Firebacks

Manufactured in 1629

  1. 30

    burwash,_poundsford.jpg
    917 x 510 mm

    Description: Rectangular, with canted top corners; twisted rope edging on top and sides; cavetto-moulded-edged rectangle top centre, enclosing date between initials; seven shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard; 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 (c.1535-1584) of Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex. A large number of variants use the same shields. The possibility that 'CT' was the founder Charles Tyler (d.1629/30) is reinforced by the fact that Poundsford Farm, Burwash, was owned by his grandson, also Charles, and subsequently by the latter's widow, Mary. The back was first noted at Poundsford in 1869.

    Inscription: C 1629 T

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

    Manufactured: in 1629 possibly at Hawkhurst Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Poundsford Farm, Burwash, East Sussex, England.

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

    Citation: Gardner, J. S., 1898, 'Iron Casting in the Weald', Archaeologia, 56, 1, pp. 133-164.

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

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

  2. 244

    chailey,_woodbrooks farm 04.jpg
    900 x 600 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); stamp of three ostrich feathers within a coronet, between the two parts of the date, with lion and unicorn supporters outside date.

    Notes: The ostrich feathers are the badge of the Prince of Wales. There is no known significance of the year 1629 with that title, the birth of the prince (later Charles II) being in the following year. The date was probably added to a recasting of the plate. The lack of detail in the modelling indicates this has been recast several times.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 16 29

    Manufactured: in 1629 in the Weald area of England.

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

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