BRICK FIREPLACE EDWARDIAN?

[TIMBO]

Hi, My flint cottage was allegedly built in 1850 ish, and I was wondering if the fireplaces date from this period.
The house has a lot of timber, some large floor joists, beams, across the ceilings downstairs and a couple of timber walls similar in construction to tudor walls.
Maybe the builders realised this was the way to go.
Across the arch brickwork is a large iron with its tips protruding through the brickwork, having then been bent over.
Also there are four blocks of wood (one is missing on the left) which are bricksized, Any ideas of their original purpose? I'm sure that they had not run out bricks, before you say so.

 

[Peter]

Have you tried measuring the brick sizes - they don't look Edwardian to me?

 

[Becka]

the size of the bricks and the construction (at least up to just above the arch, mine tapers off to a narower chimney above) looks very very similar to the ones i have which are definatly at least 100 years older than edwardian (possible much older, the house is a patchwork of building techniques over the last 400 years!). The arch construction looks identical, down to the use of the iron beneath it. Can't be more definative on the date tho I'm afraid.. not sure if they were part of my original house (timber framed with overhanging jetties) or added when it was split up and disguised as a brick house in 1820's but i suspect the latter which would fit with your 1850's date. Can't shed any light on the blocks of wood tho.. makeshift repair maybe..? does it look like they were never there? or could the brcks have been dug out due to damage and never replaced?

 

[BMcD]

Couldn't tell you the age of the fireplace but perhaps the blocks of wood were intended to provide fixing points for something?

 

[Penners]

Queen Victoria took the throne in 1837, so if your cottage is dated around 1850 that makes it Victorian.

The fireplace could be original to the house. I reckon the bricks look about right for that period. The bits of wood were very probably "grounds" - built into the fireplace to allow other components (perhaps studs) to be secured to it.

Are you happy about the stability of the centre of the arch? I may be being alarmist, but it looks as though it might be sagging a bit in the middle. It's a very flat arch, and if the lime mortar between the centre bricks is crumbling, it might be a bit dodgy.

 

[Gervase]

I'm with Penners - it looks about right for the period. And the arch does look as though it could do with a bit of a spruce up - decidedly droopy in the middle!

 

[Penners]

decidedly droopy in the middle

I know how it feels, Gervase.

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Double entendres aside, that fireplace arch is definitely dodgy. You can see that the course of bricks above the arch dips like a roller coaster. I'd get a big bit of timber under the middle, pronto.
Problem is that there is very little masonry to either side of the arch, so there is no structure or mass to resist the outward thrust of the arch. Over repeated cycles of heating / cooling the whole thing has crept down, and probably spread sideways too.
Time for a rebuild. Or maybe a photo from a different angle to show that it's not as bad as it seems.

 

[biffvernon]

Problem is that there is very little masonry to either side of the arch, so there is no structure or mass to resist the outward thrust of the arch.

I can't see that the arch is doing much. I bet there's an iron rod or two doing the real work behind the arch.

 

[mark_j_k]

Looking at the photo, there seems to be a steel/iron support under the arch.
Perhaps all the heat over the years has made the iron sag a little.

 

[biffvernon]

What's been gnawing your bricks?

 

[TIMBO]

The firepace is not as bad as it looks, it is pretty stable
Most of the mortar has crumbled away, so some major repointing will be taking place.
The fireplace had been walled in, and small fireplaces fitted.
The previous owners had removed the walls and left the brickwork as is as a nice feature!
I have started work on the pointing and replacing the missing bricks.
The bricks measure approx- 8" long, 3 1/2" wide, 2 3/8" deep.
As for the sagging arch I do believe the iron has sagged, letting it look worse than it is.
The bricks contain some stones and are not uniform in make up.
The mice have gone now and no more nibbling should take place.
Looking up into the fireplaces they seem to have had curving arches toward the chimney which is offset to the left side.
Most of the archwork has dissentigrated, so some more work to stabilise the brickwork inside is required.

 

[Penners]

As for the sagging arch I do believe the iron has sagged, letting it look worse than it is.

Timbo - Bear in mind that the sagging iron was helping to support the front of the chimney breast, but the majority of the support work was probably being done by the brick arch (in fact, an effective arch would have made the iron largely redundant, once it had initially been constructed). If the mortar between the bricks in the arch has crumbled, this has probably placed an additional load on the iron, causing it to sag.

So I reckon your most important job is to get that brick arch properly renovated.