Y Bont-faen is 29.03 road miles south-west of Newport, in the Vale of Glamorgan
Skylights and rooflights in Cowbridge
- 10-year workmanship guarantee
- We handle the Building Control notification where notifiable
A charter town with older roofs to consider
Cowbridge, known in Welsh as Y Bont-faen, is a Vale of Glamorgan town. It received its first borough charter on 13 March 1254 from Richard de Clare, the Lord of Glamorgan, and the community of Cowbridge with Llanblethian elects a town council. A railway station opened in 1865 and closed in 1951.
None of that tells us about any individual roof, so the table talks about house types by age and layout. Homes in any town come from several periods, and a survey is where we find out which one yours is. The covering, the pitch and the room underneath are what decide the glass, and the planning route can decide it first.
| Age and layout | Roof over the room | Glass to look at |
|---|---|---|
| Period house on a street frontage | Pitched, with a covering that may be old | A conservation rooflight, if the planning route allows |
| Villa or semi with a loft room | Pitched, with timbers above the bedroom | A roof window sized to the rafter spacing |
| Newer family house with a rear extension | Flat roof over a kitchen or dining room | A lantern, or a flat rooflight where height is short |
| Converted outbuilding or low annexe | Shallow pitch or flat | A rooflight sized for the small room |
The three hubs to start with
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Vale of Glamorgan Council and the conservation question
Vale of Glamorgan Council deals with planning for Cowbridge. Conservation areas in this part of the Vale include Cowbridge and Llanblethian. In Wales, a rooflight in the roof slope of a house inside a conservation area is not permitted development, so an application is needed, and the Wales section of the planning guide sets out the rule.
Boundaries cut through towns, so whether your house is inside one depends on the address. The DataMapWales conservation area layer shows boundaries only, and the council has the final say. A listed house needs listed building consent for work that affects its character, applied for through the council. Flats have no householder rights.
It helps to have the address and any listing details ready when you ask. With those in hand, the council can say which route applies, and we can quote for the right job from the start.
Looking up at an older roof
Conservation rooflights and the paperwork that comes with them.
Older roofs reward a slow look. Walk the length of the street on a clear morning and the slopes show their history: patched sections, a newer ridge, the line where a rear wing was added. A rooflight in a roof like that is not just a hole with glass in it. It sits in a pattern of ridges, chimneys and slopes, and it can be placed with that pattern in mind.
That is where conservation rooflights come in. Our page on conservation rooflights is the place to start, and the answer on what a conservation rooflight is explains the term. The type is made with older roofs in view, and the planning route still comes before the choice of glass.
Planning comes first, for the conservation-area reason the Welsh planning guide sets out, and Vale of Glamorgan Council can confirm whether a given address sits inside a conservation area, such as Cowbridge or Llanblethian. The Welsh conservation area guide, rooflights and conservation areas, walks through each case.
Listed buildings add a second layer. Listed building consent covers work that would affect a building's special character, inside as well as outside. Vale of Glamorgan Council, the local planning authority, is where you apply. The Welsh Ministers compile the list of listed buildings, acting on advice from Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic environment service. The answer on listed building consent covers what changes for a rooflight.
At the survey we separate the three questions: where the house stands, what the roof is made of and what the room needs. Once they are clear, the quote is clear too. Without them, a price is a guess.
Colour and finish are the last pieces. Frames come in a range, and the one that suits a slate roof is not necessarily the one that suits a clay tile roof. It helps to set the options against the covering you have, so you are choosing from the real roof rather than a catalogue page.
| Situation | What it means for a rooflight |
|---|---|
| House inside a conservation area | An application first, since the rooflight is not covered by the Welsh householder rights |
| Listed house | Listed building consent where the work affects its character |
| House outside both | The householder limits apply, set out in the Welsh planning guide |
Swapping an old VELUX window
A like-for-like replacement, and what to read off the old one.
A house that already has a roof window has a head start. The question is whether the same opening can take a new window, and where it can, much of the structural work can fall away. An old window may be tired in its frame, clouded in its glass or simply out of date, and each of those is a reason to look at a swap.
With a VELUX window, the check begins with a small plate. VELUX gives a width and a height for each of its size codes, and the plate carries the code for your window, so reading it tells us which new window fits the hole. Our explainer on VELUX size codes covers where to find it and how to read it.
