Firebacks were used at the back of fireplaces, and served both to project the heat of the fire forward into a room and to protect the stonework or brickwork behind. References to them occur from at least the 15th century in England, but no dated examples are known before the 16th century. Throughout the Tudor period when this fireback was cast, the Weald area of Sussex and Kent was the largest producer of cast-iron firebacks in Britain.

This is one of a small series of firebacks which all bear the probable initials of the founder IA and the date 1582. They were all products of a furnace in Sussex. Three water bougets or containers depicted in the coat-of-arms may relate to the Roos or de Ros family of village of Easebourne, Sussex and the Meeres family of Glynleigh, near Hailsham, Sussex.