25.1 road miles north-west of Bournemouth
skylights & rooflights in shillingstone
Older cottages, terraced and semi-detached homes and bungalows fill the village from the old station on the North Dorset Trailway to the lanes towards the church of the Holy Rood, and every roof is measured on site.
mixed ages along one village road
- Older village cottagesTimbers of uneven age, low eaves and small upstairs windows.
- Terraced and semi-detached homesShared roof lines, with a loft over each home.
- BungalowsSingle-storey roofs with a loft above a windowless hall.
- Extended homesFlat kitchen roofs and loft rooms added at the back.
what we look up before a Shillingstone visit
- planning authority
- Dorset Council
- listing and conservation
- search the address first
- road miles
- 25.1
kerb, rafter, header
a railway village with older roots
Shillingstone appears in the Domesday Book, and its station opened in 1863 on the Somerset and Dorset line. Houses of many eras now stand side by side, and the roof timbers tell us their ages before any paperwork does.
Reading a house's age from its roof
Shillingstone homes range from old cottages to later bungalows, and the roof build differs with the era.
A village with a thousand years of history holds buildings from several periods, and the quickest way to date one is to look at its roof timbers from inside the loft. Hand-sawn rafters at uneven spacing point to an older house. Machine-cut timbers at regular centres point to something newer. Factory-made triangular trusses mean a recent build, and an engineer must design the answer before any truss is cut for an opening.
Dating the roof matters because it sets the shape of the job. A roof window sized for even 600 mm spacing will not suit a cottage where the rafters wander, and the reverse also holds. We take each reading on the roof itself and enter it on the written survey sheet you keep, so nothing is estimated from a photograph or a drawing.
Shillingstone has plenty of these older timbers. The settlement is recorded in the Domesday Book, the station opened in 1863, and later houses, bungalows and extensions have followed. All of those layers can sit within a few hundred metres of each other, which is why two neighbouring roofs rarely call for the same size of window.
Lofts also differ in what they hold. Water tanks, old chimney breasts and boarded storage all affect where a window can go and how a shaft can pass through. We photograph the loft as found and mark the obstacles on the sheet, so a builder reading it later knows what the roof contains.
| House type | Typical loft | First check |
|---|---|---|
| Older cottage | Irregular hand-cut rafters | Listing, rafter spacing |
| Terrace or semi | Regular rafters, shared wall | Where the party wall falls |
| Bungalow | Open loft over the hall | Depth from roof to ceiling |
| Recent build | Trussed roof | Gap between two trusses |
| Extension | Flat or low-pitched roof | Kerb height and fall |
Sloping front roofs and flat roofs at the back
Two kinds of rooflight cover most Shillingstone jobs, and they sit on different parts of the house.
A pitched slope on the front or back of the main house takes a roof window. Extensions are another matter. Single-storey additions at the rear of many village homes carry flat roofs, and a flat roof rooflight over the kitchen or dining area sits on a raised kerb above the covering.
Each choice raises its own questions. A pitched window is limited by the rafter gap, the slope's angle and the maker's rated range for the model. A flat rooflight is limited by the kerb height, the fall of the roof and what the existing covering is. Light does different work too: the flat unit floods a room from directly above, while the roof window gives a view along the slope.
Side by side, the two roof types make different demands on access. A pitched front slope can be reached by ladder or a tower on the drive, while a flat rear roof may be reached only through the house or over a side gate. The survey records how a tower, a ladder and a glazing delivery would each arrive.
An extension with a flat roof has a covering of felt, single-ply membrane or asphalt, and the new kerb is built into those layers. The survey notes which one is there, because the way a covering is lapped up and around a kerb differs between them. We list what is in place and what has to be made good around the opening.
Pitched slope, roof window
- Sits between rafters, one trimmed if the unit is wider
- A maker's pitch range applies to each model
- A bungalow's roof room can use it to get out
- Flashing kit is chosen for the tiles
Rooflight on a flat roof
- Sits on a raised kerb above the covering
- Needs a fall so rain drains away
- Light drops straight into the room below
- Kerb sealed into the existing roof layers
A sample set of readings from one Shillingstone roof
These are example numbers for a pitched village roof, shown to explain what the survey sheet holds.
Suppose we survey a bungalow with a dark central hall. In the loft we measure the spacing between rafters, read the pitch on a rafter with an inclinometer, and measure the depth from the tiles down to the ceiling, since a shaft has to pass through that gap. We also note the covering and any purlins that a shaft would have to avoid.
