re, and for a given
height and sectional area requires less material to secure stability
than the octagonal and still less than the square; on the other hand,
there is more liability to cracking. Brick is the material commonly
used, but many chimneys are now made of iron or steel. Reinforced
concrete is also employed.

CHIMNEYPIECE, the term given to the projecting hood which in medieval
times was built over a fireplace to catch the smoke, and at a later date
to the decorative framework, often carried up to the ceiling.
"Chimneypiece" or "mantelpiece" is now the general term for the jambs,
mantelshelf and external accessories of a fireplace. For many centuries
the chimneypiece was the most ornamental and most artistic feature of a
room, but as fireplaces have become smaller, and modern methods of
heating have been introduced, its artistic as well as its practical
significance has grown less.

Up to the 12th century rooms were warmed entirely by a hypocaust, or
with braziers, or by fires on the hearth, the smoke finding its way up
to a lantern in the roof. The earliest chimneypiece known is that in
the King's House at Southampton, with Norman shafts in the joints
carrying a segmental arch, which is attributed to the first half of
the 12th century. At a later date, in consequence of the greater width
of the fireplace, flat or segmental arches were thrown across and
constructed with voussoirs, sometimes joggled, the thrust of the arch
being resisted by bars of iron at the back. In domestic work of the
14th century the chimneypiece was greatly increased in order to allow
of the members of the family sitting on either side of the fire on the
hearth, and in these cases great beams of timber were employed to
carry the hood; in such cases the fireplace was so deeply recessed as
to become externally an important architectural feature, as at Haddon
Hall. The largest chimneypiece existing is in the great hall of the
Palais des Comtes at Poitiers, which is nearly 30 ft. wide, having two
intermediate supports to carry the hood; the stone flues are carried
up between the tracery of an immense window above. In the early
Renaissance style, the chimneypiece of the Palais de Justice at Bruges
is a magnificent example; the upper portion, carved in oak, extends
the whole width of the room, with statues of nearly life size of
Charles V. and others of the royal family of Spain. The