 Fireplaces
were an important feature of Arts and Crafts design. In the
era from which the Movement drew its inspiration the fireplace
was only beginning to be sited on the sidewalls of great halls
in the houses of the very rich. So the style adopted by Arts
and Crafts was a 19th century day pastiche of what was really
constructed during the Wars of the Roses. Designs were often
in brick although stone could be used where it was a local material.
The fireplaces were large, often rounded and had an inglenook
feel. Bricks would vary in size, with courses laid vertically
as well as conventionally or possibly in a herringbone pattern.
Later designs often included tiles and the type of sinuous designs
that are associated with Charles Rennie Macintosh and Art Nouveau.
Tiles might have a pastoral scene or a complex flower motif
and the Rockwood Pottery that produced early designs was closely
associated with Morris & Co, the company that William Morris
ran from 1875. We still live with the Arts & Crafts legacy
in mock Tudor houses, twentieth century wall panelling and old
brick fireplaces. Like virtually all styles of the last two
hundred years the popularity declines only to reappear up to
one hundred years later.
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