Firebacks

Manufactured in England

882 results

  1. 973

    bristol,_red lodge museum 03.jpg
    485 x 405 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; fillet edging (top and sides); date to full width across centre of plate.

    Notes: Bold, evenly-spaced numerals.

    Inscription: 1688

    Manufactured: in 1688 in England.

    Current location: Red Lodge, Park Row, Bristol, England.

    Museum number: NX1064 (part of the Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives museum group)

  2. 999

    broadway,_ashmolean museum 01.jpg
    555 x 853 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with cyma recta shoulders; astragal edging (top and sides); top centred, date split by a mirrored 'TC' monogram.

    Notes: A bold, simple design, its dimensions reflecting the reduced size of fireplaces in the period.

    Inscription: 16 TCTC 93

    Manufactured: in 1693 in England.

    Current location: Ashmolean Museum Broadway, 65 High Street , Broadway, Worcestershire, England.

    (part of the Ashmolean Museum museum group)

  3. 1000

    broadway,_ashmolean museum 02.jpg
    1285 x 692 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; stepped fillet edging (top and sides); straight twisted rope lengths parallel to top and parallel to each side, forming inner rectangle with rope quadrants across top corners; side compartments: line of 12 beads along top inside rope line, 3 semi-circular at corners, with a single bead in each corner quadrant, and 8 down each side; top centre, date with single bead above; cross with a cross stamp repeated 10 times to right of date and 9 time to left, one in each corner, and 13 down the left side and 12 down the right.

    Notes: The quadrant arc and use of repeated beads suggests a common source with other firebacks of the same period.

    Inscription: 1686

    Manufactured: in 1686 in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: Ashmolean Museum Broadway, 65 High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire, England.

    (part of the Ashmolean Museum museum group)

  4. 1027

    broadway,_lygon arms 01a.jpg
    905 x 760 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; inset twisted rope edging (top and sides); stamp formed of a statuette of an standing angel with left hand at the waist, and holding a sceptre in the right hand; date split either side of angel; initials 'RD' split above date; initials 'IDA' in triad above angel; small face stamp in each top corner.

    Notes: The identity of those to whom the initials refer is not known; the use of the angel statuette is a rare inclusion of a religious motif on an English fireback. A variant of this fireback is at Flaxley Abbey, Gloucestershire (no. 293).

    Inscription: IDA [triad] / R D / 16 32

    Manufactured: in 1632 in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: The Lygon Arms, High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire, England.

  5. 1028

    broadway,_lygon arms 02a.jpg
    1010 x 930 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); date in arch; initial triads in top shoulders of plate; small mask patera repeated once above date and on each side of 'H' initials.

    Notes: The small mask patera has not been seen on other firebacks.

    Inscription: 1631 / WHK [triad] WHK [triad]

    Manufactured: in 1631 in England.

    Current location: The Lygon Arms, High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire, England.

  6. 1029

    broadway,_lygon arms 04a.jpg
    905 x 920 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; shield, supporters, earl's coronet and motto scroll.

    Notes: The arms are of the Hyde family: azure, a chevron between three lozenges or; the supporters: two eagles, wings endorsed sable, ducally crowned and charged on the breast with a cross or; Edward Hyde (1609-74) was created earl of Clarendon in 1661. An excrescence over the sinister supporter indicates where the iron was poured clumsily into the open sand mould.

    Arms: Hyde, earls of Clarendon

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-17th century in England.

    Current location: The Lygon Arms, High Street, Broadway, Worcestershire, England.

  7. 1262

    bromyard,_21_sherford_street.jpg
    940 x 1040 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ‘egg and dart’ ovolo moulding visible on top and sides; shield, helmet, crest, mantling and supporters of the Mohun family; above the crest, the initials 'EM'; date separated by the crest.

    Notes: Cast from a finely carved pattern, the supporters denote these are the arms of a peer. The crest is: Gules, a maunch ermine, with a hand proper holding a fleur de lys or. An incomplete casting (without the initials or date) from Sidney Farm, Alfold, Surrey, is in Guildford Museum. Reginald Mohun (pron. Moon) of Dedisham, Slinfold, Sussex, married Elizabeth Blounte of Dedisham at Slinfold 21 Dec 1618. The Mohun barony of Okehampton, Devon was created in 1628. The fireback design probably dates from after that, the initials and date being added when this copy was cast in 1676. Bellmans auction, Wisborough Green, 1 Oct 2020 lot 3084 (£45).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: EM / 16 76 / [indecipherable motto]

    Arms: Mohun family, barons of Okehampton

    Manufactured: in 1676 in England.

    Current location: in private hands, Bromyard, Herefordshire, England.

  8. 1247

    broomfield,_raswell_house.jpg
    902 x 686 mm

    Description: Low-arched shape with bevelled edging (top and sides); in each top corner, capital letter 'P' below a stylised earl's coronet, the serif at the foot of the P facing outwards on each side of the fireback.

    Notes: Evidently intended to relate to the property of, or commemorating, an earl; the earldom in question has not been identified.

    Inscription: P P

    Manufactured: in the 20th century in England.

    Current location: in private hands, Broomfield, Somerset, England.

  9. 811

    broseley_01a.jpg
    990 x 640 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and canting only); centre top, date (written as 1018); below to left and right, initials.

    Notes: It has been suggested that the initials IR relate to King James I but the lack of any other royal decoration makes this unlikely.

    Inscription: 1618 / IR IR

    Manufactured: in 1618 possibly in the Shropshire area of England.

    Current location: 50, Church Street, Broseley, Shropshire, England.

    Citation: Calcutt, V., Autumn 2021, 'Cast iron fire-back from East Shropshire', Base Thoughts, Newsletter of the Antique Metalware Society, p. 10.

    Citation: Callcut, V., Nov 2004, 'Shirlot (or Shirlett?) Hearth Iron', Newsletter of the Broseley Local History Society, pp. 8-9.

    Citation: Randall, J., 1879, Broseley and its Surroundings (Madeley, The Salopian and West-Midland Journal), pp. 98-99.

  10. 1300

    bunratty_castle_1a.jpg
    ~1610 x ~780 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape; twisted rope edging; top centre, a lion passant on the right and a lion passant guardant sinister on the left; in each top corner, a four-petalled Tudor rose; below each rose, two 'imps', one with right arm raised, the other with both arms lowered, the pair on the left facing to the right and the pair on the right facing to the left; below each lion, a crowned, four-petalled Tudor rose.

    Notes: A fireback with a combination of stamps seen on a series of backs probably first produced during the reign of Henry VIII

    Manufactured: in the mid-16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Bunratty Castle, Bunratty, County Clare, Republic of Ireland.