Billinge's sandstone hillside homes and the rooflights or skylights for them
Billinge climbs a sandstone hill above the Lancashire plain, and its roofs run from stone cottages near the old village centre to bungalows and detached family houses spread down the slopes. Rooflight installation in Billinge means working on high, open ground where a skylight is chosen as much for the wind as for the light.
15.5 road miles north-east of Liverpool city centre
What leaves the middle of a Billinge house in the dark?
- The stone cottage landingInside a thick-walled stone cottage near Chapel End, small deep-set windows leave the stair and landing in permanent shadow, and the pitched roof above is the one place left to bring light in.
- The hillside bungalow hallIn a bungalow on the slopes of the hill, a long inner hall runs between bedrooms with no window at all, which suits a sun tunnel taken up through the shallow loft.
- The detached house stairwellOn a newer detached house towards Higher End, a tall stairwell with a landing window set too low gets little from outside, and a rooflight at the top changes how the whole upstairs reads.
Stone landings, hillside halls and detached stairwells
Stone cottages and farmhouses, inter-war semis, estate bungalows and large modern detached homes all sit under Billinge's roofs, so skylight installation in Billinge is matched to each of them by the services below.
- Newer detached homes with big rear extensions take a lantern, cut to what the structure beneath can carry.
- Flat rooflights for the single-storey kitchen and garden-room extensions that detached Billinge houses have added at the back.
- Roof windows for the attics of cottages and detached homes, fitted with flashing that copes with a hilltop gale and rain from the west.
- Replacement units for rooflights that have clouded or started to weep, which an exposed hilltop roof tends to bring on early.
From quarry-stone cottages to the hillside estates
Billinge is built on sandstone, and the stone shows in the houses. The oldest buildings in the village are low, thick-walled cottages and farmhouses of local stone, with small windows and deep roofs under stone or slate. Quarrying on the hill supplied building material for generations, and a walk round the older lanes still shows stone walls, gateposts and outbuildings made from it. The roofs on these buildings have ridges that dip a little, rafters that are older than the plan on the survey drawing, and an attic that is often full of oak.
As the village grew, brick houses joined the stone. Terraced rows and pairs of cottages went up near the village centre around Chapel End, with simple pitched slate roofs and gable chimneys. These are much easier to work on than the stone cottages, and a roof window cut into a plain slate slope is a regular job.
The larger part of Billinge today dates from the twentieth century. Inter-war and post-war semis spread outwards along the roads leading up and over the hill, and from there a mix of bungalows and detached family houses fills the slopes. Concrete tiles are the usual covering on these roads, with felt and battens beneath and rafters at regular spacing, which is the easiest roof for a standard roof window. Bungalows dominate some of the newer roads, and for them the question is nearly always how to light an inner hall or bathroom.
The most recent building adds a final layer, with modern detached houses, converted barns and extensions stretching over farm land at the village edge. Many have large open-plan kitchens at the back under a flat roof or a pitched roof with a lantern, and a good number carry rooflights already. Those fitted in the last couple of decades are now old enough to have a failed seal or a leaking frame, and replacement of the unit is a common request.
The mix means that no single answer suits the village, and a street can change character within a few doors as stone gives way to brick and then to tile. A stone cottage may need a conservation-style rooflight on the rear slope, a bungalow a sun tunnel, and a detached house a lantern on the new kitchen. The survey decides which, by looking at the roof the house actually has: its covering, the spacing of its rafters, the depth of the loft and the side of the hill it faces. A photograph from the road rarely shows any of that, which is why we climb into the roof space first.
On a hill village, the covering tells you the era, and the era tells you what the roof will take.
A hilltop roof takes weather from every side
Billinge Hill rises well above the flat land around it, and the village sits across its slopes and top. The Beacon, a stone landmark on the hill, can be seen from a long way off, and the same open position means the roofs here catch more wind than those in the sheltered towns below. Rain comes in from the west across the plain, and in winter the wind can be strong enough to lift a poorly fixed frame or lash water sideways under a flashing that would hold in the lowlands.
For rooflights, exposure decides the specification. Roof windows need secure fixings into sound rafters and a generous overlap of the flashing at the sides, where wind-driven rain is most likely to get in. The slope that faces west, towards the plain, takes the worst of it. A rear slope that faces away from the prevailing weather is easier, and where a choice exists we often suggest putting the unit there, as long as it gets the light.
Chimney stacks and gable ends on the older cottages often sit close to where a roof window would go, so the position is worked out around them and not simply centred on the room below. Hill roofs have another trait, which is that the ground itself is steep. A house built into a slope may have a ridge that looks low from the road and a back eave that sits high above a sloping garden. Getting a ladder or tower safely to the right place can take planning, and sometimes a scaffold is the better choice than a ladder. On steeper plots we also prefer to work from inside the roof, which reduces the amount of time anyone spends on the slope.
