Firebacks

692mm tall

  1. 12

    ardingly_church.jpg
    >730 x 692 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging on top and sides; inscription panel with repeated trailing vine decoration from impressed wooden strips — one horizontal line at top, one vertical strip on right side (missing but probably repeated on left), at least ten short vertical strips below inscription.

    Notes: Formerly at Fulling Mill Cottages, and possibly formerly at Wakehurst Place, Ardingly; it was moved to Ardingly church sometime after 1915. The inscription panel is identical to that on the memorial plate to Anne Forster in Crowhurst church, Surrey; at least ten other firebacks are known with the same inscription panel. Edward Culpeper (1561-1630), of Wakehurst, was fourth cousin, once removed, of Anne Forster.

    Inscription: HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century possibly at Pounsley furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: St Peter's Church, Church Lane, Ardingly, West Sussex, England.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2018, 'The Anne Forster Firebacks', Surrey Archaeological Collections, 101, 99-114.

    Citation: Holgate, M. S., 1918, 'The Anne Forster Grave Slab', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 59, pp. 130-1.

    Citation: Holgate, M. S., n.d., The Parish Church of St Peter, Ardingly: Historical and Architectural Notes

  2. 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 arc shape 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)