Fireplace fireback

The protection was especially important where the wall was constructed of insubstantial material such as daub (a mud and straw mixture coating interwoven wooden wattles), brick or soft stone.

Protective metal plates that became available when cast iron was developed enabled fires to be placed against walls without danger to the fabric of the building.

Early firebacks were decorated with simple designs derived from everyday objects such as rope, moulds used in the making of certain types of foods (such as butter, biscuits or wafers), furniture fragments and other domestic and personal items.

[2] English firebacks may roughly be separated into four chronological divisions—those moulded from more than one movable stamp; armorial backs; allegorical, mythological and biblical slabs with an occasional portrait; and copies of 17th and 18th century continental designs, chiefly Dutch.

[3] The increasing use of coal as a domestic heating fuel caused a decline in many countries in the need for firebacks and their gradual replacement by integral grates.