Older stone buildings have their own problems. Walls are thick, so the reveal around a window can be deep, and the roof timbers may be a mix of old and later alterations. A rooflight in such a roof has to be fixed into good timber, with trimmers added where the rafters have been cut, and the survey includes a close look at what the old structure will take before a size is chosen.
On the newer concrete-tile roofs the work is simpler. Tiles are lifted and relaid around the opening, the flashing is set to suit the profile, and the unit is sealed. The test of the work is the first heavy spell of rain after it, and on a hilltop that comes soon. Because of that, and because a hilltop forecast can turn within the hour, we plan each job around the forecast, so the opening is never left exposed when a front is due to cross the plain and reach the hill, and the unit is sealed before we leave.
Older stone and slate roofs
- Rafters of mixed age, some cut by earlier alterations
- Deep reveals and thick walls inside
- Slim conservation-style frames suit the roofline
- Fixings checked in old timber before sizing
Concrete-tile roofs on newer roads
- Regular rafter spacing, standard sizes fit
- Tile flashing set to the tile profile
- Roof windows or sun tunnels both straightforward
- Bungalow lofts shallow, so tube length is checked
St Helens Borough Council, the village streets and the paperwork
Billinge Higher End falls within Wigan Council's area, so a house there deals with Wigan for planning and building control. The rest of Billinge, the Chapel End side, lies in the St Helens borough, so the planning authority there is St Helens Borough Council, and its website at sthelens.gov.uk is where planning and building control information sits. Building control hears from us on every job, whichever of the two councils covers the house, and the rules behind that notification are set out here.
Planning permission is a different question, and for most houses the answer is reassuring. For a single house the permitted development conditions are covered in the planning rules for roof glazing, and that is the first place to look. Converted farm buildings and barns divided into several homes stand differently, because flats and maisonettes lack those rights.
Billinge has plenty of old buildings, and some of them may be listed. If your cottage, farmhouse or chapel is listed, the council must grant listed building consent before any roof change, and it weighs the finish, size and fixings of the rooflight. You can look up a building on the Historic England site. We do not guess which buildings are listed or which streets fall in a protected area. The council's planning team can confirm both, and the survey includes asking.
Where a conservation area applies, the rules are about what the council expects of the front of a building. Conservation area status does not on its own take away the right to fit a rooflight, but the council may have an article 4 direction that does. To see what a protected street tolerates, read about what protected streets allow in the roof; the usual sticking point is dealt with under windows on the road-facing slope.
- Survey the roof. We look at the covering, the rafters and how the roof meets the weather on that side of the hill.
- Confirm the status. We find out with the council whether the address is listed or protected.
- Price on paper. The unit, the fitting and the notification are costed separately before a date is set.
- Fit and certify. The work is done, the notification is completed, and the certificate comes through.
Billinge cottages, bungalows and getting up the hill
Our stone cottage near the village centre has a deep roof. Can it take a rooflight?
Usually it can, once we have checked the timbers. Old rafters vary, and we may add trimmers around the opening. A slim conservation-style unit tends to suit a stone roof best. Should the cottage be listed, St Helens Borough Council has to grant consent before any work begins.
Can you light the inside hall of a Billinge bungalow without a big structural job?
A sun tunnel is the usual answer. A tube runs up through the loft to a small dome on the roof, so the ceiling structure stays intact. We check the loft depth and the route at the survey.
Does the page cover Higher End and the farms outside the village?
Higher End is included, along with Chapel End and the lanes and farm buildings around them, though Higher End's planning and building control sit with Wigan Council. If your property is out on the edge of the village, send us the address by WhatsApp and we will confirm.
Will a rooflight on the hilltop side of Billinge cope with the wind?
A west-facing slope takes the worst of the weather on the hill, so we use heavier flashing and fixings into sound rafters there, and where the house allows it the window goes on the sheltered rear slope. Steep plots are planned for at the survey, with a scaffold chosen over a ladder where the ground demands it.
Who deals with St Helens Borough Council about the work?
We do, so there are no forms for you to complete. The notification to St Helens Borough Council, or to Wigan Council for a house in Higher End, is made by us on every job, and the work carries a 10-year workmanship guarantee.
St Helens down the hill, the Wigan side to the east
Lower down the hill lie the larger St Helens streets, and further east the old mining villages and market towns of the Wigan side begin.
Free survey
Get a fixed quote in Billinge
- No obligation
- We survey the roof before we price
- WhatsApp or phone, whichever suits
What happens next: we arrange a survey at a time that suits you, measure the roof and the room, then send a fixed written quote. Nothing is booked until you say yes.