A beautifully hand-forged Arts & Crafts iron hearth trivet, acquired in the Cotswolds, and very much in the style of the Cotswold School workshops active around the turn of the 20th century. The piece features a hammered rectangular cooking plate supported by a forged frame, with a long upright handle terminating in a distinctive heart-shaped finial — a characteristic decorative motif seen in rural blacksmithing influenced by the Arts & Crafts movement.
Crafted between c. 1890 and 1920, the trivet shows the honesty of materials and traditional techniques championed by the Gimson and Barnsley circles in the Cotswolds: visible hammer marks, hand-drawn bars, and subtle irregularities that affirm its handmade origin. The piece retains its original, untouched patina.
A functional and decorative hearth item that would have been used over an open fire for cooking pans, kettles, or griddles. Today it serves equally well as a kitchen book display piece, fireside accessory, or collector’s item for Arts & Crafts metalwork.
Most of the surviving sliding trivets are dated to Georgian times. This is a rare example of the Arts & Crafts workshop, which used mild steel (post-1890) but forged it traditionally: cleaner steel, lighter slag pattern, consistent hammering refer to the late 19th–early 20th century forging, right in the Arts & Crafts period. The heart-top finial is exactly the sort of romantic rural motif used by the Cotswold School smiths: Ernest Gimson’s circle Sapperton village smiths under the Barnsleys, Thompson & similar regional craftsmen.
The trivet is hand-forged but intentionally simple - Arts & Crafts blacksmiths loved: exposed hammer marks, honesty of materials, simple but beautiful functional objects with no machine-perfect symmetry.
Dimensions: approx 30 by 24 by 24 cm, weight about 1200 g.
Will be sent by the Royal Mail Registered Delivery. All orders are shipped with packaging and items documented for Royal Mail insurance; in the event of transit damage, please provide photos of the outer and inner packaging along with the damaged item within 48 hours of receipt.
If any postal breakages are reported, they must be accompanied by the photos of breakages, close ups AND of the packaging. No postal damage claim will be accepted without the photos of the packaging attached. If you buy an antique/vintage item from this shop, you accept that this is a pre-requisite to the transaction.
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