Firebacks

  1. 665

    rolvenden,_rawlinson house 03.jpg
    1530 x 750 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (probably on on top and sides only); cavetto-moulded-edged rectangle top centre, enclosing date between initials; 14 shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in three rows (5-4-5).

    Notes: 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. William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex. There is a large number of variants using the same shields. The bottom part of the fireback is obscured in the photograph. 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.

    Inscription: C.1.6.0.3.T

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

    Manufactured: in 1603 possibly at Bedgebury Furnace, Goudhurst in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Rolvenden, Kent, England.

    Citation: Cowper, H. S., 1911, 'A Series of Kentish Heraldic Firebacks and the Identification of the Arms', Archaeologia Cantiana, 29, pp. 40-6.

    Citation: Gardner, J. S., 1898, 'Iron Casting in the Weald', Archaeologia, 56, 1, pp. 133-164.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2018, 'A series of Kentish firebacks and the possible identification of their founder', Archaeologia Cantiana, 139, pp. 312-15.