Firebacks

813mm wide

  1. 149

    bridgewater_collection 09 (hastings 032).jpg
    813 x 633 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; date in arch; below arch two parallel, vertical straps, each with a buckle at the top; initials left and right of centre; rectangular stamp with bird, four times across top; larger rectangular stamp with unidentified animal, twice below initials.

    Notes: The buckles suggest a connection with the Pelham family; the initials may relate to Sir Thomas Pelham, Bt. (1597-1654) who owned and operated ironworks at Waldron in Sussex. This is one of a few examples of a copy of a casting of the original pattern to which additional stamps had been added. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

    Inscription: 1642 / T P

    Manufactured: in the mid-17th century possibly at Waldron Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1952.51.61 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

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

  2. 1255

    chard,_stuart_bull_antiques_a.jpg
    813 x 570 mm

    Description: Rectangular with two-stepped top; twisted rope edging (top and sides), reused frame moulding at bottom; top centre, stamp formed of a talbot statant guardant upon a wreath between separated date; initials formed of straight twisted rope lengths separated between lower shoulders; a cross below the crest.

    Notes: Straight elements in the letters and numbers are formed of short lengths of twisted rope; curved elements appear to have been formed by hand drawing in the casting sand; the talbot crest has been seen on other firebacks indicating a common source, and is associated with firebacks with a stepped shape. Chard Auctions, 16 Mar 2023, lot 206 (£85, with two other firebacks).

    Inscription: 16 33 / W + M

    Manufactured: in 1633 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

  3. 151

    hastings_034.jpg
    813 x 508 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Canted rectangle; ovolo moulded edging (top and sides); eight shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in three rows 3-2-3. Top right corner missing

    Notes: 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. 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. There is a large number of variants using the same shields. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

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

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

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1952.51.43 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

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