Firebacks

Manufactured in the early 19th century

  1. 14

    ashburnham,_furnace.jpg
    1270 x 1010 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; plain plate. Crowned capital ‘A’ between ‘W’ and ‘R’; divided date at top extremities of plate; single six-pointed star below ‘A’.

    Notes: Earl’s coronet denotes the Earl of Ashburnham, furnace owner; ‘WR’ denotes William Rummins, furnace founder; 1813 - the furnace was blown out for the last time in late February 1813. Similar to, but narrower than the fireback at Church Farm, Penhurst (in private hands), and uses the same cipher and numbers. One of a small series of firebacks cast in the early-19th century for farms on the Ashburnham estate; this example was formerly at Great Sprays Farm, Penhurst.

    Inscription: W A R / 18 * 13

    Manufactured: in 1813 at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Ashburnham, East Sussex, England.

  2. 15

    ashburnham,_pay cottage.jpg
    ~400 x ~525 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging.

    Notes: The plain form suggests a common source with firebacks cast at Ashburnham in 1813. One of a small series of firebacks cast in the early-19th century for farms on the Ashburnham estate.

    Manufactured: in the early 19th century probably at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Ashburnham, East Sussex, England.

  3. 1127

    heathfield,_best demolition 914x762x.jpg
    914 x 762 mm

    Description: Plain rectangle; no edging; top centre, date between two six-pointed stars.

    Notes: Characteristic of the last firebacks cast at Ashburnham Furnace, Sussex. One of a small series of firebacks cast in the early-19th century for farms on the Ashburnham estate.

    Inscription: * 1812 *

    Manufactured: in 1812 at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location:, not known.

  4. 343

    ightham_mote 02.jpg
    860 x 695 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; initials evenly spaced around arch; date split between top corners.

    Inscription: W S / 18 24

    Manufactured: in 1824 in England.

    Current location: Ightham Mote, Ightham, Kent, England.

    Museum number: 825375 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  5. 508

    penhurst_church farm 01.jpg
    1680 x 950 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; top centre, crowned capital ‘A’; date divided at top corners of plate; single six-pointed star outside date.

    Notes: Earl’s coronet denotes the Earl of Ashburnham, furnace owner; the furnace was blown out for the last time in late February 1813, this fireback being reputedly the last casting from a Wealden furnace. One of a small series of firebacks cast in the early-19th century for farms on the Ashburnham estate.

    Inscription: * 18 A 13 *

    Manufactured: in 1813 at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Penhurst, East Sussex, England.

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

  6. 551

    pet-m-43.jpg
    918 x 845 mm

    Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging; top centre, stamp formed of a carved domestic scene of a family around a table, between two small mirrored rectangular stamps each of a cow; lower centre, symmetrical arrangement of two jugs, two goblets and two crossed churchwarden pipes, all in low relief.

    Notes: The domestic group has been formed from a decorative iron mantelpiece ornament portraying the tale of the goose that laid golden eggs. Having killed the goose, the family are lamenting the loss of their bounty (see Ames, 1980, p.94). The style of the fireback suggests a pastiche using designs suggesting the past. The same mantelpiece group can be seen as decoration on the kitchen spit assemblage at Petworth House, West Sussex, which was cast at Robert Chorley's foundry at Cocking, south of Midhurst. Evidently this and another fireback bearing the same ornament stamp were among items from the Cowdray estate sold in 1898.

    Manufactured: in the early 19th century probably at Cocking Foundry in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/43 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Ames, A., 1980, Collecting Cast Iron (Ashbourne, Moorland Publishing).

    Citation: Arnold, F. H., 1900, 'Notes and Queries No. 7: Relics of Old Cowdray', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 43, p. 281.

  7. 558

    pet-m-50.jpg
    765 x 846 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; top centre, stamp formed of a carved domestic scene of a family around a table; in top corners, repeated small stamp of St George and the Dragon; below, repeated stamp of a pineapple in a pot; centre; small stamp of the royal arms of the United Kingdom 1801-37.

    Notes: The domestic group has been formed from a decorative iron mantelpiece ornament portraying the tale of the goose that laid golden eggs. Having killed the goose, the family are lamenting the loss of their bounty (see Ames, 1980, p.94). The same mantelpiece group and pineapple stamp can be seen as decoration on the kitchen spit assemblage at Petworth House, West Sussex, which was cast at Robert Chorley's foundry at Cocking, south of Midhurst. Evidently this and another fireback bearing the same ornament stamp were among items from the Cowdray estate sold in 1898.

    Manufactured: in the early 19th century probably at Cocking Foundry in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/50 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Ames, A., 1980, Collecting Cast Iron (Ashbourne, Moorland Publishing).

    Citation: Arnold, F. H., 1900, 'Notes and Queries No. 7: Relics of Old Cowdray', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 43, p. 281.