Fireplace
Richard Norman Shaw (Edinburgh 1831 - London 1912)
Category
Architecture / Interiors
Date
Unknown
Materials
Measurements
1725 (H) x 1740 (W) mm
Collection
Cragside, Northumberland
NT 1232835
Summary
A Victorian inglenook fireplace in the Gothik style, dating from 1870-72, designed by Richard Norman Shaw and carved by James Forsyth. Inspired by the massive kitchen at Fountain’s Abbey in Yorkshire, which Norman Shaw sketched in 1861. Details of the fireplace can be seen in a portrait of Lord Armstrong by H.H. Emmerson dating from 1880 showing him seated in the inglenook, including the carved corbels, tile back panel and back plate, kerb and carved inscription [with the motto put onto two lines to squeeze it in, see 1230258]. The inglenook front piece is a heavy gothic sandstone arch, with a border of elaborately carved frieze of animals, birds, and hunting dogs amongst foliage. There is a heavy apron screen beneath the arch, with deep voussoirs ‘checked’ into their neighbours. The interior of the inglenook comprises a mantel of red Devonshire marble which matches the two windowsills within the inglenook, supported by two plain pillars, with elaborately carved corbels of birds and hunting dogs amongst foliage. The facing is of sandstone and bears the inscription ‘East or West, Hame’s Best.’ The phrase, of Scottish derivation, was also used by Nesfield and Norman Shaw at Cloverley Hall in 1865-67. The stone carving frames a tiled surround of cream, blue and yellow glazed tiles. The tiles frame a moulded cast iron insert, the flue and grate also of cast iron. The insert shows a decorated scene of a figure on horseback, with smaller figures in foreground. The hearth of black and terracotta bricks or matte tiles in a herringbone pattern, with a stone kerb.
Provenance
Armstrong collection. Transferred by the Treasury to The National Trust in 1977 via the National Land Fund, aided by 3rd Baron Armstrong of Bamburgh and Cragside (1919 - 1987).
Makers and roles
Richard Norman Shaw (Edinburgh 1831 - London 1912), designer James Forsyth (c.1827 - 1910), creator