Here we are sweeping for the Bishop of Chelmsford again, and on this occasion it was the vicarage at Margaretting near Ingatestone, close to Chelmsford. We have swept the vicarage chimney on around four or five occasions now and are quite familiar with it. To be honest it is a really quick job, an open fire with a modern lined chimney that is swept regularly (by me), and that only has occasional use. So on this occasion as we didn’t have a particularly busy day and the job only took a small amount of time, we could spend a few moments examining what is a beautiful medieval church. A church that I would say is architecturally classically Essex with its wooden bell cote and spire.

The church is grade two star listed and the listed buildings website provides a great deal of information about the history and architecture of the building: A flint and stone rubble church of Norman origin but almost completely rebuilt in the early-mid C15, with a timber-framed, weatherboarded and shingled west tower with a broach spire. The roofs to the nave, chancel and aisle are tiled. The chancel was altered in the C16 and the church was much altered by restoration in 1877. A portion of the north wall to the east of the north porch is of Norman work and incorporates Roman tiles. The most important features of the church are the C15 west tower and north porch. The tower is supported on 10 posts with shores and cross bracing (of, Churches at Stock, Navestock and Blackmore, Essex). The lower stage is faced in vertical weatherboarding and has a tiled, hipped, roof. The upper stage and broach spire is shingled. The north porch has cusped
bargeboards and traceried side lights. The doorway has a 4-centred arch with traceried spandrels and the oak door is of the same period, partly renewed. The king post roof to the nave is C15 and the chancel roof is C16. The chancel has a Tree of Jesse window which is made up of C15 Flemish glass, fragments from earlier windows built into its present position in the restoration of 1877.

Fittings include a C15 octagonal font carved with emblems and a grotesque head, a carved alabaster wall monument to John Tanfield of Coptfold Hall (dated 1625), A C16 brass of Robert Sedge, his wife and children, of “Shenfield” (now known as “Killigrews”) and the lower part of a C15 rood screen. The 4 bells in the belfry are all of pre-Reformation date.

This is a stove that gets a tremendous amount of use, twenty four seven in the winter, and as a consequence, we sweep the chimney twice a year, just to ensure that there are never any issues. The stove gets so much use because it is located in the Lion pub in Finchingfield and is on the go all day, every day throughout the winter season. As you can see from the photograph it is a rather large double-sided stove, so has the capacity to burn a large amount of fuel and throw a significant quantity of deposits up the chimney. Fortunately the staff look after the stove well and burn it hot, so the chimney deposits tend to be in the nature of very light fine soot, but lots of it. Heritage stoves are a make of stove that I only ever come across infrequently, although I do sweep one or two, but none as large as this beast. This is an example of a Heritage Brandon 16Kw Double-Sided Wood-Burning Stove. As I say, I do come across the odd Heritage model, but only very infrequently, they are not a common make of stove in the area by any stretch of the imagination. The chimney also has an unusual Vedette Anti-Downdraught/draw assistance Cowl – See photograph which also managed to capture the setting winter moon.

The Finchingfield Lion is a pub that is well worth a visit, set in the most picturesque of English villages, you always get a very warm welcome from Jacui and the staff and they do Pizzas to die for and quality real ale. Jacqui bought The Finchingfield Lion in November 2016 with the aim of turning this run-down pub into a true village local – serving good, reasonably-priced food, using the freshest local ingredients, prepared simply and with flair. The team is enthusiastic, and the welcome is warm.  The front bar is cosy, the top bar is stunning, the beer garden is huge and enclosed so bring your dog and enjoy!

6 Church Hill, Finchingfield, Essex CM7 4NN – 01371 810400

https://thefinchingfieldlion.co.uk/

Increasingly it seems to me that most of the blogs I write about stoves are either about antique stoves or examples of rare stoves or stoves I am unfamiliar with. Here is a case of the latter, a stove make that I had never seen or heard of before, so by inference a rarity in this area. This is a Charnwood Arc 5 Store Stand Multi-Fuel Stove – I think its rarity is as much due to its recent appearance on the stove market as Charnwood have been updating their models. Up until recently Charnwood did not manufacture a cylindrical stove, so the Arc is something of a development for them. The Arc comes in two models, the 5 and the slightly larger 7 – I think that you will agree that both are very stylish and contemporary and as in this example, they look great in an old setting. There is something rather pleasing about that juxtaposition between traditional and contemporary, I think it works really well here in this old timber framed cottage.

Charnwood stoves are a very well known stove manufacturer and are located on the isle of Wight. A J Wells & Sons Ltd, the manufacturers of Charnwood Stoves, was founded in 1972 and is a privately owned, family controlled, British company that specialises in the design and manufacture of high quality wood burning and multifuel stoves. They are actually the oldest British manufacturer of wood burning stoves, run by second and third generations of the family. There advertising blurb states that they “are dedicated to providing products of enduring design and of the highest quality”.

It all started in 1972, when Alfred Wells and two of his sons, started a small engineering business in Niton on the Isle of Wight. Over the last forty years we have grown from our original small factory of around 1500 sq. ft to our current site of over 50,000sq. Ft.

