An old fireplace....

I've blogged before about the old post office attached to the house which I now use as a shed.  I'm still playing about with the remaining contents.  I knew there were two old fire surrounds hidden at the back. They had been taken from the house when it was renovated about 17 years ago.  They need quite a bit of work doing to them and as there are no fireplaces in the house anymore they won't go back into the house.  However I have a soft spot for them. The fires that have burned in them, the people that they have warmed, the stories they could tell....

So this weekend with help from S (who did all the hard work!) this one was pulled out from underneath everything and turned it's face to the sun again.  This is my favourite one.  It is c1860 when the house was built.  It came from one of the "best" rooms in the house - at the front where there was lathe and plaster.  At the back of the house plaster was just thrown onto the stone, these would have been sleeping rooms, sculleries etc.

This fireplace came from a room upstairs, which seems a bit "posh" you might think. But originally the house was actually two "flats" with one family living upstairs and another downstairs.  So this may have been in a "parlour".

The tiles are early Victorian industrially made (I am reliably informed).  I love their design.

For now the fireplace will rest in the shed, but at least I can admire it when I go in there now.  And of course Button had to inspect it too!