The Ember Strikes Back

The Ember

The fireplace was around long before the first historians developed language and methods of recording events. Its purpose was three-fold, heating, cooking, and providing a social focal point.

The first proper homes had a central fire, with gaps in the roof for the smoke to escape. Over several centuries homes evolved from timber framed single rooms into multi-roomed brick structures. The fireplace also evolved. With more rooms to heat, more fires were required. The fireplace migrated from the centre of the room to the periphery.

This was the era of the inglenook. The inglenook, or chimney corner, was the large space around the hearth (which contained the fire) that was big enough for cooking and also for people to be seated to socialise. Andirons or leg irons held the fuel, faggots and logs, just above the ground. Inglenooks remain a popular focal point in old inns and a STRIKES

BACK

With summer coming to an end, fireplaces are being prepped in readiness for the ceremonial first lighting of the season – and the unavoidable acceptance that autumn is here. Robert Veitch stokes the embers of their social history

roaring log fire on a cold day in a welcoming pub remains one of life’s little joys.

In residential homes, more rooms equated to more fireplaces, which gradually reduced in size. During the Victorian era, the advent of large-scale house building programmes led to the standardisation of some household elements. The Victorians standardised both the chimney and the fireplace and mass-produced both, along with grates, fireguards, firebacks, fenders, pokers, tongs and bellows.

Fireplaces became more efficient as they became smaller. The advent of coal as a fuel created further progress. Coal is denser and burns hotter than wood, which meant a small coal-fuelled fireplace could generate more heat than a large wood-fuelled fireplace.

The coal man, like the milkman, has largely disappeared

Inglenook fireplaces gradually fell out of fashion in new homes built with smaller rooms. They were also less efficient because too much heat went straight up the chimney. The arrival of central heating only Inglenooks remain a popular focal point in old inns

hastened their demise.

The fireplace works primarily by radiating heat from the fireback into the room. A warm chimney breast will also radiate heat into the room. Heating the air is a by-product of having a fire. Modern fireplaces are about 80% efficient, but the acid test is whether or not the thermostat is turned down and clothing is loosened as the temperature rises!

With improved mining techniques, the growth of the rail network and then an improved road network, the use of coal as a heating fuel increased into the 20th century. In 1913 UK coal production peaked at 292 million tonnes.

The abundance of coal was wonderful for home heating, but it negatively affected the skies in urban areas. When fog became laced with soot and sulphur dioxide from domestic heating (and industrial output) the result was known as a pea-souper or smog. After the Industrial Revolution and right up to the first half of the 20th century smog was feared.

In London, The Great Smog of 1952 killed around 10,000 people and led to the Clean Air Act of 1956. Latterly, historical London buildings were cleaned of soot and sulphur; many restored to their original glory. In the decades that followed, skies have become cleaner and clearer. Drones might pose more of a problem in the 2020s.

As recently as the 1970s a visit from the coal man was still a regular occurrence, most towns had at least one coal merchant and the sight of a coal bunker and coal scuttle was commonplace. The coal man, like the milkman, has largely disappeared, both replaced by anonymous online delivery agents.

Only around one-third of UK homes had central heating at the start of the 1970s. Central heating became the ‘in thing’ and was installed at a rate similar to that of satellite dishes a generation later.

New homes were built with integrated central heating systems and maybe a solitary ornamental fireplace if there was one at all. The

chimney became a dark empty space, devoid of life and warmth.

By the end of the seventies, almost twothirds of homes had central heating, and by the time of the 1984 miners strike, the use of coal as a source of heating was well and truly on the wane. By 2019 the UK produced less than

Clothing is loosened as the temperature rises!

10 million tonnes of coal. Only three coal-fired power stations remain in use today and they will close by 2024.

Chimneys were in danger of becoming redundant and purely decorative. Many fireplaces had been bricked up and replaced with gas effect fires, fuelled by North Sea gas.

But something changed and those fading embers in the fireplace refused to die. They struck back. In recent years, the popularity of log burners has instigated a return to active service for many redundant fireplaces and chimneys. Log burners need a flue so that unemployed chimneys can be re-purposed.

Gas and electric fires have also become increasingly efficient with many options available, so those bricked up fireplaces can be restored to their former glory.

That empty unused inglenook from centuries past now has a new lease of life, which is far more efficient than it ever was in its original guise, though it retains its central purpose – heating and a social hub.

Meanwhile, the simple hearth that occupied homes over the centuries has made a return, albeit outside. Popular features of many gardens in the 21st century include the barbecue, chiminea, and fire pit; each of which still provide the same basic functions; heat, cooking and a social arena.

Once the focal point of the room, the fireplace has long since been replaced by the television. That aside, there’s still something to be said for turning off the TV and relaxing with a glass of wine, toasting some sizzling crumpet as the embers slowly burn down. l