The Devil's Fireplace
Mar. 26th, 2011 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloThis is The Devil's Fireplace.
It used to belong to The Abbey Inn, Oldham. According to an online source I can't find any more it dates from 1846 and is believed to be the work of a stonemason called Stott who later worked on the Houses of Parliament. There are a lot of Stotts in Oldham. The Abbey Inn had a reputation as a "rough" house- which may (I'd like to think) translate as "politically radical". The fireplace now belongs to Gallery Oldham- who have kept it in store for the past ten years. It currently serves as the centrepiece for an exhibition entitled Home is Where The Hearth Is.
The two blokes the Devil is holding by the short and curlies are a lawyer and a clergyman. Subversive, eh?
It used to belong to The Abbey Inn, Oldham. According to an online source I can't find any more it dates from 1846 and is believed to be the work of a stonemason called Stott who later worked on the Houses of Parliament. There are a lot of Stotts in Oldham. The Abbey Inn had a reputation as a "rough" house- which may (I'd like to think) translate as "politically radical". The fireplace now belongs to Gallery Oldham- who have kept it in store for the past ten years. It currently serves as the centrepiece for an exhibition entitled Home is Where The Hearth Is.
The two blokes the Devil is holding by the short and curlies are a lawyer and a clergyman. Subversive, eh?
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Pub history
Date: 2013-03-25 03:25 pm (UTC)We're getting 1808 and 1813 as dates for its first opening.
And there are many instances of it not being the most behaved of places. In 1854 a policeman entered at 6:30 am and the landlord was slumped over the bar with three other men and the floor was filthy and covered in vomit.
Two years after that the police objected to the place as prostitutes were using it and it was known for robberies.
The fireplace the piece is from is still here...waiting to be reunited :-P