Firebacks

Shape: rectangular

329 results

  1. 1021

    sutton,_greenhill 02b.jpg
    870 x 500 mm

    Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; shield mounted on a strap-work cartouche, helm, crest, motto scroll and elaborate swirled mantling.

    Notes: The arms of the Ironmongers' Company; blazon: Argent, on a chevron gules, between three gads of steel azure, three swivels or; crest: two talbots combatant encoupled together or. The true crest of the company has two salamanders (originally 'scaly lizards') rather than talbots, and it has been noted on other firebacks that salamanders are not always represented as amphibians; Samuel Lyne, in his Heraldry Display'd (1741), described the crest as 'two talbots', etc. The motto scroll is blank, indicating that the pattern was an armorial panel with a painted, rather than a carved, motto. A variant of the same fireback has the date 1660 and initials GI (Country Life, 8 March 1946, p. 450; 29 March 1946, p.588). Reeman Dansie auction, Colchester, 13 Apr 2016, lot 1224; Bellman's auction, Wisborough Green, 13 Oct 2021, lot 588 (£220).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Worshipful Company of Ironmongers

    Manufactured: in the mid-17th century in England.

    Current location: not known.

  2. 829

    swanborough_manor 03.jpg
    663 x 470 mm

    Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); repeated guilloche pattern inside top and side edges; upper centre, lozenge stamp with ovolo edges and recessed daisy flower in centre, between buckle stamp repeated twice; the lozenge stamp is repeated over-stamping the lower part of the first.

    Notes: The lozenge stamp is a design also seen on domestic interior panelling; the buckles suggest a Pelham family association; the buckle and lozenge are separate stamps, and in each example their relative positions differ slightly; the guilloche design appears to have been carved on the base panel; an example at The Star Inn, Alfriston, Sussex measures 665mm x 480mm.

    Manufactured: in the early- to mid-17th century in the Weald area of England.

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

  3. 830

    swanborough_manor 04.jpg
    1017 x 600 mm

    Description: Rectangular; stepped fillet moulded edging (top and sides); small fleur-de-lys stamp repeated five times, three centred across the top, two centred across the middle.

    Notes: The fleur-de-lys stamp appears to have been constructed using wire.

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century in the Weald area of England.

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

  4. 1136

    swansea,_national museum of wales 01a.jpg
    >720 x >465 mm

    Description: Fragment; rectangular; twisted rope edging; top centre, date [1]647; top right, initials FAB in triad, A below F and B.

    Notes: The initials were probably mirrored on the left side. Acquired from a location at Tintern, Monmouthshire. A fireback of near identical design and provenance was noted by David Bick at Poolway House, Coleford, Gloucestershire (Gloucs. Archives D9104).

    Inscription: 647 FAB [triad]

    Manufactured: in 1647 probably at Tintern Furnace in the Forest of Dean area of Wales.

    Current location: National Museum Wales, National Collections Centre, Heol Crochendy, Parc Nantgarw, Nantgarw, Glamorgan, Wales.

    Museum number: 73.25I (part of the National Museum Wales museum group)

  5. 470

    taddington_manor 02c.jpg
    1085 x 585 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); central Tudor royal shield with encircling garter (motto reversed), separate greyhound and lion supporters, separate crown; rectangular bordered stamp with an animal facing to the right, repeated once above and on each side of the armorial; bold fleur-de-lys stamp repeated once on each side of the armorial below the other stamp; all irregularly positioned.

    Notes: The armorial and fleurs-de-lys are seen together on a plate at Alfriston Clergy House.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

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

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.

  6. 699

    taddington_manor.jpg
    1490 x 840 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging on top and sides; cavetto-moulded-edged rectangle top centre, enclosing date between initials; 16 shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in three rows (5-6-5); 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.

    Notes: William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex. The initials 'CT' are likely to be those of Charles Tyler, a founder whose working life and that of his family have strong parallels with the occurrence of these firebacks. An identical fireback is in a house at Cowden, Kent, and a broken example is at Wool House, a National Trust property at Loose also in Kent; small variations in the alignment of the shields are apparent.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: C.1.6.0.1.T

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

    Manufactured: in 1601 possibly at Bedgebury Furnace, Goudhurst in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Cowper, H. S., 1911, 'A Series of Kentish Heraldic Firebacks and the Identification of the Arms', Archaeologia Cantiana, 29, pp. 40-6.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2018, 'A series of Kentish firebacks and the possible identification of their founder', Archaeologia Cantiana, 139, pp. 312-15.

  7. 859

    terry_sparks 01.jpg
    970 x 675 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (to and sides); top centre, shield bearing a lion rampant with two heads, between split initials.

    Notes: The heraldic charge of a lion rampant with two heads is rare, the only documented family with which it is associated being that of Mason, of Yorkshire, to whom this shield does not seem to apply.

    Inscription: TS

    Arms: Not known

    Manufactured: in the early-16th century in England.

    Current location: not known.

  8. 1103

    ticehurst,_authentic reclamation 06.jpg
    755 x 455 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape; double astragal edging (top and sides); arrangement of repeated square stamps with indented saltires: three down each side, five in a diamond pattern top centre.

    Notes: The lines around the edge may well have been formed from impressing a straight edge of some sort.

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Authentic Reclamation, Lymden Lane, Ticehurst, East Sussex, England.

  9. 1066

    ticehurst,_authentic reclamation.jpg
    1054 x 571 mm

    Description: Rectangular; 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.

    Notes: William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex.

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

    Manufactured: in the early-17th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Cowper, H. S., 1911, 'A Series of Kentish Heraldic Firebacks and the Identification of the Arms', Archaeologia Cantiana, 29, pp. 40-6.

  10. 1249

    ticehurst,_authentic_reclamation_10_890x725b.jpg
    890 x 725 mm

    Description: Rectangular; bold ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); at top, date widely split by initials in triad.

    Notes: Characteristic lettering and numerals of the mid-18th century. The triad of initials probably refer to a husband and wife, the central initial N being that of their surname.

    Inscription: 17 INE [triad] 52

    Manufactured: in 1752 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Authentic Reclamation, Lymden Lane, Ticehurst, East Sussex, England.