English: Pair of firedogs

Dated 1576
Cast iron
England

Cast with the name \'Wyllam Man\', probably for the first owner.

Firedogs are designed to stand on either side of the fireplace and hold burning logs above the floor to allow an updraft. Wrought iron firedogs survive from the Iron Age and the basic design has remained unchanged. Until the early 16th century firedogs were usually made of wrought iron but records confirm that from the 1540s onward cast iron firedogs were produced in great numbers.

This firedog is of cast iron, a material first used in Europe around 1400 for military purposes. In Britain, military and domestic objects were being made from this material by around 1500. Using cast iron to make firedogs was cheaper and quicker than using wrought iron and it had the advantage of making the mass production of a single design possible.