Firebacks

1070mm wide

  1. 1039

    cranbrook,_branden.jpg
    1070 x 767 mm

    Description: Canted rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides) in short lengths; top centre, initials above date.

    Notes: The initials are likely to be those of Richard Holden, clothier of Cranbrook, who inherited Branden near Sissinghurst in 1623 and who was living there in 1659.

    Inscription: RH / 1659

    Manufactured: in 1659 probably at Biddenden Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Cranbrook, Kent, England.

    Citation: Holden, E. S., 1897, 'The Holden Family of Cranbrook, Kent, England', New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 51, pp. 214-218.

  2. 587

    plaxtol,_tree house.jpg
    1070 x 615 mm

    Description: Quasi-rectangular; grooved dowel edging (top and sides); four impressions of a rondel dagger (c.330mm) saltirewise between two dowel crosses; two vertical lengths of dowel in line along right edge.

    Notes: Rondel daggers were common in the 15th and 16th century. Grooved lengths of dowel are to be seen on other firebacks suggesting a common source. The arrangement of the daggers (each approx. 35cm long) in a saltire may also have apotropaic significance.

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

    Current location: in private hands, Plaxtol, Kent, England.

    Citation: Easton, T. & Hodgkinson, J. S., 2013, 'Apotropaic Symbols on Cast-Iron Firebacks', Jnl. of the Antique Metalware Soc., 21, pp. 14-33.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

  3. 596

    ripley_002.jpg
    1070 x 880 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with base plinth; astragal and fillet edging (top and sides) with overlapping leaf pattern; mirrored wave pattern on plinth; shield, supporters, motto scroll and coronet of the 1st Earl of Ashburnham.

    Notes: The arms are Ashburnham impaling Grey: Ashburnham: quarterly 1. Ashburnham - gules a fess between six mullets argent; 2. Holland - azure semee of fleurs-de-lys a lion rampant guardant argent; 3. Kenn - ermine three crescents gules; 4. Vaughan - sable a fess argent between three boys' heads couped at the shoulders proper having snakes enwrapped about their necks vert; and Grey - barry of six argent and azure in chief three torteaux. John, 1st Baron Ashburnham,later 1st Earl, married Lady Jemima Grey in 1724 so the fireback dates between then and 1737 when John died. A sketch of an example of this fireback was made by J. Starkie Gardner c.1891 and is in his collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design (AAD/2014/8).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: LE ROY ET L'ESTAT [barely legible]

    Arms: John, 1st Earl of Ashburnham

    Manufactured: in the early-18th century probably at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

    Citation: Denny, H., 1937, 'Iron Fire-back', Sussex Notes and Queries, 6, 6, p. 189.