Help identify this please!!!

[brokendelphroom]

Having spent the horribly wet bank holiday Monday inside our georgian house taking the cement render off the wall of the kitchen. It has thrown up a few surprises to say the least

We spripped the cement off the chimney to find a huge open fire with a massive grainte lentil and nicely dressed stonework around it

While taking down a small partition i found a newpaper from 1926 which gives a pretty acurate date as to when it was put up

And if all of this wasn't enough just as we were about to finish up for the day we noticed a strangely shaped hole in the wall where the partition once was .We took out the loose stones to reveal what we think(but haven't a clue really) may be a bread oven as it is blackened inside and the chinmey only goes up about 6 foot and then comes out of the wall

The most unusual thing is why was it not built in the main chimney if it is an oven

I would really love to know what this is and if anyone here has any idea what this is,or maybe even has one in there house.I'll post some photos as its not easy describe something like this

Thanks
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[Penners]

massive grainte lentil

Mmmm - sounds tasty.

 

[Penners]

I don't think your "niche" was a bread oven - the shape and depth of it don't look right.

It's quite difficult to get any sense of scale, positioning or orientation from your pictures. However, for what it's worth, I suspect that you're looking at the masonry modifications that were made to accommodate a kitchen range. The fact that the chimney appears to angle out of the building only a few feet up may suggest that this was where the flue pipe was led out.

 

[brokendelphroom]

Thanks for your replie sorry about the photos but i think we could rule out a range as it is beside a door way. i'll take a few more photos so you can get a better idea

 

[brokendelphroom]

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[Penners]

Hmmm - I see what you mean. I thought your photos were all taken in the chimney stack.

Can you clarify whether the photo that you called "a view up the chimney" shows a "flue" hole that leads up from this niche to the exterior of the building? If so, then I still wouldn't rule out the possibility that it was a flue arrangement for a heating appliance of some kind.

Can you be sure that the doorway has always been there, or could it be newer than the mystery niche?

 

[brokendelphroom]

yes it is defenitly a flue hole leading up to the exterior, from the outside it is simply a hole in the wall

there is a possibility that dooway wasn't always there as far a we have learnt/figured out the house is made up of two seperate houses joined together (this doorway leads to the section that we think joins the two houses together)

The house has been in the family for 90 years and there never was a mention of anything like this thats what makes it such a mystery

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Salt cupboard?

 

[Penners]

Joss, I can't think why a salt cupboard would have a flue hole leading up from it.

I still tend to believe that the doorway postdates the niche, and that it was originally a flue arrangement for some sort of burner. Possibly there was a range that was separate from the fireplace, so that both could be used? :|

But who knows?

Is the building listed? If so, maybe your CO would have a view on this.

 

[worms]

Intriguing!

If I've got this right, the flue hole opens to the outside about ten feet up a vertical wall? So there has been a round hole, open to the elements, in a wall of the house and it has not been the subject of speculation in the 90 years that the family has had the house?? :shock: Was it not full of birds nests?

It may just be the pictures, but it sort of looks as if the feature might be later than the rest of the wall? Is there any staining on the wall outside above the hole, to suggest smoke may have been rising out of the hole? Or signs of fittings to suggest an external flue continued up to eaves level?

 

[brokendelphroom]

worms,

You're dead right that the flu hole opens to the outside about 10 feet up the wall but on the outside was an extension added probably 100 years or more ago (i presume it was added after they stopped using this flue) and the flue was built up with random rubble both inside and on the hole outside when it was decommisioned, and then plastered over so nobody ever knew of its existence until monday

there is no evidence of fittings /smoke stains on the external wall

I think the reason it looks as though it was added later is that there was a partition diving it into two and on one side it was plastered with sand and cement while the other sides retains its original lime plaster.Also it is quite blackened inside which means that it was a chimney of some sort but the real question is what :?

 

[Jill]

Hi, from my experience of chimneys and converting two properties into one i'd suggest you had a similar arrangement at some point, to what we discovered in our house. Possibly a chimney ran horizontally across where the current door opening is. Have you checked on the side of the chimney breast near your electrical sockets, to see if there is anything similar. The height of the hole looks lower than ours but hopefully this picture will give an idea of what i mean, the door frame wasn't full size so the cupboard underneath the horizontal chimney didn't allow you to stand upright.

 

[worms]

The reason I thought it looked later than the wall was that none of the stones framing the edges look as if they are keyed into the rest of the structure, giving the impression that larger stones were taken out and smaller stuff put into the hole. But difficult to tell from the pics and I can't claim any expertise!