The houses were heated by coal fires so they all had chimney stacks. Cooking was done on coal or coke fired cast iron ranges. The tall, red brick chimney stacks are sometimes banded with courses of blue bricks or stock bricks and invariably topped with terracotta chimney pots. The pots can be round, square or octagonal and red or cream in colour. There were usually three to six pots per house to service the range and the various fireplaces.
Do check the pointing of chimney stacks regularly they are the most exposed parts of the house and, if neglected, can fall and cause damage to the roof. Avoid using pure cement mortar when re-pointing. It is too hard and inflexible. A recommended mixture is given under Pointing.
Cut down stacks should be rebuilt to the full original height, check with surviving stacks, and missing chimney pots replaced, if you want your house to look right. Chimney pots are still manufactured or they can be found in reclamation yards.
These can be seen all around the town
