Fireplaces for cottages

[Nimster]

Hi
We've just bought 2 x Grade 2 listed one-up-one-down farmers cottages, attached to a 1930's house. I'm not sure of the age of the cottages, but the previous owner thinks they are late 17th/early 18th century.

The downstairs rooms are currently used as a living room and a dining room respectively, and the previous owner has installed a gas fire in the living room, complete with an ornate Victorian-style tiled surround. While this in itself is nice, it's not in keeping with the cottages as it's a bit OTT for what would have been a farm-workers cottage.

So, getting to the point, can anyone suggest what kind of fireplace would have been fitted in such a room? The rooms are only 12' square, so I presume they would have been used as kitchen/living room. I've had a search around, but can't find any examples of early fireplaces for "commoners" homes - there's plenty of inglenooks but no guidance on the lowly hovels :wink: . Would they have had a fireback at all? A hob grate? Just a basket?

Any advice very welcome! I'm going to ask the CO for his advice, but it's always nice to have background knowledge!

Thanks
Nim

 

[middi]

Your cottage would have had open fireplaces with reasonably large openings and most likely simply built just to serve basic purpose.

Is there any existing chimney outline, how large is it and is there an irregular shape to it ?

This will help with answers to your question.

 

[Mark]

If the room was the kitchen then could it have had one of those cast iron ranges in it? - Not the aga type of thing but the coal powered jobs.

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

Hi

Well I'm going to recommend you look at some books by Hugh Lander. He's a well known authority on the care and conservation of old buildings and his books are excellent. I have a small pamphlet of his on fireplaces which I got from SPAB, I can't find it on Amazon for you, but if you ring SPAB they may be able to sell you a copy. But his book the 'Do's and Don'ts of House and Cottage Interiors' will tell you something about what your interior should be like and more importantly, how it should be looked after. Then if you back that up with the mainly picture book 'English Cottage Interiors' (I love this book! Its photos are wonderful and so evocative of the cottage look that we all strive for, but are loosing now with the intervention of too much money for alterations, too much fashion input and too many builders who want to fob us off with modern methods) you will have plenty of food for thought on how to replace your fireplace with something more suitable.

In such a small cottage a small range or hob grate would have been normal, but the above will help you see it in the flesh. Happy reading. Both these books are available on Amazon, but try the Book Shop link on this site first because if you can get them from here then the site earns a few pence.

Sue

 

[biffvernon]

Surely it depends on what period you are trying to recreate. If, as you suggest, this humble pair of cottages is late 17th early 18th century they would not have had any sort of cast iron range. That was a new fangled invention for the distant future. It's back to cooking over an open fire, cauldrons and trivets and such like for you.

And if you want to be an authetic commoner your really should not have bought both of them

 

[David Q]

My house (built at end of eighteenth / early nineteeth century) had a large open fireplace with a swinging metal arm on the left to swing the cooking pots over the fire. There were few ranges (especially in cottages) until late in the nineteeth when cast iron ranges became cheap enough for the masses.

 

[Nimster]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll get hold of those books and have a look through.

I've got the CO coming out on Wednesday so I'll see if he can offer any advice. I just really want to get rid of the repro fireplace as it's far too big and flashy for the little cottage rooms. I'm not planning on cooking over the fire, but would like something that throws off a bit of heat when lit, so hope the hob grate idea will be a goer (rather than a simple basket - which I've had in the past and struggled with).

Middi - I'll have a look at the chimney outlines when we move in tomorrow

Oh, and biff, I only bought both as they're already knocked into one. If I make them back into two cottages, surely that would make me a property developer and therefore even less common........ :wink: