Fireplace, Hearth, Poker, Tongs etc

Fireplace and hearth are related terms, but not identical. 

The fireplce is the entire structure built into the wall where fire is lit. It includes the firebox, chimney,a mantel. and hearth. 

The floor or base of the fireplace is hearth.  It is usually made of stones, bricks and tiles. It is where the fire burns; and in the stone area immediately in front of the fire tools like poker, tongs and shovel are kept.

We may say that the fireplace is the whole unit while the hearth is the floor on which the fire is kept.  In Victorian England the phrase hearth and home meant family life.  The hearth was regarded as the emotional centre of the home because, family members gathered around it for warmth, cooking, conversation and light.

A poker was an essential household tool, a long iron rod for stirring, arranging or poking the burning coal or wood in a fireplce.  It was often kept on a stand beside the hearth along with tongs and shovel. 

Tongs and shovels are standard fireplace tools kept beside the hearth.

Tongs

A pair of long iron pincers used to grip and move coal or pieces of wood in fire without burning hands is called 

Shovels

A small metal scoop with a handle, used to add coal to the fire or remove ashes from the fireplace. It is often called coal shovel or fireplace shovel.

Almost every home in nineteenth-century England depended on open fire for heating and cooking.  In Great Expectations, these familiar objects also help to create the domestic atmosphere of the Gargery household, where unfortunately for Pip, they are sometimes associated with Mrs Joe's harsh discipline.