 As
the Victorian era progressed, design and fashion changed. In
the parlour, the standard register grate began to be replaced
by fireplaces with a wooden mantel coupled with a cast iron
back panel. The back panel, which was similar in size to today’s
reproductions, helped to radiate the heat and allowed for a
number of elaborate designs, which added to what was, by now,
the aesthetic focus of the room.
Typically these cast iron back panels would include a ‘slider’
on each side, into which a set of decorative ceramic tiles could
be inserted. This increased the natural aesthetics of the cast
iron and allowed standard designs to be personalised by the
builder.
The local blacksmiths as part of their general work originally
worked dog grates, which in the 20th Century are typically constructed
of cast iron. They could be made to fit individual fireplaces
and included more or less embellishment, to suit the owner’s
whim. Where there was a raised back panel, often with a Coat
of Arms, this part would be cast, as the process was ideally
suited for working large, flat pieces of this size. It has only
been in this century, when dog grates have become the preserve
of inglenook fireplaces in the country cottages that semi mass
production techniques have led to designs being cast in moulds.
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