{"id":805,"date":"2022-01-14T17:52:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T17:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/?p=805"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:54:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T16:54:13","slug":"an-early-sackville-fireback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/notes\/an-early-sackville-fireback","title":{"rendered":"19. An early Sackville fireback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This heavily-worn fireback is in a house near Horsted Keynes in Sussex. The house was built in the late-Tudor period but part of it was demolished in the 1780s and then considerably restored in the 1930s. It seems likely, though, that there was an earlier house on the same site so it is not known whether the fireback was original to the property.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Firebacks with armorial shields are always intriguing and the small size of the shield did not make identification easy, but the dexter (or left) side had a distinctive feature – a bend vair<\/em> – i.e. a diagonal stripe with a pattern representing squirrel pelts. In heraldry these are customarily coloured blue and white alternately, though other tinctures can also be used, as with the arms of the Farnden family which I showed on my note, \u2018It\u2019s not as old as it seems\u2019<\/a>. I had seen the bend vair<\/em> before on the arms of the Sackville family which are widely found in eastern Sussex and Kent. The shield on this fireback seemed to belong to one of the Sackvilles, impaled with that of a couple of other families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past the Sackvilles were a very influential family in east Sussex and west Kent, owning large numbers of manors and estates which included Ashdown Forest. They have, for many centuries, been based at Buckhurst in Withyham, although they also came to own Knole, outside Sevenoaks, now a National Trust property.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The arms of Fane impaling Colepeper<\/em> in Mereworth church<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The clue as to the identity of the two other families on the fireback shield came from one of the many magnificent stained glass windows in the church of St Lawrence in Mereworth, Kent. The window in question, in the Despencer Chapel, shows the arms of John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmoreland, who had the church rebuilt in the 18th century, surrounded by arms of his forebears. Among them is this small quarry (a diamond-shaped pane of glass) with the arms of Fane impaling Colepeper. In the top row are two \u2018quarters\u2019 with the same arms as on the right, or sinister, half of the shield on the fireback. Consulting Papworth\u2019s Ordinary of Arms<\/em> I found that they were the arms of Colepeper (Argent a bend engrailed gules) and Hardreshull (Argent a chevron sable between nine martlets gules, six and three). From that I was able to find out that Christopher, one of the sons of Richard Sackville of Withyham, had married Constance, daughter of Thomas Colepeper of Bedgebury in Kent.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The arms of Hardreshull<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

But where did Hardreshull come into this? Apparently, some seven generations earlier, in the 14th century a John Colepeper had married Elizabeth Hardreshull who was an heiress, entitling her family\u2019s arms to be quartered with those of Colepeper thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
The arms on Christopher Sackville’s fireback c.1541-59<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So what do we know about Christopher Sackville<\/a> and his wife? He had been born by 1519 and probably brought up at Chiddingly in Sussex. After his marriage to Constance, which had occurred by 1541, he gained a place at Court and also served in Henry VIII\u2019s campaign in France. In 1558 he became MP for Heytesbury in Wiltshire. He was present at Queen Mary\u2019s funeral in December 1558 but must have died shortly after. When he made his will in August of that year he was living in Worth, Sussex. Constance, with whom he had at least three children, survived him. Her family had been influential in Kent for several centuries, firstly at Bayhall in Pembury and later at Bedgebury in Goudhurst. Her father’s younger brother, also (curiously) named Thomas, was executed in 1541 for his romantic entanglement with Henry VIII’s fifth queen, Katherine Howard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Sackville\u2019s connection with Horsted Keynes is somewhat tenuous. His older brother Richard occupied the iron furnace there, leasing it from Sir William Barrantyne, so it is possible that the fireback was cast at the local furnace. Wherever it was made, it would have been a unique casting and since Christopher and Constance Sackville were only together as husband and wife between about 1541 and 1559 the fireback must date from then, making it one of the earliest datable British firebacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This heavily-worn fireback is in a house near Horsted Keynes in Sussex. The house was built in the late-Tudor period but part of it was demolished in the 1780s and then considerably restored in the 1930s. It seems likely, though, that there was an earlier house on the same site so it is not known… Continue reading 19. An early Sackville fireback<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11,5,12,10,7,8],"class_list":["post-805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colepeper","tag-firebacks","tag-hardreshall","tag-sackville","tag-sussex-firebacks","tag-wealden-firebacks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1949,"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805\/revisions\/1949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hodgers.com\/firebacks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}