In article ,
Richard Tobin wrote:
There's a knob - like a doorknob - attached to the wall on each side
of the fireplace in my Victorian house. Anyone know what they were
for? Attaching a fireguard perhaps?

The fireplace in Alice Through The Looking Glass has similar ones:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Aliceroom3.jpg

a bell pull (wire operated) to call for a servant.

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from KT24 in Surrey, England