A MEDIEVAL fireplace in a fortified manor house has been uncovered after painstaking work by stonemasons.

It took the owners of Markenfield Hall, near Ripon, North Yorkshire, two-and-a-half years of negotiations with English Heritage, Harrogate Borough Council planners and others before Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott gave consent for the recovery work to go ahead.

Markenfield Hall's owners, Lady Deirdre Curteis, and her husband, Ian Curteis, were keen to reveal the full splendour of the ancient fireplace, which had been hidden away behind stonework.

Work finally began on the project at the start of last month.

Stonemasons unblocked and re-established the massive fireplace in the Great Hall under close archaeological supervision.

Mr Curteis said: "The project had to undergo a meticulous stone-by-stone survey of the entire north wall in which the fireplace sits before it was given approval by the Secretary of State.

"Work is progressing carefully and with great sensitivity, and slowly the enormous bulk of the fireplace has become apparent again."

Several large pieces of ornamental medieval terracotta brick and tile have been found in the rubble, some thought to be from the original 1340 hearthstone.

The secluded manor, which now hosts weddings and renewals of wedding vows in its chapel, has been dubbed Yorkshire's best-kept secret.

Much of the medieval fireback wall is still in place, its stone blackened and badly cracked by heat over the centuries.

The restored fireplace has been created from stone quarried in the masons' yard at Ripon Cathedral. The stone has come from the same seam of magnesium limestone as its original.

It graceful arch will soon have the date 2003 carved into its central stone.

Markenfield Hall is one of the oldest continuously inhabited houses in England.

More than 900 years ago, it was listed in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book.