We have recently bought and moved into a first floor Victorian conversion flat in Islington. There is a cast iron fireplace with a wooden surround. The wooden surround is held to the wall with 90 degree brackets.

我删除了surround as we were doing some painting and found the fireplace itself was loose and just sitting in the chimney. I pulled it out and found a chimney balloon behind it which I guess had deflated and fallen down there.

The fireplace is not flush with the wall - it is held off the wall by a piece of timber so that it sits against the surround, though this leaves gaps all around between the wall and the fireplace.

The opening appears to be just brick. There's what looks like some.electrical cable conduit running through the back of the chimney that I guess supplies the sockets in the alcoves either side of the chimney breast.

Am I right in thinking this was installed as a cosmetic fireplace rather than a serviceable one?

Very grateful for any advice you can offer!