The early pine and compo fireplaces, however, remain tantalisingly mysterious. Perhaps as they represented fashion on a budget they were not regarded as such glamorous status symbols. To our eyes they may seem like works of art; in the Edinburgh of Robert Adam, where excellence was the norm, they were standard architectural features. They certainly went out of fashion, although from time to time there were ‘Adam revivals’. Until as late as the 1960s they were regarded as almost worthless, with reports of those that were not rescued by enterprising antique dealers being thrown out of windows to be burnt on bonfires.

Is it surprising, given this lack of interest, that all knowledge of their origins two hundred years previously was lost? It may be that one day some evidence will surface to shed light on a manufacturing industry that was obviously very successful in its heyday, but until then the mystery of who was responsible for these perfectly crafted architectural creations will remain just that – a mystery.