does anyone know what this is?

SailorSam

I thought at first it was a blanking plate 'cos a socket had been taken away, but looking at the size of the tiles i thought the plate is to big for a single socket.
The cover for brushes to clean a flue ?????? maybe but how do you remove it ? There are no screws like on a socket, what is that thing in the centre, does that screw off and on ?

imogen-p

It looks like the flue cover that's in my mum's kitchen. She had an open fire in the living room and this odd stand alone boiler in the kitchen which heated the hot water, and shared a chimney. The hatch was on the wall next to the fire in the kitchen and was make it easier to clean the boiler section as it was just about impossible to get the brushed up through the boiler and into the chimney.
The thing was a pain in the proverbial, as when it rained you used to get watery soot running out the bottom of it. Unless you're getting the chimney cleaned it's probably best to keep the thing shut.