We have always been keen to provide local employment on the Isle of Wight and have seen the number of our employees rise from the original 3 to well over 150. The company state that they are very proud of our workforce who have rewarded them by staying loyal to the company, with many staff having worked with us for over 25 years. Such continuity brings stability to the business ensuring that pride in the company and the quality of our products is maintained. The owners of the company are Christians and Christian values and principles underpin the way they do business and run the company.

Their company advertising goes on to say that “commitment to our staff is vital as is the commitment to invest in the latest technology to ensure the highest quality. Over the years we have installed our own Vitreous Enamelling Plant, CNC controlled Press Brakes, Robotic Welders and a state of the art Laser Profiler all of which allow pin point accuracy resulting in superior quality. Keeping the manufacture of as many parts as possible in-house enables us to maintain full production control to provide our customers with long-lasting products leading the field technically in both operation and function.

Contact details for Charnwood stoves are as follows:

Charnwood stoves,

Bishops Way,

Newport,

Isle of Wight PO30 5WS

Sales 01983 537777

Technical & Spares 01983 537799

I came across this very unusual stove in the vicarage at West Mersea on Mersea Island, whilst sweeping for the Bishop of Chelmsford. I can with all honesty say that I have never come across a stove quite like it before, it certainly is most unusual and a real rarity. Like a combination stove, the stove can be operated in two ways, firstly with the doors closed like a traditional wood stove, however as there is no glass in the doors you would not be able to see the fire. Secondly, so you could see the fire, you can operate the stove with the doors open, and there is an unusual heat resistant glass screen the can be brought down in front of the firebox so that material can not spit out of the stove whilst it is in operation.

My first impression looking at the stove, from its French sounding name and the attractive Fleur-De-Lillies embossed on the doors that the stove is French in manufacture. A Google search only revealed numerous antique Deville Charleville Wood-Burning Stoves for sale – But it did seem to confirm that they were a French Stove manufacturer who were producing stoves in the 1920’s and 1930’s, up to the start of the Second World War.

 For this week’s offering, here is an unusual stove and a make of stove that I only ever come across infrequently. This is an example of a Fireline FQ5W multi-fuel stove. As I say, I do come across the odd Fireline model, but only very infrequently, they are not a common make of stove in the area by any stretch of the imagination. I swept this example in an address in Linton, but the customer had inherited the stove when they moved in and were not aware of who the installer was. To my mind it is a very utilitarian stove, square, solid and business like with very straight lines as the photograph demonstrates. Not perhaps the most attractive of appliances, but certainly functional and business like. This said the customer has been more than pleased with its performance and uses it on a regular basis throughout the burning season.

Fireline are a subsidiary of Charlton & Jenrick Ltd of Telford in Shropshire. A google search revealed that this company make a number of different brands along with Fireline, including Infinity HD, Katell, Purevision and Paragon. The company sales blurb states that they have been manufacturing stoves and fireplaces since 1986 and was founded by Barry Charlton and Bill Jenrick and now employs over 125 people across two sites.

Charlton & Jenrick Ltd

Unit D
Stafford Park 2
Telford
Shropshire
TF3 3AR

T 01952 200 444
F 01952 200 480
E sales@charltonandjenrick.co.uk

https://www.charltonandjenrick.co.uk/contact/charlton-jenrick/

After our recent summer holiday to Cyprus (George & Adrienne’s villa in Latchi again), both Claire and I are beginning to wonder whether they have Building Regulations in Cyprus and if they do, we’re guessing some Cypriots just choose to ignore them! Here are some photo’s of some of the interesting chimneys that we saw, I dread to think what might be going on inside the properties! There seems to be a total disregard for the proximity to combustible materials for one thing. I suspect that many Cypriots just choose to do their own installations and building work, judging by some of the sights. These horrors aside we had a great family holiday as usual, although it was rather warm this summer with temperatures over 40 degrees some days. Thank heavens for that cooling breeze that is always present on the north coast.

This week’s offering is a rather local stove to us, in the neighbouring village of Debden. The customer here recently changed from an antique Jotul stove that didn’t heat the room adequately, to this stylish, contemporary Hunter Allure 5 Wood-Burning Stove. The stove was installed by Cut Maple Stoves from New England near Sturmer. The customer is very happy with his new stove, and he told me that Cut Maple Stoves did an excellent job and that he is very happy with how his new stove operates. He was particularly pleased with how efficiently it heats the room and he likes the large piece of glass in the door so he can see the fire burning. I find the Hunter Allure 5 very similar in design to the Parkray Aspect 5, which is not surprising as Parkray are now part of the Hunter Group of stove manufacturing companies.

Hunter Stoves were founded in the West Country in 1970 and now manufacture their stoves at a site near Exeter. Hunter bought the Parkray company in 2003 and absorbed the brand into its product range. In 2008 Hunter Stoves bought a site a Camelford in Cornwall as a research and development department, but they now produce some stoves there as well. In 2015 the company rebranded as the Hunter Stoves Group and now produce such brands as; Herald, HS Gas, Di Lusso, Avalon, Cleanburn, Eco-ideal and Parkray.

