the rectangular plate, with an arched top and recessed lower edge, cast in relief with a Carolean lion passant surrounded by the insignia of the realm: thistle, rose and fleur-de-lys raised in relief, a drilled hole top centre,

Whilst this pattern has been much copied over the years – with different variants to the same design having been cast, the earliest identified dates to 1641 and was produced in the Kent/Sussex Weald – possibly a foundry in Brede by a founder with the iniials “IM”. There is a casting of it in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Weald – a centre of ironwork prior to the Industrial Revolution – produced a number of similarly Royalist themed firebacks during the Civil War, and after.