Fire Irons, Thomas Hadden, ca. 1915

This set of burnished wrought iron fire irons in the Arts and Crafts style were probably made at the Thomas Hadden ironworks at Silvermills in Edinburgh to a design by Sir Robert Lorimer. The set consists of a small shovel, a fork, poker and fire tongs on a shaped stand with a tray for ash.  A set such as this, which may have been made to match an ensemble of fire place furniture, including a fender and ‘fire dogs’, for a specific house commission, was practical for use when a fire was burning, but also decorative.  Fire irons could also be made of brass and burnished steel but the implements used by servants for cleaning and setting a fire would be factory made and kept out of sight.

Wrought iron's association with the traditional smith rather than the industrial smelter led to renewed interest in its production at the end of the nineteenth century.  A key characteristic of the Arts and Crafts movement was that its practitioners valued simple, unpretentious workmanship using traditional materials and techniques. Small, simply-styled items of fireplace furniture, light-fittings and door hinges allowed the material expression of traditional craft skills within the domestic scale and utility of the home. 

Thomas Hadden (1871-1940) was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire to a metal working family from Haddington, East Lothian.  He trained at Howgate near Edinburgh and worked for James Milne & Sons in Edinburgh before starting in business in partnership with his brother who was a wood carver. His work was exhibited in the Arts & Crafts Society Exhibition in London in 1910. 

Hadden’s ability to respond perceptively and with a strong craft sensibility to his client’s wishes informed his small-scale work. Fire irons, fenders, fire-grates and boot-scrapers were just some of the domestic items produced at his workshop.