Hunter Stoves Limited
8 Emperor Way, Exeter Business Park, Exeter, EX1 3QS

https://hunterstoves.co.uk/

I had a rather busy week this week; on Friday I completed the Guild of Master Sweeps CCTV inspection and integrity testing course at Spec Flue in Sudbury. A great day out, which was very instructive, and I was able to meet some old friends from the sweeping community. It was great to have a detailed input into things to look out for whilst inspecting various different typed of chimney. It was additionally very worthwhile seeing the various types of CCTV and pressure testing systems that are on the market at the present ranging from the expensive to the relatively inexpensive. It was also good to see some of the various features that are available on some of the systems, like pan and tilt, recording and stills capabilities, and high-resolution picture quality. The Woeller and Reiss systems being the most expensive at around the £6.000 mark and the least expensive being the Rodtech Grenade system at around a thousand pounds. The Advanced Camera System that I use being somewhere in the middle price range and was the one I was most impressed with.

I said it was a busy week, because on Monday I was at the Royal Papworth Hospital where I had a so-called balloon angioplasty procedure to unblock my existing cardiac stent which was becoming blocked. I had started feeling unwell before Christmas and had steadily become worse, although I am feeling immediately much better. Amazingly, I arrived at Papworth Hospital at 7am, I had the procedure which took about an hour and was released at 1.30pm. It is just so amazing the sort of keyhole surgery that they are able to perform these days and I’m so grateful to all the Cardiac team at Papworth Hospital, they are fantastic! Hopefully I will be good for at least another 10 years!

To be honest, we have probably swept the stove chimney in the vicarage at Thaxted more times than any other vicarage across the whole of Essex. Like at Saffron Walden Thaxted Vicarage is some distance from the church, located as it is down Watling Lane, but following the recent trend, it is quite a modern house, specifically built for the purpose. But it is the church of Saint John the Baptist with Our Lady and Saint Laurence which is a jewel of medieval gothic church building.

There has been a Christian church in Thaxted since Saxon times. The first documented reference to a church in the settlement is in the Liber Eliensis, regarding a gift of land in “Thacstede” to the abbey at Ely by a woman named Æthelgifu sometime between 981 and 1016. It states that the will, written in English, was kept in the church there as evidence. An early church was said to have been dedicated to Saint Catherine and its foundations were reportedly found in the eighteenth century at Rails Farm, not far from the present church site. There is also evidence that the current building stands on the site of an earlier church, and that traces of this church were found under the chancel.

Why a modest settlement such as Thaxted in the fourteenth century should have embarked upon building such a grandiose structure has long been a matter of debate and conjecture. A number of factors may have played a part: a dispute between the vicar and the monks of Tilty Abbey over tithes allowed the considerable sums previously donated to the abbey by the town to be diverted to the parish church, at a time when the town was beginning to prosper as a centre of the cutlery industry. The inhabitants were therefore able to organise and contribute towards the financing of a major church building project, even if the support of rich benefactors was still necessary. During the period when construction began, many small donations of land were made to the borough, which were immediately sold, presumably for the purpose of funding the new structure. The appointment of four churchwardens is taken as an indication that the town was managing funds for construction.

The construction was sponsored by a number of noble patrons descended from the Clare family who had held the manor of Thaxted since the Norman Conquest: Elizabeth, Lady Clare (1295–1360); Lionel, Duke of Clarence (1338–68); Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1352–81); his grandson, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (1391–1425); and King Edward IV (1442–83).

The current church was built over an extended period from the mid-fourteenth century to the first quarter of the sixteenth century, probably on the site of an earlier church. The earliest parts of the present building date from c. 1340 and substantial building works were completed by c.1510. Foundations of the earlier structure were apparently discovered under the entrance to the Chancel. Some have theorized that these remains, and the late construction of the Chancel, show that the older building remained in place until most of the new structure had been completed.

This weeks blog is a total one off and a real rarity, I can say with all honesty I have not seen an example of this weeks appliance before, except perhaps on the internet. This is an example of an antique French Thermocet Wood-Burning Fireplace. I’m guessing that it was manufactured at some stage in the early part of the last century, or perhaps even earlier and although I swept it in a Victorian/Edwardian age house on Saffron Walden I should think that it is not an original feature, but a reclaimed fireplace from elsewhere. An internet search certainly reveals numerous examples of similar French Stoves and Fireplaces for sale, there are even companies that deal specifically with antique French appliances. Clearly this example is highly unusual and very ornante, but I can’t quite make up my mind whether it is ugly or beautiful, it is certainly a talking point, a real conversation starter!

Anyone who is interested, take a look at:

https://www.antiquefrenchstove.com/

Or

https://delos.co.za/products/antique-cast-iron-wood-burning-stove-with-painted-tiles

Or

https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/antique_french_stove