30s terrace fireplace opening

[greg2k]

Wondering if anyone has any experience of this. I'm opening up a bricked up fireplace in the front living room of a 30s terrace. There are two chimneys in the house with the main stack going up through the centre of the house, so the bedrooms have no chimney breasts (just pertrusions in the corners). This means that the flue from the living room immediately veers left to join the stack. The chimney breast runs 3/4 the length of the room, with an arched alcove. I've opened it up and can see the builders opening, but the "infill" seems interlocked and supports the the top and bottom arches that make up the flue. Suspect that the house was built in a hurry and the gather and infill are kind of merged. I only want to open it up about 40 cm wide and 65cm high, so It's not a huge issue, small lintel required, but has anyone experienced this?

Edited by greg2k on Thursday 29th December 23:00

[princeperch]

Just knocked mine straight out , after checking there was a brick gather above. 25 builders bag of rubble and soot later it was pretty much clear..