Firebacks

Description: Armorial within complex ovolo moulded edging on all sides; two plank lines; the achievement is distinguished by the elaborately festooned mantling, the whole resting on a boat-shaped compartment.

Notes: The arms are of an esquire, and the crest - on a chapeau a wyvern, wings elevated and tail nowed, ducally gorged - matches that of the Trevor family. The shield is probably of impaled arms, i.e. those of a husband on the left and wife on the right. The husband's arms include several quarters with lions rampant, which were often a feature of the arms of Welsh families (of which the Trevors were one). The first quarter of the wife's arms is also of a wyvern, but the arms as a whole have not be identified. They have been variously, but incorrectly, attributed to John Trevor who married Elizabeth Morley, née Clarke, to Lord Dacre (a descendant of John Trevor), and to Col. Marcus Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon (peers' arms have supporters). The distinctive shape is seen in similar form on several other armorial firebacks from the mid-16th to 17th centuries, suggesting a continuity of pattern making, if not the same pattern maker. Many copies of this fireback exist.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Trevor

Description: Plain rectangular plate; shield, garter, helm, mantling and supporters of the Blount family, Lords Mountjoy.

Notes: The arms are those of Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, who was invested Knight of the Garter in 1597. He was created 1st Earl of Devonshire in 1603. Blazon: 1. (Blount) Barry nebuly of six Or and Sable; 2. (Ayala) Argent, two wolves passant Sable on a bordure of the first eight saltires Gules; 3. (Mountjoy) Or a tower Azure; 4. (Gresley) Vair. An unusually bold and detailed casting; the buckle missing from the garter suggests that this plate has been cropped from a larger fireback.

Inscription: HONI·SOIT·QVI·MAL·Y·PENSE

Arms: Charles Blount, KG, 8th Baron Mountjoy

Description: Rectangular, with canted top corners; twisted rope edging (top and sides only); five shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in two rows, 3-2; 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. Two cut notches probably for firedogs.

Notes: William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Bretons, Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex. A large number of variants use the same shields. The excrescences affecting the left and right sides respectively of the lower shields are the result of inexpert ladling of the iron during casting. Part of the bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Lieut. Colonel G. B. Croft-Lyons in 1926.

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

Description: Within a surround of symmetrical swirled foliage, an oval armorial shield carried by two naked, kneeling male figures seated on a broad pedestal, between them a scallop shell; above the shield a lion’s face surmounted by a crest of a lion’s head erased. The arms are of Worge impaling Collier.

Notes: George Worge (1705-65), of Starr’s Green, Battle, steward of the Battle Abbey estate, married Elizabeth (1707-66), daughter of John Collier, town clerk of Hastings, in 1727. The arms of Worge have been variously blazoned, but the memorial to George Worge in Battle church indicates these tinctures: gules, a fess cotised or, in chief three lion’s heads erased of the last; Collier - argent, on a chevron azure, between three unicorns courant couped gules, as many oak sprigs fructed proper. This deeply detailed fireback might have been cast in a closed mould; it had a circular aperture in the centre into which, in this instance, an armorial was placed; the same armorial is on a fireback, dated 1762, at Great Dixter, Northiam, Sussex, as is the lion crest (no. 1317).

Arms: Worge impaling Collier (George and Elizabeth Worge)

Description: Flattened arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edge all round; armorial; arms of Browne family of Brenchley, Kent: Gules, a griffin passant or, a chief of the second; Crest: a vulture proper, wings endorsed, displuming a mallard’s wings.

Notes: John Browne, gunfounder, was granted arms in 1626. His principal furnace was in Brenchley parish, Kent. The royal gunfounder 1615-51, he petitioned the Crown for a monopoly of casting firebacks in 1633.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Browne of Brenchley (John Browne)

Description: Rectangular; astragal and fillet edging; oval shield of the Paulet family (sable three swords, points conjoined in pile), within a cartouche, surmounted by a marquis’s coronet; date split between bottom corners.

Notes: The arms of Charles Paulet, 6th Marquess of Winchester, who succeeded to the title in 1674 and was created Duke of Bolton in 1689. The fireback is reported to have come from Grange Farm, Basing House, Hampshire; Basing House was the seat of the Paulets.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 87

Arms: Charles Paulet, 6th Marquess of Winchester

Description: Cavetto canted arched rectangle; astragal edging; oval inscription surrounding a central battlemented shield bearing an open book, with a baronet's escutcheon above; above, a helm with a crest of an arm and hand holding a wreath; on each side, a druid supporter holding a harp, each upon a horizontal fillet; below, intertwined bell flowers behind a tripartite motto scroll.

Notes: The motto appears to have been incorrectly spelled; the Conroy baronetcy was created for Sir John Conroy, comptroller of the household of the Duchess of Kent, and much hated by her daughter, Princess (later Queen) Victoria; the 3rd (and last) baronet succeeded to the title in 1869.

Inscription: FIDELITER ET CONSTANTER [Faithfully and constantly] / L'ANTIQIVITE NE PEVX PAS L'ABOLIR [Antiquity cannot abolish it]

Arms: Conroy, baronet, of Llanbrynmair (Sir John Conroy, 3rd baronet, 1845-1900)

Description: Arched shape; fillet edging; shield, supporters, earl's coronet and motto.

Notes: The arms are those of William Herbert (1626-96), created 1st Earl of Powis in 1674, impaled with those of his wife, Lady Elizabeth Somerset, whom he had married in 1654. He was created Marquess in 1687, so the fireback dates from between 1674 and 1687. The blazon: Party per pale azure and gules three lions rampant argent armed and langued or (Herbert), quarterly 1st and 4th England 2nd and 3rd France Modern (Somerset); Supporters: Dexter: A Panther rampant guardant Argent spotted of various colours fire issuing out of the mouth and ears ducally gorged Azure; Sinister: A Lion rampant Argent ducally gorged Gules; Motto: Ung je serviray (One I will serve).

Inscription: Ung iay serviray

Arms: William Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis

Description: Rectangular; triple-fillet moulded edging formed of lengths of carved wood (top and upper seven-eights of sides only); stamp formed of an elliptical shield enclosed within an elliptical border of 23 beads, all mounted on a rectangular block, repeated eight times symmetrically 3-2-3.

Notes: This is a rare example of elliptical arms on a fireback; in each instance the stamp has been over-pressed so that the block on which it was carved has appeared in relief.

Arms: not known

Description: Rectangular with an arched rectangular style arch linked by symmetrical cyma curves; double moulded edges except on the base; the date, 1720, in characteristic lettering of the early 18th century, bisected by a shield and crest formed from the impression of a carved wooden stamp. The arms are probably those of a branch of the Harvey family: a chevron (gules) between three bear’s gambs erased and erect armed (ermines).

Notes: The Harvey family of Eythorne, Kent, bore similar, but not identical arms, differenced by the addition of three crescents on the chevron. There are stylistic similarities between this fireback and two firebacks bearing the arms of the Duke of Dorset at Knole, which are probably of similar date, suggesting that they could be products of the same furnace.

Inscription: 17 20

Arms: Harvey of Eythorne, Kent (variant)