What fire?

[rogerh]

I opened up a fireplace in my flat to reveal this:

I imagine it's had more than one insert over time and it seems too shallow for a standard Victorian register. (It was full to the top with soot and had a dead pigeon on each ledge.)

I'm curious about what insert(s) it may have had in the past and, in particular, what would have required the grove on the right-hand side:

It's in the front, ground floor room of a Bath townhouse, c.1765. It had had two infills. Down to the bottom of the lintel was filled in (not particularly well) with lime plaster while the main opening below had been blocked up with breeze blocks and plastered over around 1975. I don't yet know what's going in but might have to think about reinforcing the lintel in the meantime. I have the CO coming a week tomorrow about another room, though, so will discuss it with him.

Any observations, comments or suggestions welcome.

Roger

 

[Ian Bond]

My first thought was a hob grate - this type of grate persisted into the 19th century, and there are many variations in style and decoration. Some even had brick or stone hobs in place of cast iron.

Your CO will be able to advise, as you've said yourself, and guide you toward the correct type of grate for the period, style, decorative finish etc appropriate for your particular room.

It would be nice to think that other fireplaces have survived elsewhere in the house. But as you've discovered, over the years fireplaces were 'improved' as more efficient designs emerged, and it's the lucky person who finds something completely intact and original behind boards or bricks.

I just found piles of rubble, a corner of a stone shelf and soot - fortunately I could look to my neighbours for surviving examples of grates etc. Although until funds allow, I'm living with holes-in-the-wall where the grate will go.

Don't know what that groove is for - maybe someone else has seen something similar and can help?

 

[shelli]

Dont know the correct terminology but the shallow depth of the fireplace does seem to me to indicate a small hob grate (our house is 1740 - but country cottage rather than townhouse)

This is the small hob grate we put in our lounge - we got it from http://www.periodhousestore.co.uk/index.html

in Richmond , N YOrks - they have loads and they are reasonably priced - unlike top end retailers



cripes - sorry about massive grainy picture!!

 

[rogerh]

The house was converted into council flats in 1975 and all fireplaces were removed although, unlike for other rooms, there's no instructions on the plans to remove a fireplace here - just to build up the opening - so I imagine it had already been lost. Possibly a Victorian insert, at which time the opening had been reduced to a more conventional 38" square.

Prior to that a hob grate similar to shelli's seems plausible, although that doesn't explain the groove or the need to hack away at the stone surround to fit it further back. There's also the mystery of what surround would have been so tall. The square opening at the top is where the original plaster had been cut back, with three holes drilled in the stone to fix something. It's much higher than you'd expect for a mantlepiece (56" high at the top), particularly for a fairly small room - about 12 foot square.

Here's one of the fireplaces in the Herschel museum, three doors down:

(Possibly not original.)

Roger