The size code in one example is MK04, a window 78 cm across by 98 cm tall. Rafters at 600 mm centres leave a gap narrower than the window, so one rafter is trimmed and framed with a header and trimmers. Trimming is structural work and goes through Building Regulations. The survey sheet records the gap between the rafters either side of the opening, so a second firm can price the same trimming from the same figures.
Every number on the sheet is yours to keep. You can use it to compare quotes from other firms, or hand it to a builder.
Other homes will give other numbers. A chalet bungalow with a short, steep slope reads quite differently from a low-pitched bungalow, and a terrace's party wall may sit exactly where the window wanted to go. The sheet is a fresh set of figures every time.
Checking whether a Shillingstone address is listed
Dorset Council handles planning here, and the quickest check starts with the address itself.
Shillingstone is in Dorset Council's area. The government's national planning data shows no National Landscape over the village, but it does record a Shillingstone conservation area, designated in 1990, so the address is checked against its boundary and the listing records before anything is ordered. The parish church of the Holy Rood, of twelfth-century origin, stands a short distance from the village, and older buildings around such sites are the likeliest to carry a listing.
If a house is listed, a new opening in its roof will need listed building consent, and anyone who carries out such work without consent commits an offence. A conservation area can matter too, where an Article 4 direction removes the right for a road-facing slope. Our planning guide gives the rules in full.
Two beliefs come up. One is that a quiet village like this needs no checks. The other is that a small rooflight cannot raise any planning question. Both are worth testing against the register.
The station is a reminder that Shillingstone has been a place people arrived at for 160 years. The Somerset and Dorset line closed in 1966, and the old route is now the North Dorset Trailway, and the station buildings survive, restored by the Shillingstone Station Project. Houses near the old line come from several periods, so each roof there is measured in its own right.
If you would rather look before we visit, search your full address and note any case numbers from the planning register. Old decision notices sometimes include conditions on later alterations, and a note of them saves time at the survey.
Myth
A small village roof window never needs a planning check.
Size does not settle it. A listing, or an Article 4 direction in a conservation area, or a condition left on an old permission, can reach even a small unit.
Fact
The check is quick, and it is made on the address.
Dorset Council publishes its conservation areas and planning register online, and Historic England's list shows listed buildings. We search all three at the survey and write down what we find.
Size codes and kerb heights on a Shillingstone quote
Size codes and kerb heights decide whether a unit fits before price comes into it.
VELUX-style size codes put the width first and the height second. An M in the first place means 78 cm wide, and 04 means 98 cm high, so MK04 is a window of that width and height. Knowing this helps you read a quote line by line, and it shows whether a proposed unit will fit your rafter gap.
Flat rooflights have a different test. Makers set a minimum kerb height above the finished roof, around 150 mm in many cases, so that water cannot pond against the frame. The fall of the roof matters too, and the survey records how much the unit builds in and how much the kerb must supply.
The neighbouring villages of Child Okeford and Okeford Fitzpaine share a similar mix of homes, so the same measurements apply to a roof there. For loft conversions in the area, the VELUX window range gives the most size options.
When a quote arrives, check that it names a size code and a kerb height, and that both match the survey sheet. A quote that gives only a price for 'a roof window' leaves the fit unchecked. A line that reads MK04, one rafter trimmed, with the flashing kit named, shows that someone has been on the roof.
Glazing is the other line to read. A unit's U-value tells you how much heat passes through it, and the lower figure keeps more in. Part L gives a new roof window 1.4 W/m²K (Band B on the energy rating label is the alternative), with 2.2 W/m²K as the ceiling when it is a rooflight that is going in. A quote with no glazing figure is incomplete, and worth querying before you sign. The figure belongs on the quote beside the size code.
- width of an M-code roof window such as MK04
- 78 cm
- height of a window ending in 04
- 98 cm
- commonly quoted minimum kerb height
- 150 mm
faq
Shillingstone homeowners ask about
My house is on the road towards the church. Will it be listed?
It may be, or it may not. Search the address on Historic England's list and the Dorset Council planning pages, or let us run the searches at the survey and note the result.
Can a bungalow's loft room use a roof window for escape?
Roof rooms in a bungalow may count a well-sized roof window as their way out, provided the opening and the sill height reach the Approved Document B sizes. The survey measures both.
How do I know a roof window will fit between my rafters?
The width code is compared with the gap between your rafters on the survey. Where a unit is wider than the gap, one rafter is trimmed and framed, which is structural work for Building Regulations.
Is a flat rooflight suitable for a kitchen extension behind a village home?
Yes, after the existing covering, the roof's fall and the kerb height have been measured. The unit sits on a raised kerb so that water runs clear of the frame.