Firebacks

Description: Arched; cavetto edging; crowned plain shield bearing a Tudor rose, with crowned lion and dragon supporters, with garter and motto; date split by crown.

Notes: A much-copied fireback; the numerals are uncharacteristically modern in form, suggesting they have been substituted on a later copy; a variant illustrated by Dawson (no. 269) shows a cross above the crown and more typically 16th century numerals. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1571 HONI SOIT... ...DROI ? K

Description: Rectangular; double fillet moulded edging; top centre, on a rectangular block, shield of the arms of the Fowle family - (Gules) a lion passant guardant between three roses (Or); on each side, two rectangles, each containing a helm and the crest of the Fowles - an Arm in armour holding a Battle axe issuant from a Ducal Coronet, above each being the date, 1603, and below each the initials, WF. Across the lower half of the fireback are two solid triangular prisms of iron.

Notes: The stamps relate to William Fowle (1568-1634), ironmaster of Riverhall furnace. The shield stamp also appears on grave slabs in Wadhurst and Frant churches and on an unprovenanced graveslab in Maidstone Museum. The iron prisms were included, perhaps, to retain heat and to prevent the fireback from cracking. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Inscription: 1603 WF [twice]

Arms: William Fowle, of Frant and Wadhurst

Description: Arched rectangular shaped; cavetto-moulded edge; figure of St Paul, a sword in his left hand, holding a viper in his right hand over flames rising from the ground.

Notes: The scene illustrates an episode in the New Testament, Acts 28: 3. The design shows stylistic similarities to other firebacks where simple, well-executed relief has overlapped the cavetto edging. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Probably originally rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); two (originally probably three) panels divided by vertical twisted rope, each containing a rounded shield with fillet edge with 'ihs' (the 'h' crossed), between two cartouche-style shields with fillet edge, bearing a cross rising from two concentric rings.

Notes: The overtly religious symbolism may indicate a pre-Reformation or Marian date. The christogram, 'ihs', derived from the first three letters of 'IESUS' in Greek, was first noted in England in the 14th century. The cross rising from the rings may be intended to indicate christian dominion over the globe. Possibly as much as the right third of the fireback is missing. The fireback is believed to have been in Robertsbridge Abbey.

Inscription: ihs ihs

Description: Rectangular; plain plate; on top, twice repeated stamp probably formed of a section of cresting with a row of seven ?fleurs-de-lys above a diagonal grid of squares, each with a small raised square in the middle, and a horizontal astragal border below; between the cresting, a stamp of indeterminate form and design; below, four repeated hexagonal stamps, each divided into triangles by raised lines, two under each cresting stamp; between them, a stamp of indeterminate form and design, possibly the same as the one above it; below, probably six double crosses flory, with a flower head stamp between each group of three; along the bottom, two crosses flory, three hexagon stamps and two other stamps of indeterminate form and design (though different from those described above), arranged asymetrically.

Notes: A crude and poorly executed casting. Butterfield (1916) illustrated this fireback the other way up, and that is how it was displayed in Hastings Museum when it was photographed in the early 2000s. The orientation of this fireback has been reconsidered and the greater relative wear and heat corrosion of the smaller individual stamps suggests that the cresting was originally at the top of the fireback and not the bottom.

Description: Rectangular with ‘pediment’ arch linked by cavetto curves; fillet and cavetto edging; pictorial, a cylindrical furnace with inscribed stone courses, flames issuing from the top, with the heads of three people, a hand raised from two of them, and an angel with wings and arms outstretched; the furnace has a small arched opening bottom centre; above the angel, the inscription was inscribed on the pattern.

Notes: The scene represents Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being delivered from the burning fiery furnace by the angel of God (Daniel 3), the phrase, The Three Children, being a reference to the eponymous apocryphal verses from the Book of Daniel. Formerly at Brightling Hall, Robertsbridge, Sussex.

Inscription: THE THREE CHILDREN

Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Cavetto-canted rectangle with arch; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest, motto and supporters of William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley, KG (1520-98). Date below garter.

Notes: William Cecil was Queen Elizabeth I's first minister. Owing to Lord Burghley's motto being merely painted and not carved, as the Garter motto is, the primary purpose of this armorial was probably decorative, and its role as a pattern for firebacks secondary.

Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / COR VNVM [ET] VIA VNA / 15 75

Arms: William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, KG

Description: Cavetto-canted rectangle with arch; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest and supporters of William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley, KG (1520-98). Date below garter.

Notes: William Cecil was Queen Elizabeth I's first minister. The wooden pattern for this fireback (no. 926), itself a fine carved, wooden painted panel, is at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE 15 75

Arms: William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley KG

Description: Rectangular with an ogee arch; twisted rope edging (top and sides); line of small fleurs-de-lys around the top and sides, inside the edging; Tudor rose inside each top corner (overstamped on the left); below each rose an escarbuncle of twisted rope with fleur de lys terminals (understamped); top centre, a Tudor royal shield within an oval garter - HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE - with greyhound and lion supporters, and crown above; cross of small fleurs inclined to each side of the crown; inverted 'Y' shape in twisted rope below each supporter, a fleur at the top end of each.

Notes: An oft-used achievement of arms; twisted rope with fleur de lys terminals are seen on other firebacks from the same source. The escarbuncle was the principal charge on the arms of the Duchy of Cleves, the same charge on this fireback possibly associating it with the brief marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves.

Inscription: HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE

Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

Description: Arched rectangle; bevelled edge to arch and top of shoulders; initials at centre top of arch, in triangle 'S' at top; date below initials.

Notes: Possibly the work of David Robertson (1716-93), the King's Smith, whose iron grates are commonly to be found in houses designed by the prominent Scottish architects, Robert, John and James Adam, of whom he was a kinsman; the form of the plate is typical of grate-backs Robertson made in a variety of sizes, notably at Dumfries House, Ayrshire, although the lack of evidence of fixings suggest that this may have been made to be free-standing. Until 1756/7 Robertson had his forge in a tenement in Niddery's Wynd, Edinburgh, between High Street and Cow Gate, next door to John Adam's premises, although it is not known if he had a foundry there.

Inscription: S / W A / 1745