Air brick/vent

[erikwoolf]

Has anyone come across an air vent/air brick been installed at 1.8 meter above the ground (first photo showing it from the outside)? House is build late around 1895 but I think this is a newer addition. As far as I know there hasn't been a heat source there previously. In recent years the previous owners build a cupboard around it. The whole wall including the vent was lime plastered (top half, lower half is cement?).The wall has suffered with damp and the plaster has blown, inside the cupboard there was mould at the bottom of the wall growing. I have taken off most of it today (second picture air vent covered with cardboard) but the lower half is really hard and still(!) firmly attached to the bricks.
This is an external wall and there will be IWI installed eventually, my question is what to do with the vent..?

 

[a twig]

Yep, in the days before fridges a lot of houses had a room or cupboard with two vents - one at ankle height and one at head height, the aim was to create a cool pantry with the warm air going out the top one and thus drawing in cool air from the bottom one

We ended up putting a boiler in ours - was a dream when it came to venting and ventilation

 

[a twig]

We also had one 2/3rds of the way up our wall, where chimney breast had been removed from the bottom floor but left in the top and required ventilation

 

[a twig]

Replying to myself for a third time - definitely redundant now, remove and fill in with brick and lime try not to damage the vent - proper ones aren’t cheap and will be of use to someone should you decide you don’t need it