Firebacks

895mm wide

  1. 1114

    crowborough,_luxford house 05.jpg
    895 x 500 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and two-thirds down sides); rope length across each top corner.

    Notes: The twisted rope lengths are particularly well defined.

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

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

  2. 40

    cuckfield_park 01.jpg
    895 x 750 mm

    Description: Pentagonal; convex, twisted cloth edging with inner fillet; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown and supporters (crowned lion and dragon); initials split by crown; date split by garter buckle.

    Notes: Royal arms of Queen Elizabeth I; uncommon edging.

    Inscription: E R / HONY SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / 1585

    Arms: Tudor royal (Elizabeth I)

    Manufactured: in 1585 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Cuckfield, West Sussex, England.

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2012, 'Pre-Restoration Iron Firebacks', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 20, pp. 2-15.

  3. 871

    east_grinstead, gullege 02.jpg
    895 x ~590 mm

    Description: Canted rectanular shape, with stepped fillet edging (top and sides); upper centre, horizontal ?leather twist above an inverted ?leather twist 'V'; on each side, a shield-shaped stamp repeated twice, the upper one of each being angled so its side is parallel to the canted edging.

    Notes: The design on the shield is not recognisably heraldic in form, and appears to incorporate a possible pictorial element although this is not clear; the inverted 'V' shape may have apotropaic significance.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

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

    Current location: in private hands, East Grinstead, West Sussex, England.

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

  4. 277

    london,_museum_of_london_895x875_80_271_92.jpg
    895 x 875 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular with cavetto-moulding along top, supported by Ionic pilasters; English Stuart royal shield, garter, helm, crown, motto and supporters; date below and either side of garter.

    Notes: One of several firebacks, all of the same date, but varying in size, framing style and moulding; all have stylistic features in common and will have been the work of the same pattern maker, who was also responsible for carving royal coats of arms in three West Country churches.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: I R [Jacobus Rex] / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / 16 18 / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)

    Manufactured: in 1618 possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: Museum of London, 150 London Wall, London, England.

    Museum number: 80.271/92 (part of the Museum of London museum group)

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2012, 'Pre-Restoration Iron Firebacks', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 20, pp. 2-15.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2017, 'Church Armorials and Firebacks: Evidence of an Early 17th-Century Woodcarver', Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 135, pp. 213-223.

  5. 1054

    unknown_69_vernon_895x864a.jpg
    895 x 864 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; chamfered edging; 'renaissance' style shield with floriate decoration; incised heraldic design.

    Notes: The arms are of Sir John Herbert Vernon Bt. impaling those of his wife, Elizabeth Bagnall; Blazon: (Vernon) Or, on a fess azure between two crosses moline gules three garbs of the field, a canton of a baronet; (Bagnall) Ermine, two bars or, over all a lion rampant azure. The fireback dates from between 1919, when Sir John inherited the baronetcy and his death in 1933.

    Arms: Vernon impaling Bagnall

    Manufactured: in the early-20th century in England.

    Current location:, not known.

    Citation: Fox-Davies, A. C., 1929, Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour (London, Hurst & Blackett).

  6. 906

    upper_beeding,_valerie_manor_a.jpg
    895 x 557 mm

    Description: Rectangular; cyma recta moulded edging in short lengths (top and sides, with gap at bottom of each side); top centre, rose and crown between four small fleurs-de-lys (2 over 2); date split in top corners, with concentric roundel inside, next to upper fleurs; below date, concentric roundel, with small rose inside, next to lower fleurs; the whole arrangement symmetrical.

    Notes: The only example of this series with no initials; one vertical plankline. The style of rose and crown is similar to that used in gun founding in the Tudor period, suggesting that the furnace that was the source of this fireback may have been used for that purpose.

    Inscription: 16 85

    Manufactured: in 1685 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Upper Beeding, West Sussex, England.