Firebacks

  1. 158

    hastings_041.jpg
    965 x ?673 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Armorial within complex ovolo moulded edging on all sides; two plank lines; shield, helm, crest and mantling of the Trevor family; the achievement is distinguished by the elaborately festooned mantling, the whole resting on a boat-shaped compartment.

    Notes: The arms, which are of an esquire, are probably those of John Trevor (c1652-1686), the son of Sir John Trevor, one of Charles II’s Secretaries of State. By his marriage in 1679 to Elizabeth (c1656-1693), widow of William Morley, of Glynde, Sussex, the Glynde Place estate passed into the hands of the Trevors. The arms on this fireback have been variously, but incorrectly, attributed to Lord Dacre (a descendant of John Trevor), and Col. Marcus Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon (peers' arms have supporters). The distinctive shape is seen in similar form on several other armorial firebacks over the preceding century, suggesting a continuity of pattern making, if not the same pattern maker. Many copies of this fireback exist.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Trevor family, of Glynde

    Manufactured: in the late-17th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1917.2 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

    Citation: Baines, J. M., 1958, Wealden Firebacks (Hastings Museum).

    Citation: Beetlestone, C. J., 1926, 'Notes and Queries No. 6, A Sussex Fireback', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 67, pp. 221-2.

    Citation: Dawson, C., 1903, 'Sussex Iron Work and Pottery', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 46, pp. 1-54.

    Citation: Straker, E., 1931, Wealden Iron (London, Bell).