Firebacks

Base boards

  1. 1122

    accrington,_garden street 1020x690.jpg
    1020 x 690 mm

    Description: Plain rectangular plate with cyma reversa, or ogee, moulding on top and sides.

    Notes: A base board without other decoration. Other firebacks may have been cast using it.

    Manufactured: in the 17th century in England.

    Current location: 10 Garden Street, Accrington, Lancashire, England.

  2. 1004

    amerongen,_21 nederstraat 800x1140.jpg
    800 x 1140 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with bead edging; arched rectangular border with bead edging; fructal and floral festoons suspended on ribbons with two putti at the top and two on each side; in the left and right bottom corners, the initials 'HH' and 'S' respectively; at the bottom, a central cartouche with date (indistinctly), between floral swags; on top, twin spirals between descending floral festoons.

    Notes: A border panel, without the central pictorial panel.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HH S

    Manufactured: in 1665 in the Siegerland area of Germany.

    Current location: in private hands, Amerongen, Utrecht, Netherlands.

  3. 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.

  4. 856

    chailey,_warren farmhouse 02.jpg
    1207 x 610 mm

    Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); otherwise plain.

    Notes: A base board, possibly used for other firebacks.

    Manufactured: in the 16th or 17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

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

  5. 65

    fernhurst,_moses hill farm.jpg
    935 x 530 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging; plain plate

    Manufactured: in the 16th or 17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Fernhurst, West Sussex, England.

  6. 186

    hastings_070.jpg
    610 x 450 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Plain rectangle with cavetto moulded edging (top and sides); pediment with same moulding.

    Notes: Three identical backs, but with various stamps, indicate that the pattern for this fireback formed the base board for them and came from the same source as a distinct series of Tudor heraldic backs. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th 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: 1952.51.47 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

  7. 323

    higher_bockhampton, hardys cottage.jpg
    ?1000 x ?700 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Canted rectangle; simulated rope edging; otherwise plain.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the mid-20th century in England.

    Current location: Hardy's Cottage, Higher Bockhampton, Dorset, England.

    Museum number: 426390 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  8. 1003

    horsham,_11 causeway.jpg
    1540 x 1480 mm

    Description: Large plain arched rectangular fireback with astragal edging on the top and sides.

    Notes: Exceptionally large fireback, finely cast.

    Manufactured: in the late-18th to early-19th century in England.

    Current location: in private hands, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

  9. 685

    sevenoaks,_knole 01.jpg
    605 x 910 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular with arched rectangular shaped top joined by cavetto curves; astragal edging; plain surface for the addition of other stamps or panels.

    Notes: Used for armorials by the Dukes of Dorset.

    Manufactured: in the early-18th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, England.

    Museum number: 129673 (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).

  10. 1245

    stalbridge_7_dec_22_805x710.jpg
    805 x 710 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; no decoration.

    Notes: A plain base board.

    Manufactured: in England.

    Current location:, not known.