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Ta. We agreed to shift it's line so it'd be away from mortar but it's like there's a few inches thick up at that height, although one spot gave brick first but no others on that line. The wall will look like a sieve soon.
V.frustrating as I always mark the batten first then drill holes in that, to then line up & mark the wall holes. I'd bought a single 2.5m length to do this now will need to get more and no certainty that new hole positions I choose will be brick.
How'd tradespeople do it when fitting cupboards that all need to be at same alignment? Bodging the fitting with extra plugs or dowels surely won't be well received when someone's Royal Doulton Tea Set becomes their next Jigsaw Puzzle.
I guess I'm overthinking it, and another day passes without any significant progress which doesn't put me in anyone's good books here.
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You are forgetting the mechanical properties that 2 screws on each side and 3 or 4 on the back have. They are never going to suddenly come loose unless you have a couple of builders standing on the shelf. They might work loose over a long period of time but it relies on the structure of the shelf collapsing too.
The alternatives I mentioned are not bodges, they're legitimate and long lasting solutions to the problems of victorian walls. If you never need to employ one or 2 of them you must be working in very well built victorian properties or something much newer. Hammering a chunk of wood with PVA on into the wall is way more solid and durable than you would imagine if you've never done it. Also gluing the batten as well as screwing to the wall is an option.
The best method for a professional carpenter dealing with shelves or cupboards is to build the largest square box that fits into the space, then make regular shelves and doors to fit and use trim pieces on either side to make the box fit the space. Trying to use the existing walls is folly and costs so much time cutting and trimming odd shaped shelves it's not worth it. Sometimes you have to and you'll need every trick in the book.
Hanging kitchen cupboards can be an issue but then you need to spread the weight by adding fixing points once the cupboards are level. I've only ever had to do this a few times.
Airhead
If you hit mortar because you didn't have enough choices about how things line up then you would need to find maybe 8 special plugs in the bottom of your box and start to work out what will hold in the mortar. I use Fischer plugs that have wings to stop them spinning in mortar and I've not had to worry to much since having them. Sometimes you need to go up a couple of sizes which can be inconvenient if you've no choice about the screw sizes. In that case you can gently pack the larger size plug with a smaller plug or matchsticks/split dowels. If that fails you can make a wooden dowel, fat and conical and drive that into the hole creating plenty of pressure around it. A big one of those can hold a cast iron radiator with a painter balanced on it.