between the sloping edges.
- Lean-to
- A single-slope roof built against an existing wall, common on rear kitchens and utility rooms.
- Wall plate
- The timber bedded along the top of a wall, which the rafters sit on.
- Listed building consent
- Separate permission needed for works that change a listed building, on top of any planning permission.
Back slope or front slope on a village street
The road-facing roof and the garden-facing roof are judged differently, and fitted differently.
In a village such as Puddletown, the front of a house faces the street and is seen by everyone who walks by. That is the slope a council cares about most, and the one where an older cottage is most likely to carry a listing or a conservation-style requirement. The garden side is seen by far fewer people, and it is where most rooflights are fitted.
The two slopes also differ in practice. On a terrace the back slope is reached from the garden, which means the tower can stand on firm ground and tiles can be lifted close to the opening. A front slope can mean a pavement or a narrow lane, and a tower or skip on the public highway may need a licence from the council. The survey records which slope is workable and how it would be reached.
Our VELUX window installation page covers the standard sizes for a tiled back slope, and our conservation rooflight service covers the flush pattern for a protected one. Where a listing is in the way, the listed buildings guide sets out the consent route. The two slopes compare like this.
Garden-facing slope
- Less visible from the street, so a standard roof window is more likely to be accepted
- Reached from the garden with a tower on level ground
- Often the lighter side of the bedroom or landing
- Listing and conservation records still checked first
Street-facing slope
- Seen from the road, so a flush conservation pattern is the usual request
- May need a licence for scaffold on a pavement or lane
- On a listed house, a front roof opening is a consent matter in nearly every case
- The council's records for the address come first
The things that change a village quote
Five features of a house set the size and shape of the job before any price is written.
A price is only worth giving once the roof has been measured, and in a village the list of things to measure is longer than on a modern estate. A figure given before the survey would be a guess dressed up as a number, so none is offered. Five features move the cost one way or the other.
The first is the unit itself: a slim roof window and a broad lantern differ in frame, glass and weight. The second is the roof structure around it, since a rafter that must be trimmed adds carpentry. The third is the covering, because slate and hand-made tile take more care to lift and replace than concrete tile. Access to the slope is the fourth, and the finishing inside the room is the fifth.
Newer houses on the edge of the village are quicker to plan. Their trussed roofs have regular spacing and a frame that sits between two neighbouring trusses needs no structural design. Older houses are the reverse. Each one carries its own mix of timber sizes, and a few of them need an engineer's opinion before an opening is made.
Energy performance adds one more consideration. The glass matters too, since a new unit in an existing house must meet the heat-loss limits in the Building Regulations. The energy efficient rooflights page sets out the glazing choices that meet them, so the specification is settled before the order goes in.
Features that raise or lower a Puddletown quote
- Size and type of unitA small fixed window and a wide opening lantern sit at opposite ends.
- Structure around the openingRafters or trusses that need trimming or a design add work.
- Roof coveringSlate and hand-made clay tile take longer to lift and relay than modern tile.
- Access to the slopeA garden route is quicker than a lane or pavement with a licence.
- Finishing insideA boxed shaft or plastered splay adds time on a deep loft.
Dark landings, attic bedrooms and kitchens built outwards
The rooms people ask about in Puddletown tend to be the same few, and each has a likely answer.
Older cottages in the village are small in plan and low in section. The attic bedroom is often the biggest room in the house, with its only window in the gable. A roof window in the slope gives the middle of that room daylight and a view of the sky, provided the headroom is enough to stand beneath it.
Landings and stairs are the next candidates. A narrow cottage staircase can run without any window at all, and a sun tunnel or a roof window above it fills the stair with light. The sun tunnel page explains tube lengths for a loft of a given depth.
A kitchen built out into the garden gives a third case. A deep room with glazing at one end needs overhead light, and a rooflight lets the whole worktop see the sky. Nearby Milborne St Andrew and the county town Dorchester show the same pattern: old cottages with attic rooms, and kitchens added at the back.
An inner bathroom or a cloakroom under the stairs, with no outside wall, is the room where a sun tunnel does its best work. The tube rises through the loft to a dome on the roof, and a diffuser in the ceiling spreads the light. The dome is small, so a house with a protected front can sometimes take one on the back slope.
| Room | Likely fit | Reading that decides |
|---|---|---|
| Attic bedroom | Roof window in the slope | Headroom under the opening |
| Cottage landing | Sun tunnel or small window | Loft depth over the stair |
| Rear kitchen | Flat rooflight or lantern | Joist direction and fall |
| Inner bathroom | Sun tunnel | Tube length and bends |
| Garage room | Roof window or flat unit | Roof type and existing fall |
Measuring an attic bedroom under a tiled slope
Example readings for a brick village house with a steep roof and rafters at regular centres.
A typical attic job in a brick house starts at the top of the stairs. The first readings are taken inside: floor-to-ceiling height at the centre of the room, the height of the low side wall, and the distance between the rafters. Outside, the tape runs from the ridge to the eaves, and the slope angle is read with an inclinometer on a rafter.
Those figures give the placement. A frame set so that the bottom edge sits about a metre above the floor lets someone stand and look out, while a frame set higher gives light to the middle of the room. The two heights are compared against the headroom, and the choice is marked on the inside of the rafters before the tiles are lifted.
Each roof window model has a pitch range rated by its maker, and a steep village roof sits comfortably inside it, while a shallow lean-to may not. The survey measures the slope for that reason and does not assume it. Where the window sits close to a chimney stack or a party wall, the flashing and the trimmers have to be set around them, which is also written on the sheet.
The survey replaces any example figure with a measured value from your own roof. The planning step runs in parallel: the address is checked against Dorset Council's records, and where an application is called for, it goes to the council. Our planning guide covers the national rules.
faq
questions from Puddletown owners
Can a thatched Puddletown cottage take a rooflight?
A slate or tile part of the roof can, such as a rear extension. Thatch is a thatcher's trade. Listing and conservation records for the address are checked before anything is quoted.
How do I find out whether my house is listed?
Look the house up in the national list of heritage buildings, and read Dorset Council's records for the property. We repeat both checks at the survey and put the results on your sheet.
My attic bedroom has only a gable window. Where does a roof window go?
Usually on the garden-facing slope, with the bottom edge about a metre above the floor if you want a view. The survey marks the position inside the rafters before any tiles are lifted.
Will scaffold on the lane need a licence?
A tower or skip placed on public highway can need a licence from the council. The survey records if a route through the garden to the back slope is open, which would avoid the lane.