Firebacks

Description: Quasi-rectangular shape with inward curving sides; twisted rope edging (top and sides); arrangement of fleurs-de-lys: top centre, four in a star formation with two horizontally below; two vertically to left and right; vertical dagger, pommel to base, stamped twice inside outer fleurs.

Notes: A uniquely shaped fireback with fleurs and daggers (each about 35cm long) seen on two other firebacks (no. 595 and no. 660).

Description: Rectangular arrangement with fillet edging of eight square panels (four over four) between moulded stiles.

Notes: The pattern for this fireback suggests that it was made from a section of panelling, perhaps fitted into a frame for rigidity.

Description: Rectangular; rope edging on top and sides; central inscription panel; repeated trailing vine decoration from impressed wooden strips — one horizontal line at top, four vertical strips each side of panel, eleven vertical strips below.

Notes: This fireback came to East Grinstead church from Hurst-an-Clays, a former farmhouse on the edge of the town, in 1933. The inscription is from the same carved pattern used on the graveslab of Anne Forster in Crowhurst church, Surrey; several firebacks have been cast using this panel, each different in other details from the rest. All of the firebacks using this inscription date from after 1591.

Inscription: HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS

Description: Fragment; rectangular; flanged top edge; probable symmetrical arrangement of crowned Tudor royal shield stamps (4 above 3); vertical line on either side of each shield; left hand print in bottom left corner, probably mirrored on right.

Notes: The right side of the fireback is missing. Very crude modelling of stamp suggests an early date; the same crowned shield and use of hand print can be seen on a fireback at Rolvenden (no. 661), indicating a common source..

Description: Rectangular; rebated ovolo-moulded edging (top, left and half-right sides); top centre, date with unevenly positioned numerals.

Notes: The asymmetry of the side moulding is unusual.

Inscription: 1667

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; top centre, date, above initials; two low-relief fleurs de lys down each side from top corners, and central fleur below and between the initials.

Notes: The initials may relate to William Boevey who was owner of Flaxley furnace from 1683-92. Another fireback with the same date and initials, and more fleurs, is also known.

Inscription: 1685 / W B

Description: Rectangular; flanged edging; small guilloche pattern down each side and along the bottom; upper panel, pictorial scene of the Marriage at Cana; lower panel, inscription panel within a strapwork cartouche with flowers below.

Notes: An end stove plate with a popular scene from the New Testament - John 2.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 H 38

Description: Rectangular, plain plate; top centre, cross probably formed of a repeated length of dowel helically wrapped with a leather strap; top right, a buckle impressed four times, the top two with their prongs inclined towards each other, and the bottom two with prongs vertical and parallel; left of the cross, a shield, indented at the top, charged with a bird upon a branch, to the left of which is a 'renaissance' style shield stamp with a 'PL' monogram above two [?]bougets.

Notes: The four buckles suggest a connection with the Pelham family whose badge it is. The protrusion low on the right edge of the fireback is probably the stub of a runner through which the cast iron was run into the mould from a temporary basin formed in the casting sand. The given width dimension assumes the crack across the fireback is closed.

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); twisted rope lengths parallel to top and both sides and crossing at corners, with shorter rope lengths across inside angles; shorter rope lengths arranged in three crosses across middle of plate, the middle one higher than the other two.

Notes: A particularly large and elaborate arrangement of rope lengths. The crosses suggest Christian significance.

Description: Rectangular; low-relief moulded edging along top, then down sides; double-looped 'lens' pattern stamp repeated six times across the top, inside the edging and, rotated, three times down each side; becapped human figure stamp, with his left arm raised to his head and his right arm akimbo, repeated in each top corner; between these, 'IE' monogram with continuous loop between the letters repeated five times, two in line above and three below, the centre one slightly raised; the date between the top two; a lifting handle on each side.

Notes: Said to have been at Horsham, Sussex; on another fireback, at the Old Manor, Upper Beeding in Sussex, cast with the same stamps, and also dated 1617, the monogram stamp is clearly carved on a 'renaissance' shield, indicating that in this instance the stamps were not impressed as deeply. Drawing by J. Lewis André in the J. Starkie Gardner Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design (AAD/2014/8). Possibly the fireback referred to by Lewis André in 1882 as belonging to a Miss Alman, of East Street, Horsham (Sussex Archaeological Collections XXXII, p.76).

Inscription: IE 1617 IE / IE IE IE