The Fireplace Wall

The far end fireplace wall in what will be the kitchen is very fragile. It is cracked and bows badly. There is already an old buttress on the outside to support it. At some point a lean-to nestled beside the buttress. You can still see the holes in the wall where the beams slotted.


Inside the kitchen, a cupboard-come-sink area alongside the chimney breast must have weakened it. The wall is too thin behind the cupboard and the sink waste water just ran out through a hole, soaking into the ground around non-existent foundations. In places the stones in the wall are just held in place by clay mud dug from the surrounding fields.

The chimney and fireplace came down, to lighten the load, but the wall still needed supporting. So a whole new wall, in the ugly red bricks, has had to be built in front. It is this that will take the weight of the new beams and (plastered) will become the backdrop for our new kitchen units.