What IS behind that huge chimney breast?

There is an excessively large chimney breast in the front room Taking the plaster off the side allowed a knock on the brickwork to indicate a hollow cavity behind.

You can see the original pale blue and beige paint towards the top of the wall.

So, time to attack the front. Initial excavations revealed a modern concrete lintel. There also appeared to be new brickwork.

However, down the right had side, original brickwork could be seen. Was this an original Victorian kitchen? Further removal of the concrete render showed the extent of the concrete lintel. At the edges and along the top of this wall is original lime plaster.

After a bit of persuasion, a brick was removed. The question is, what is behind? Looks like just lots and lots of rubble peering through the hole...

Taking out further bricks resulted in this...

It is clear that the chimney has collapsed internally - huge amounts of mortar, plaster and stone came out of this cavity. But, behind all the rubbish was a brick face with an opening at the top which had a wrought iron surround. within the frame was a flat section and then a brick oven with a cast iron door.

The door has been removed (luckily intact with no damage, despite it being rusted solid. Thanks WD40).

The oven originally sat out the back of the house, but the actual structure was removed when the extension (new house) was built. Inside the oven now is the brickwork of the wall behind.

There is really nice brickwork surrounding this oven, which will clean up nicely. I am also sure that the door will clean up well - just needs a scrub and some zebo.

What a find! Definitely a feature to keep. The amount of rubbish that came out was astounding. Bags and bags of rubble and mortar. However, after much effort, I was left with this...

Note the original tiles at the base of the void. The brickwork to the left is later and will be removed. There may be additional stuff behind the bit of the chimney breast that remains. That is the next job.

You can see the new brickwork more clearly here. Whilst this can be removed, the lintel will have to stay until the large block-work structure is the room above is removed. It is looking likely that the chimney in this room and the room above will have to be removed as a lot has collapsed anyway. We will need to reinstate something as we wil have a wood burning stove in this room.

Finally, I was removing a storage heater from bedroom 1 for use in another part of the house and pulled a section of wall off. Behind was a quite elaborate grate - pictures to follow.

So far, some nice original features and some clues as to the original structure. The next steps are the continued removal of the fireplace in the front room, then the removal of the block-work in the bedroom above.