s are shown in Fig. 8.
The need of the metal furnishings of the hearth--as the chimney places
of the smaller manor houses and the dwellings of the traders were being
erected--caused an impetus to the trade of the ironfounder and smith,
and the founders and smiths of the Sussex villages came to the aid of
the builder. There are dated examples from the sixteenth century
onwards, recording the periods when these interesting souvenirs of
domestic building and the great Sussex ironfields--now deserted--were in
operation.

Sussex Backs.

There is a peculiar attraction about the castings made in Sussex in the
days when the foundries of that county were in full work, and many
villages were filled with busy pattern-makers, moulders, and founders
carrying on a thriving industry in districts which have now been given
up to the plough; for the Sussex ironfields have been abandoned, as when
the timber of the district was consumed it was impossible to work the
forges economically, for coal was far distant and transport costs
prohibitive. The old grate backs for which the Sussex foundries were
famous in the seventeenth century were often modelled on Dutch designs,
and some showed German characteristics. There are many noted English
designs, too, mostly taking the forms of coats of arms and the shields
and crests of the landlords for whom the stove-plates were made, some
becoming "stock" patterns and often duplicated. There is quite a fine
collection of these grate backs in several museums, and some good
examples can still be bought from dealers whose agents secure them from
time to time when property is being rebuilt. In the Victoria and Albert
Museum there is a long oblong plate on which is cast the arms of Browne
of Brenchley, in Kent, probably made in the second half of the
seventeenth century. There are others with cherubs and curious
supporters of shields of arms. A still earlier piece, probably cast
about the year 1600, is an oblong Sussex back deeply recessed, on which
is the arms of John Blount, Earl of Devonshire, another bearing the
Royal arms of the Tudor period. In Hampton Court Palace there are some
especially fine grate backs, mostly bearing the Royal arms. At a little
earlier period the cast grate backs were chiefly plain with isolated
crests or designs scattered over the surface, often quite irregularly.

The three fine examples of Sussex backs illustrated are typical of
popular styles. Fig. 11 shows the Royal lio