Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; stepped fillet moulded edging (top and sides); small fleur-de-lys stamp repeated five times, three centred across the top, two centred across the middle.

Notes: The fleur-de-lys stamp appears to have been constructed using wire.

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); central Tudor royal shield with encircling garter (motto reversed), separate greyhound and lion supporters, separate crown; rectangular bordered stamp with an animal facing to the right, repeated once above and on each side of the armorial; bold fleur-de-lys stamp repeated once on each side of the armorial below the other stamp; all irregularly positioned.

Notes: The armorial and fleurs-de-lys are seen together on a plate at Alfriston Clergy House.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

Description: Arched rectangular shaped, topped with a triangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides only); inverted Tudor royal shield and Garter, crown above, greyhound and lion supporters (see example at Alfriston Clergy House). Two horizontal planklines.

Notes: A uniquely shaped fireback, the inverted shield and Garter indicate that they formed a separate stamp from the crown; other firebacks with these stamps have the shield and Garter the correct way round. A frequently copied fireback; a larger version has a bottom extension.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE

Arms: Tudor royal (prob.Henry VIII)

Description: Canted rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, rectangular panel with cavetto-moulded edging enclosing date between initials CT; below, eight shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in three rows (3-2-3); Ayloffe: sable, a lion rampant Or, collared gules, between three crosses formy of the second; Sulyard: argent, a chevron gules between three pheons inverted sable.

Notes: William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Bretons, Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex. The initials 'CT' are likely to be those of Charles Tyler, a founder whose working life and that of his family have strong parallels with the occurrence of these firebacks. The reversal of the second 6 in the date is, so far, unique in this series.

Inscription: C 1606 T [the second 6 reversed]

Arms: Ayloffe impaling Sulyard (William Ayloffe of Bretons, Hornchurch)

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (to and sides); top centre, shield bearing a lion rampant with two heads, between split initials.

Notes: The heraldic charge of a lion rampant with two heads is rare, the only documented family with which it is associated being that of Mason, of Yorkshire, to whom this shield does not seem to apply.

Inscription: TS

Arms: Not known

Description: Canted rectangle; fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, initials, above date, between repeated fleur-de-lys stamp; from top corners to bottom corners, repeated V-shape pattern formed of stamped short fillets, with an L-shape inserted between the top two Vs on each side.

Notes: The fleurs de lys are of a distinctive style seen on a small group of firebacks.

Inscription: RH / 1662

Description: Broken and fragmentary; canted quasi-rectangular shape, with sides inclined; twisted rope edging; top centre, date with initials below separated by a fleur-de-lys; seven fleurs-de-lys down each side, pints perpendicular to rope edging; a fleur beneath each initial, possibly other fleurs and another initial missing in between.

Notes: The fleurs-de-lys are of a distinctive form apparently unique to this series of firebacks.

Inscription: 1628 / S G

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides only); five shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in two rows, 3-2; Ayloffe: sable, a lion rampant Or, collared gules, between three crosses formy of the second; Sulyard: argent, a chevron gules between three pheons inverted sable.

Notes: William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Bretons, Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex.

Arms: Ayloffe impaling Sulyard (William Ayloffe of Bretons, Hornchurch)

Description: Arched rectangular shape, edged with simulated twisted rope between two fillets; in the arch, a shield: argent on a chevron gules three roses of the field, a canton gules for difference; beneath the shield a crest: on a wreath a squirrel sejant gules cracking a nut gules, charged on the shoulder with a cross crosslet gold for difference; inscription split either side of the head of the squirrel.

Notes: A finely modelled and cast modern fireback with the arms and crest of a direct descendant of John Davies Gilbert (1811-54) who had played a major role in the development of the town of Eastbourne and also developed Trelissick Garden in Feock, Cornwall.

Inscription: A.D. 1969

Arms: Gilbert, of Eastbourne, Sussex, and Trelissick, Cornwall

Description: Canted rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); shield with recessed edges repeated seven times (3 and 4): a fess between three mullets of six points.

Notes: The arms are those of Courthope of Whiligh in Ticehurst; blazon: argent, a fess azure between three estoiles sable (two and one). Shown are molets of six points which have straight rays instead of (properly) estoiles which have wavy ones. However, the 1643/4 iron graveslab of David Barham of Snape, in Wadhurst church, has the same arms (also with molets instead of estoiles), which were those of his mother who was a Courthope.

Arms: Courthope, of Whiligh in Ticehurst