Fireplaces and their history

Fireplaces are we know them today orginate from the Norman military engineer-architects when they were used for the palatial stone castles being built all over England.  The central hearth fire was not practical in these multi-storied fortresses, so the wall fireplace was designed and built as an integral part of the stone wall structure.

In the more humble homes the central hearth survived.  Around the central fireplace lay dry rushes or straw, strewn over the floor, to keep the dampness at bay.  Exposed timbers ignited easily in these conditions.  It may have been for this reason that curfew was introduced in 1068.  The church bell was tolled at 8 o’clock every evening, warning people to retreat to their homes and cover their fires.  The word curfew comes the from French courvre few, which literally means ‘cover fire’, and was also the name given to a metal cover put down over the fire in order to reduce the risk of escaping embers, while still retaining the hot coals ready for the next morning.  It is also said that the curfew was introduced to restrict people from socialising in the evenings, those in power being fearful of rebellion.

In early days, the servants joined their lords for supper and then slept around the fire, while the noble family and guest occupied the raised dais above.

Fireplace Design

During the twentieth century, with the invention of central heating and the television, the fireplace as the focal point of home living was almost lost forever.  But, the recent revival of concern for the past, combined with the traditional fascination for fire, have made for a new interest in the fireplace.  Today, most people in Devon live in houses designed and built in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  It is these two centuries that will be explored to convey a better idea of the original purpose, design and decorative detailing of each period fireplace.  To restore the character and charm of any period house successfully, the restorer must be discriminating and caring.  The fireplace should reflect the style in which the house was built.  However, many contemporary designs can look good in older settings too.  Hopefully an overall balance will be achieved between understanding and respecting the original features of the house, incorporating an efficient heating system and displaying one’s own personal style.

In discovering the myriad of ideas from Victorian and Edwardian times right up to contemporary styles, any Devon Fireplace and Stove supplier will find you an array of adaptable designs. 

Stoves

To many people the stove and the fireplace mean more or less the same thing: heating devices.  To others they are quite separate, one is for cooking on and  even slaving over, the other is for keeping warm and relaxing by.  The difficulty in making the distinction is that there are so many types of stoves, ranging from the highly decorative Scandinavian wood-burning stove to the dual purpose heating/cooking range such as the Aga, and finally to the modern electric cooker which has little in common with the traditional open fireplace.

In recent years the enclosed stove, primarily as a room heater, has made a huge comeback, with a great many design with different purposes to choose from.  But even if a stove’s function is to heat a room, most have one or two hotplates to enable minimal cooking or boiling of a kettle.

It is thought that all these complaints led to a resistance in Britain to the idea of using the stove as a means of heating in other rooms.  It is also quite likely that they were unwilling to give up the open fire as the focal point to living and entertaining rooms, no matter how inefficient it was compared with the stove.  The arrival of the closed stove in the kitchen meant the end of the open hearth in the most vital room of the house.

In Europe the market has been dominated by stoves from Scandinavia, because of their excellent engineering and tasteful decorative qualities.  The Norwegian cooking stove of 1869 was the forerunner to the Aga, which was invented by Dr Gustav Dalen in 1924.  Dr Dalen, a Swedish physicist and Nobel Prize winner, produced the first closed iron range designed on the at storage principle.  These stoves provide good insulation within the ovens and up to 409 litres (90 galls) of hot water per day; they were introduced to England in 1929.

The now famous Aga helped to re-establish family life within the warmth of city and country kitchens.  The Aga seems a natural choice, fitting snugly back into the place of an old combustion stove or cast iron cooker.  It comes in a variety of enamelled colours such as the vibrant red model, and can be fuelled by coke, oil or gas.  The Aga is also said to be descended from the Albert Kitchener, one of the advanced designs of the 1850s.  It may be worth viewing the display ranges at the Castle Museum in York, to see the evolution from hob grate to enclosed fire.

Most of these stoves draw in cold air from either the room or from outside, thus providing an ongoing supply of fresh air which is circulated through the casing in the rear of the stove and then released into the room.  It may be better to choose a stove that brings in an outside air supply, to avoid draughts and cold spots.

Another alternative is to install a convector firebox, which retains the appearance of an open fire without the loss of heat via the chimney.  If you do have a large fireplace but wish to have greater efficiency and think a stove may detract visually from the existing fireplace, a convector fire may be more suitable.  However, they do have a tendency to smoking problems

It is extremely important for the proportions of a stove to be in keeping with the size of the fireplace opening and the dimensions of the room.  Existing fireplaces incorporating closed stoves often do not complement one another.  To begin with they were not designed to fit together; you either had a closed stove or an open fireplace.  The stove may jut out into the room beyond the projections of the mantelpiece and create disharmony; the space left around the stove in a large fireplace opening may look odd, giving one the feeling that the stove has been put there quite inappropriately. On the other hand, if the opening is sealed and stove is placed in front, the very beauty, as well as function, of the original fireplace surround is denied.  On seeing a fireplace one automatically expects to see a fire, not a cast iron stove.  So, unless the doors on the stove are open, the focus and relationship between the two can be uncomfortable.