The British Fireplace

The fireplace has been an important part of the domestic and communal interior environment from early times when the fireplace was a simple hearth in the middle of a building with a hole in the roof as a chimney. Since then the fireplace has gone through a series of technical refinements over the centuries until we now have the modern enclosed fireplace with its much increased efficiencies in btu production.

The first refinement of the fireplace was for it to have a dedicated chimney and an opening in the wall which concentrated the airflow and consequently the heat. This then provided a decorative opportunity which initially produced carving in stone but later wooden decoration with a shelf which was of course the first chimney piece, mantelpiece or fireplace as we know it today.

The tradition of a carved wood mantel or chimney piece to surround your fireplace was common practice by the late 17th early 18th century and went through successive transformations from baroque to rococo and neoclassicism in which styles many beautiful fireplaces were produced.

In approximately 1770 a new material called Adam's composition was developed, named after Robert Adam, the famous neoclassical architect. This material allowed decorative enrichment to be applied to, among other things, fireplaces, enabling these decorative objects to be produced in a quantity and at a price which was affordable by the rapidly expanding middle class. These fireplaces were very popular at the time and were produced in very large quantities up until 1910 when the fashion of modernism decreed that decoration was outside its religion.