Incidentally (hijack alert) seeing as the OP has the answers i recieved a call yesterday "i have a victorian fireplace you can have",rushed around to be confronted by a Chinese copy and not good at that so be warned anyone looking to buy.
Bonjour etc, the fireplace came out of an old house in Hartlepool 10 years ago, it was painted gloss white so I shot blasted it and cleaned it up, it is cracked on 1 grate support, I am fitting it as a feature behind a newly installed log burner and the grate fixing supports need to come off,thanks for the tips, I am now off to Army Surplus to sort out some high explosives (sorry Toolstation for a couple of thin cutting discs, I will take a couple of pics when I get cracking!!!!