Firebacks

Manufactured in Ireland

  1. 897

    arigna.jpg
    737 x 559 mm

    Description: Steeply canted rectangle; no edging; upper centre, square formed of twisted rope lengths inside which are what appear to be two lions passant in pale with a circle and two short sloping lines in inverted V form above; on either side of the square is an O and an R; below the square three lengths of twisted rope extend to the bottom edge, the central one vertically and the the outer two sloping away from the centre; along the bottom is the date, each numeral separated by one of the rope lengths.

    Notes: Alleged to be a representation of the arms of the O'Rourke family, who held sway in Cavan and Leitrim, the initials said to be of Owen O'Rourke. Noted in a cottage at Arigna, County Roscommon.

    Inscription: O O R / 1 6 8 8

    Arms: O'Rourke

    Manufactured: in 1688 possibly at Drumshanbo Furnace in the Leitrim area of Ireland.

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Lindsay, J. S., 1927, Iron & Brass Implements of the English House (London, The Medici Society).

    Citation: Meehan, J., 1906, 'The Arms of the O'Rourkes: a metal casting from County Leitrim seventeenth-century foundries', Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 36, 2, pp. 123-142.

  2. 896

    cloughoughter.jpg
    500 x 600 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; three 'daisy' flowerheads, top centre and in each shoulder; central plume of six ostrich feathers issuing from what appears to be a wreath surmounting a tree stump.

    Notes: Excavated from the ruins of Cloughoughter Castle in County Cavan, which had been rendered uninhabitable in a siege of 1653. Until the early 16th century the castle had been in the hands of the O'Reilly family. On some versions of the O'Reilly arms the crest is shown as a plume of ostrich feathers, although this may be a misrepresentation of the usual crest of a tree with a snake entwined about it.

    Manufactured: in the early-17th century in Ireland.

    Current location: Parke's Castle, Fivemile Bourne, Co. Leitrim, Ireland.

    (part of the Heritage Ireland museum group)

  3. 869

    dublin,_national museum of ireland 01.jpg
    432 x 635 mm

    Description: Low arched central panel with fillet edging; on a square frame in perspective, a small gadrooned pot with flowers, including daffodils and tulips, issuing from it; narrow fillet border of same shape, around top and sides, containing a repeated chain and tassel design; wide outer border with quasi-symmetrical, wave-shaped top, swirled floral design of hare bells and tendrils; inscription at bottom.

    Notes: In the museum guide of 1912, this fireback was said to have come out of an old house at Arran Quay, Dublin.

    Inscription: IP 1737

    Manufactured: in 1737 in Ireland.

    Current location: National Museum of Ireland, Benurb Street, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

    Museum number: NMIDM:1910.564 (part of the National Museum of Ireland museum group)

    Citation: Westropp, M. S. D. (ed.), 1912, General Guide to the Art Collections, Part VI, Metalwork, Chapter V, Iron (Dublin, National Museum of Science and Art).