Having started on the downstairs by removing the kitchen, the next job was to remove the fire place in the lounge. The existing fireplace surround was built of stone and probably dates to the 1970’s. This was quickly removed as was the gas fire itself. The stone from the fireplace surround will be used in the dry stone wall in the orchard – as long as we don’t use the flat edges in the front face of the wall, we should get away using this stone. It would be a shame to throw it in the skip.
Once the gas fire was removed, it revealed an old cast iron back boiler that seems to have been used for heating the cottage and the hot water. There was a circulation pump hidden to the side of the fire. I think this was disused once the central heating was installed. All of this was fairly easily removed. The rest of the fireplace seemed to be packed with a mixture of engineering bricks and rubble. This was all mixed up with a fair amount of soot! However, once it was all removed the fireplace is very clean and you can see right up to the sky through the chimney pot.
The fireplace surround is made up of solid stone – two large pillars with a large stone beam across the top.
The original 1970’s gas fireplace
Gas fire now gone to reveal the old cast iron back boiler
Fireplace cleaned out. There are a couple of spots of water in the hearth where the rain has come in via the chimney pot