Blessed with this blistering hot week we can throw up a scaffold and forge ahead.

Our only worry is that with temperatures reaching 27 degrees the lime mortar is drying terribly quickly as we work.

What we have built yesterday is rock solid the following day.  The heat is not so seering as to crack the lime, although its essential to tamp it soon after it is laid.

A bole is born (left) using a sandstone paving stone to the back of it.

Prudently mixing  mortar, only as much as we can use from hour to hour, and by increasing the water content slightly it remains workable for a little longer.

An east door (left, foreground) shall be internal and slightly narrow so as to accommodate the fireplace (right).

We cover the work in the evening as the air cools. Any hotter and it would need to be sprayed & dampened down.

Must be the sexiest fireplace in Donegal.