April 2011 (issue 123) - The Sussex Archaeological Society

Library
LIBRARY & BOOKSHOP
FIREBACKS
Books
Library News
Collection of Baxter prints on display
hope this will be published in time for Members to visit Barbican
I House Museum to see the display in the Temporary Exhibition Gallery
of “John Baxter 1781-1858, Lewes printer and publisher”. This shows
examples of the work of Baxter from the Library collections, of some
books published between 1805 & 1847, together with a selection
from the enormous range of handbills, advertisements and posters
he printed (see article by Judy Brent in SP&P 121). Included are some
fascinating auction and events posters, including cricket (one of his
great interests). One poster shows that nothing really changes – it
bans the letting off of fireworks in the street as Bonfire approaches,
though in this case it includes avoiding frightening passing horses!
Baxter both printed the poster, and signed it as Junior High Constable.
The exhibition continues until 8th May.
Continuing our attempts to make best use of the limited space in
the Library, we intend to move the general English history volumes on
to the landing, leaving space for expanding the Sussex places in the
Sussex Room – apologies if this causes confusion.
I list below some recent additions to the Library (all 2010):
COLLINS, Rob, ed.
HART, Stephen
HIGHAM, Nicholas, ed.
HOOKE, Della
MAYS, Simon
Finds from the Frontier
Medieval Church Window Tracery in
England
Landscape Archaeology of Anglo Saxon
England
Trees in Anglo Saxon England
Archaeology of Human Bones. 2nd ed.
We are grateful to the following for their donations to the Library:
Archaeology South-East; D Millum; W Muriel; N Read; R Nesbitt-
Dufort; G Standing; G Thomas; D Worsell.
Esme Evans
Hon. Librarian
Bookshop
MANY members doubtless will
remember the excavation run by the
Society and, latterly, the University
of Kent on the village green (the Egg)
adjacent to Bishopstone church.
The project was run by one-time
Research Officer of the Society,
Gabor Thomas, between 2002 and
2005, and is now published in a
handsome volume by the Council
for British Archaeology.
In addition to the archaeology there
are chapters on the landscape and
environmental context, and an
historical synthesis, largely by John
Blair, which offers an interpretation
based on documentary,
topographic, and toponymic
sources of Bishopstone’s pre-
Conquest development.
The cover price of the book is £40
but it is available to members for
£34 (£38 to include inland postage)
at Barbican House Bookshop.
Payment with order please, but
note that offer titles can be reserved
at Barbican House for collection at
a later date.
Gabor Thomas (with contributions
by many others), The later Anglo-
Saxon settlement at Bishopstone:
a downland manor in the making.
York: CBA, 2010. (CBA Research
Report 163); xviii, 270 pp.
John Bleach
Barbican House Bookshop
British Cast-Iron
Firebacks of the 16 th
to mid 18 th Centuries
FIREBACKS are among the most
common surviving artefacts of the
early modern iron industry. Whereas
most cast-iron ordnance was either
abandoned on the battlefield or
re-melted, the latter fate shared
by railings and other architectural
ironwork, firebacks have fared much
better. They tended to be left in situ,
at once both decorative and useful,
Plate 269. Mid to late 17th century fireback bearing
a phoenix rising from the flames. Anne of Cleves
House Museum.
as long as open fires remained
the only form of domestic heating,
and often afterwards. Some have
been removed to museums, but
thousands remain at the back of
hearths in great and not-so-great
houses all over the country. Survival
is especially good in the South East,
where the Wealden furnaces were
major producers of castings.
It is surprising to find how little
has been written about firebacks.
There are, apparently, no early
20 th -century collectors’ books, nor
have historians of the iron industry,
except H.R. Schubert and writers
on the Weald, given them much
attention. They do not feature greatly
in books on country houses and
their contents. This new study by
Jeremy Hodgkinson can, therefore,
be unreservedly welcomed as the
first large-scale monograph on
the subject. It is a first-class piece
of work in all respects, not least
the high standard of design and
printing, and the reasonable price.
Plate 203. Wealden fireback of the early 17th
century; this combination of the English crown and
French arms is often copied and may relate to the
marriage of Charles 1 and Princess Henrietta Maria
of France in 1625. Michelham Priory.
After explaining what a fireback is
and discussing related artefacts
such as graveslabs, the first chapter
describes how they were made and
(as far as is known) how they were
marketed. The bulk of the book is
a detailed catalogue of decoration
on firebacks, progressing from
designs created from individual
stamps to backs cast from
complete patterns. Hodgkinson
shows how the basic fireback could
be extended lengthways or with
base panels, and suggests how
purchasers today can distinguish
an original from a copy. Virtually all
the pieces discussed are illustrated
with exceptionally well reproduced
black and white photographs,
printed to a constant scale. This is in
itself a considerable achievement,
since firebacks are often difficult
of access and require skill to light
successfully. Full details of each
piece are given in an appendix,
leaving the text to adopt a more
discursive approach. This explores
the iconography of firebacks in a
highly original way. Hodgkinson
has identified the sources for
some of the best known designs,
and analyses the royal and private
heraldry found on firebacks. He has
also located and illustrates several
wooden patterns.
Plate 245. Late 16th century or early 17th century
fireback, probably cast in the Weald, portraying two
protestant martyrs during the Marian persecution.
Anne of Cleves House Museum.
Most of the examples are drawn
from the Weald, the major producing
area and (outside London) the home
of the major museum collections.
To build on this study it would
be useful to have gazetteers of
firebacks in each county. It would
also be good to know more about
the fireback trade: how many were
produced, were they made to
order or for stock, and how much
did they cost. These would not be
easy questions to answer but a full
national catalogue would be a useful
starting point. In the meantime,
Jeremy Hodgkinson has done a
first-class job in bringing together
so much material and presenting
his findings in such a scholarly and
attractive volume.
Philip Riden
University of Nottingham
By Jeremy Hodgkinson.
Hodgersbooks, 2010. Paperback,
278 pp., 342 illustrations, £24.99.
ISBN 978-0-9566726-0-5.
12 Sussex Past & Present April 2011
www.sussexpast.co.uk www.romansinsussex.co.uk Sussex Past & Present April 2011 13