Chimneys around Bourne

Few people today look up to inspect chimneys although their size and design are a fascinating subject especially those which were erected during the 18th and 19th centuries. Bourne has many such examples and it is a worthwhile exercise to walk the streets looking up now and again at what is on offer.

Chimneys are structures that allow hot flue gases or smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to escape into the outside atmosphere and have been in use since Roman times. They began to appear in Europe during the 12th century and have traditionally been built of brick, both for small and large buildings although many were also constructed in stone.

Chimney pots subsequently became fashionable and were placed on top of the chimney to extend its length and to improve the draft and a chimney with more than one pot on it indicates that there is more than one fireplace on different floors sharing the chimney.

There are many other additions, usually practical but also ornamental. A cowl, for instance, is often placed on top of the chimney to prevent birds and squirrels from nesting inside while a rain guard keeps water from going down the chimney. A metal wire mesh is sometimes used as a spark arrestor to minimize burning debris from rising out of the chimney and making it onto the roof and a damper is a metal spring door placed at the top of the chimney with a long metal chain that allows one to open and close the chimney from the fireplace. There are other variations.

Chimneys are no longer included in new buildings. They began to disappear when coal began to be phased out for heating following the Clean Air Act of 1956 which introduced smoke control areas and started moving sources of heat towards electricity and gas. Not a single chimney, therefore, can be seen on any of the recently built housing estates around Bourne but there are still plenty about on older properties, mostly unused except as a convenient anchor for a television aerial, yet they remain remarkable features of the street scene.

Among the more picturesque are those on the Red Hall which date from 1605 when it was built. They were dismantled in 1957 because they had become dangerous but the materials had been retained and so they were carefully and sympathetically replaced during a major restoration programme initiated by Bourne United Charities after the trustees acquired the freehold in 1962. Other interesting chimneys can be found around the town centre, in North Street, West Street and South Street, but you will need to be very observant to spot them.

SOME INTERESTING EXAMPLES

WRITTEN SEPTEMBER 2011