Location
The Cotswolds
Stone
New dressed limestone jambs; original bressummer and hearth retained
Scope
Worn jambs replaced either side of the opening, propped and worked around the existing beam

The problem

The opening was sound in principle — original oak bressummer, original stone hearth — but the jambs either side had weathered to a rough, pitted face and were no longer carrying cleanly.

Cottage inglenook before restoration, with rough pitted stone jambs either side of the opening and an acrow prop supporting the beam
Before: the old jambs, and the prop taking the beam.

What we did

The beam was propped, the worn jambs taken out, and new dressed stone set either side of the opening. The bressummer, the brick back and the stone hearth all stayed exactly where they were — the work is confined to what had actually failed.

Restored cottage inglenook with clean new dressed stone jambs beneath the original oak beam
After: clean jambs, original beam and hearth untouched.

The result

A fireplace that looks right again, and a cottage that has lost nothing original in the process. Or as Jackson's put it: good for another 200 years.