Firebacks

  1. 96

    handcross,_nymans 01.jpg
    1515 x 735 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular; undulating vine tendril edging (top and upper sides); eight circular, fleur-de-lys butter mould stamps alternating (except at left end) with six rectangular, fleur-de-lys and leaf shortbread or gingerbread stamps, in a line along the top; six bird stamps (wings displayed and inverted) alternating with five pairs of butter mould stamps, as above; continuous line of horizontal vine strips; six descending vine strips, interspaced unevenly with eight butter mould stamps, in pairs except for rightmost two.

    Notes: The bird (probably a swan, a Lancastrian badge) and vine strip stamps are encountered on several firebacks. In 1868 this fireback was recorded at Tickeridge, West Hoathly, Sussex.

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

    Current location: Nymans, Staplefield Road, Handcross, Slaugham, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 1206011 (part of the National Trust museum group)

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

    Citation: Stenning, J. C., 1868, 'Notes on East-Grinstead', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 20, pp. 151-2.