We have a small cast iron fireplace in our bedroom. It's unused and until Monday had been blocked up with newspaper and a bit of board by the previous owners.
We had both our chimneys swept on Monday and the larger fireplace downstairs has a chimney sheep in it to keep the drafts out.
The smaller fireplace had a bit of extra metal in the grate which the sweep fitted back in to place. From what I can gather from Google it's a damper plate and is blocking the opening to the chimney.
I was wondering whether it was ok to leave it in place all the time? We were going to order another chimney sheep, but won't if the damper will do the same job. Although I'm not sure whether it will provide the same level of ventilation and I really don't want anything to get damp.
Both chimney now also have C-Caps on them as the rain used to come in if it was raining heavily.
Many thanks for any extra information.