Firebacks

  1. 381

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 016.jpg
    >550 x 565 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Fragment; left part of rectangle; twisted rope border (top and sides); long, narrow stamp with undulating vine motif, repeated three times in 'A' shape with top bar; short length of same strip repeated six times, one across middle of 'A', two each side of 'A' at top, one lower right; indistinct stamp with swirled floral design between lower legs of 'A'.

    Notes: The same vine strip stamp is seen, in both long and short lengths, on many firebacks, indicating a common source. All the stamps were probably derived from redundant furniture.

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: LH000.913 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

    Citation: Schubert, H. R., 1957, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry (London, Routledge), pp. 256-264.