Renovation: More work on the chimney, then on to the floors

And the end of the last post I was about to take out the large concrete lintel. I was worried about this as it was very big and incredibly heavy - I couldn't budge it. Best plan was to attack it with a sledge hammer. This was very effective - the iron reinforcement had rusted and the concrete was quite brittle. It didn't take long before the whole thing was broken up. I was left it a heavy, rusty iron bar (top left).

This is our family room to-be. Most of the rubble is stone from the chimney. Some very large and heady lumps. The whole lot needs clearing out.

The chimney with the lintel removed...

You can really see the original profile of the chimney. It is a pity it had all collapsed. There was really no way of rebuilding it back to the original format. There was not enough of the original left to fully understand how it looked.

Whilst clearing stone I found this hole at head-height in the back wall of the chimney. It went back the full width of the wall and would have been concealed by the front wall of the flue.

It was the depth of my crow-bar.

I don't know what it was for - I wonder if it was for hiding valuables? Nothing in it unfortunately.

Taking down the wall revealed the extent of the wooden beams. I don't think these were originally here, but were reused. There was also a good view into how the walls were constructed - faced either side and in-filled with gravel and smaller stones.

In the next picture, you can see that the original fireplace was wider than the one I was taking out. In the picture you can see the vertical line where the new stonework was built. The lined fireplace was bigger then this, but seems to have curved to a smaller opening at the front.