Our VELUX windows page covers installation and replacement, and the answer on replacing an old skylight puts the steps in plain terms. A like-for-like swap of a window or roof window counts as building work, even in an existing opening, and we handle the notification where the work is notifiable, through local authority building control or a registered building control approver.
The glazing need not match the old unit. VELUX lists dirt-repellent coatings, laminated safety glass and quieter-in-rain glass among its choices, though which ones come with a given window varies. Is the pane hard to reach for cleaning? Does rain on the slope keep someone awake? Both are worth raising before a replacement is ordered.
If the house is in a conservation area, it is worth asking the council whether the replacement needs permission. The planning guide covers the Welsh position, and the council has the last word on a given address.
A last check is the blind. A loft bedroom without one is bright at five in June, so choose the blind with the new window and price a blackout version for any room where someone sleeps.
Swap list, old roof window
- Size code
- On the small plate at the top of the sash
- Same opening
- Much of the structural work can be avoided
- Glazing options
- Coatings, lamination, quieter rain glazing, varying by model
- Paperwork
- Still building work, notified where notifiable
A lantern over the dining end of the extension
Pitched glass for a room that gets used after the sun has set.
Stand in the garden and look back at a house with a flat-roofed extension. It is a low box running out from the wall, and it gives the family more room. It can also take light away from the middle of the house, because the old rear window now opens into the new room. A lantern puts daylight back from above.
A lantern sets pitched glass on a raised upstand, standing proud of the roof, and lets the ceiling underneath rise. Compared with a flat rooflight, it stands taller and asks more of the ceiling height. Put the two against each other in the lantern or flat rooflight guide, and read about the product on the roof lanterns page.
The evening is when the lantern is seen most. By eight in winter the glass is dark, and the room's own light, the table, the chairs and the ceiling edge, appears in it. A neat lining makes that a quiet backdrop. Some households want the opening lit so it reads as an edge of light rather than a black panel; that is an electrician's job, and the cable has to be planned before the plasterer comes.
Planning treats lanterns with care. A lantern stands well above a flat roof, so on an existing roof it normally needs planning permission, which the Welsh planning guide explains. A lantern designed into a brand new extension is a separate case, and we put that one to Vale of Glamorgan Council before the work is ordered.
What goes on the quote depends on the room: its size, its use and the structure above it. A short note of how the table, the worktop and the garden doors are laid out is enough to start with.
One more point for the table end. A dining space is lit differently from a worktop. People sit still for an hour, faces turned up to the light, so a bright patch directly overhead can be too much. The survey looks at where the table will stand, which way the roof faces and how much of the garden sky the glass would see, before a size is suggested.
Think, too, about the garden side. A lantern is seen from outside as well as from within, and from the lawn or the patio it is a visible part of the roofline. Its proportions against the extension are part of the conversation at the survey, along with the colour of the frame.
What Cowbridge households ask
Will you come out to Cowbridge for a survey?
The distance by road is 29.03 miles to the south-west. Booking a survey costs nothing, and a fixed written quote follows it.
Is my house in one of the Cowbridge conservation areas?
The areas in this part of the Vale include Cowbridge and Llanblethian, but only the address tells you. What counts is whether the house is inside a boundary, and the council can confirm that. The planning guide shows what follows either way.
Do I need permission to replace a window in my house?
It depends on where the house is. Building Regulations treat a like-for-like replacement window as building work, and the planning position can change in a conservation area or on a listed house. The council can confirm the position for your address, and the planning guide for Wales lists the questions worth asking.
Where does a Cowbridge owner apply for listed building consent?
To Vale of Glamorgan Council, which is the local planning authority. Cadw recommends which buildings are on the list, and consent is needed for work that would affect a building's character.
Where do I find the size code on my old VELUX?
Open the sash and look for the metal plate on top. Send us the code and we can see the width and height of the window before the visit.
What is the best way to ask about a lantern?
Use the survey form, or message WhatsApp 07880 284133 or info@supremeskylightsnewport.co.uk. Say how big the extension is and where the table sits, and add a line about the ceiling height if you know it.
Book your free survey
10-year workmanship guarantee.
Building Control notification handled where notifiable.