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1287
Description: Rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; top centre, date between split initials.
Notes: The letters and numerals are particularly well formed. The fireback is displayed out of doors against a wall at the side of the street and the lower part is recessed into the pavement.
Inscription: R 1755 I
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- carved stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
Manufactured: in 1755 possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: 15-17 High Street, Seaford, East Sussex, England.
- Attached to series:
- Date & initials firebacks
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1236
Description: Rectangular; ogee moulding on top and side edges; symmetrical layout of date and initials; date split between left and right sides, initials in middle.
Notes: One of a series of backs dating to the 1730s and 40s using very similar sets of letters and numerals. Formerly at Yeomans, Mayfield, Sussex.
Inscription: 17 / WH / 34
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- cyma reversa/ogee (edging)
- carved stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
Manufactured: in 1734 in the Weald area of England.
Current location: not known.
- Attached to series:
- 1730s-40s, date & initial series
- Date & initials firebacks
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974
Description: Arched rectangular shape on a plain plinth; scalloped cavetto-moulded edging (top and sides); initials in triad within arch; date split in top corners; unidentified stamp top centre; hound stamp above letter 'R', stag stamp above letter 'A'; annulet stamp repeated inside each half of the date; flat scrolled protuberance on each side of arch; smaller protuberance above each shoulder.
Notes: The initials are likely to be those of a husband and wife, the stag and hound possibly associated with the husband's occupation. The protuberances are seen in different forms on few firebacks of the same period.
Inscription: RHA / 16 66
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- scalloped cavetto (edging)
- carved stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
- animals
- objects
Manufactured: in 1666 in England.
Current location: Bishop's House, Norton Lees Lane, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.
(part of the Museums Sheffield museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Miscellaneous stamp firebacks
- Date & initials firebacks
- Loop edged firebacks
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1285
Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded, gadrooned edging (top and sides); lower centre, a vertical spindle between two vertical spindles of a different form each surmounted by a fleur-de-lys; the date split by the top of the middle spindle; the initials above the first two and last two figures of the date.
Notes: The gadrooned style of edging is a distinctive feature of this group of firebacks, the style of fleur-de-lys being observed on two other backs within the group.
Inscription: I B / 1 6 5 0
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- gadrooned (edging)
- simple stamps
- carved stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in 1650 possibly at Cuckfield Furnace in the Weald area of England.
Current location: in private hands, Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Spindle series
- Spindle/distaff firebacks
- Date & initials firebacks
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690
Description: Canted rectangle; plain edges; broad horizontal fillet dividing the plate in two just above the side angles, with vertical fillets to top corners enclosing date and initials.
Notes: Uncharacteristically crude for the period.
Inscription: IS / 16 60
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with canted top corners (shape)
- none (edging)
- simple stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
Manufactured: in 1660 in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Smallhythe Place, Small Hythe Road, Tenterden, Kent, England.
Museum number: 1117951 (part of the National Trust museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Date & initials firebacks
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892
Description: Canted rectangular shape; plain edging with inset ?leather strap twisted round dowel (top and sides); top centre, date probably in stamped numerals; twisted leather strap saltire repeated three times across middle of plate; pair of stamped initials, formed of a Roman 'W' and a Gothic 'd', above each outer saltire.
Notes: Sotheby's sale London 27 November 2006, lot 324; formerly at Brunger, Kent (near Tenterden).
Inscription: 1610 / WD WD
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with canted top corners (shape)
- none (edging)
- simple stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- apotropaic
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in 1610 in England.
Current location: not known.
- Attached to series:
- Date & initials firebacks
- Miscellaneous stamp firebacks
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691
Description: Arched rectangle; arch with egg and dart, ovolo edging, resting on rectangle shoulders and sides with triple fillet edging, a single fillet edged panel beneath; bottom panel, guilloche pattern of 12; main panel: shield, helm, crest, coronet and mantling of the Wynter/Wintour family of Lydney, Gloucestershire; the initials above the date, both split by the helm and coronet; on either side of the shield, Ionic pilasters; above the rectangle shoulders, a scrolled bracket each side, supporting the arch.
Notes: Wynter: Sable, a fess ermine, in chief a crescent for difference; crest: out of a ducal coronet, or, a cubit arm in armour erect, proper, garnished of the first, in the gauntlet three ostrich-feathers. The arms are likely to be those of Sir John Wynter, who owned several furnaces in the Forest of Dean. Formerly at Watts House, Bishop's Lydeard, Somerset, and before that at The Priory, Taunton.
Inscription: I W / 16 30
Arms: Winter/Wintour of Lydney, Gloucestershire
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- ovolo, egg and dart (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1630 in the Forest of Dean area of England.
Current location: Horniman Museum, 100 London Road, Forest Hill, London, England.
Museum number: 6.249 (part of the Horniman Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Personal armorial firebacks
- Date & initials firebacks
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903
Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); date between split initials across upper half of plate; two notches cut away for insertion of firedogs.
Notes: The ‘6s’ appear to have been moulded from a type of jemmy.
Inscription: g 1669 P [reversed]
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- simple stamps
- carved stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in 1669 possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: George & Dragon Inn, Speldhurst Hill, Speldhurst, Kent, England.
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959
Description: Arched shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, shield of impaled arms; date above shield; initials, in triad ('F above), to right of shield.
Notes: The arms are of Sir Peter Frecheville (1575-1634) of Staveley Hall, Derbyshire, and his first wife, Joyce Osborne, née Fleetwood (d.1619), whom he had married in the year of the fireback's casting; the blazon is as follows: (Frecheville) Azure, a bend between six escallops argent; (Fleetwood) Per pale nebuly or and azure, six martlets, two, two and two counterchanged (the tinctures, as painted, are incorrect). At the bottom of the fireback there appears to be the remains of a runner by which the molten iron flowed into the sand mould.
Inscription: 1605 / PFI [triad]
Arms: Frecheville impaling Fleetwood
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- rope (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1605 probably at Staveley Furnace in the Derbyshire area of England.
Current location: Staveley Hall, Staveley Hall Drive, Staveley, Derbyshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Personal armorial firebacks
- Date & initials firebacks
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694
Description: Arched shape with scrolled side brackets; astragal edging on arch; bipartite design with side pilasters and a central pilaster surmounted by two gothic traceried arches within each of which are two roses and two fleurs-de-lys; below left arch, letter ‘W’ (possibly ‘WY’ monogram) above first half of date; below right arch, shield bearing arms of the Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon above second half of date.
Notes: The combination of the monogram and the arms of Stratford suggest an individual with a formal office within the borough; a mixture of Gothic and Classical elements; damage to bottom right side.
Inscription: W [Y?] / 15 85
Arms: Borough of Stratford-upon-Avon
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- astragal (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- architectural
- text
Manufactured: in 1585 in England.
Current location: Nash's House, Chapel Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
(part of the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Miscellaneous pattern firebacks
- Date & initials firebacks
- Civic firebacks