INTRODUCTION

All classes of internal decoration are ephemeral, prone as they are to being swept away by the predations of damp, damage and changes of fashion, but, of the many kinds which were employed in past centuries to enliven the interiors of houses, the most fragile were surely those on walls. In their survival, wall paintings and their successors, wallpapers, come near the bottom of the scale, and fireplace paintings must be the worst preserved of all. Nonetheless, a considerable number of schemes decorating the fireplace are now known from Devon and further examples appear from time to time. They have generally survived in only poor or fragmentary condition, and several of those which are still in situ have been plastered or painted over or boarded up. Many have been destroyed and are now known only from their records in archaeological archives; only one has been preserved as fragments in a museum collection. As few have been recorded adequately and little has been written about them, it seems time to offer a general survey, and to show something of the charm and possible origins of these now rare examples of a once popular and vibrant domestic folk art.

The practice of painting or sgraffito-decorating the fireplace seems not to have attracted any antiquarian attention. Although a few examples were found in the early 20th century they do not seem to have aroused much interest.