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Bow fire guard.

J

Jill

master brummie
A relative recently visited the Inge Street houses project and mentioned that we used to call the fire guard a 'bow'. The attendant was very interested to know if this was a regularly used Birmingham word. I know my mother used to say 'put the bow round the fire' but I'm not sure if it's Birmingham dialect or just peculiar to our family. Any one else know of it please?
 
Put the bow round the fire, get the draw tin and put it up, there are loads of bats in the ashes.
Can anyone think of what else might be around the fire place apart from the Christmas Stocking ?
 
What about a companion stand? One of our wedding presents was a companion stand in the shape of a horse shoe - it was chrome and rather posh. It held a small brush with handle, a small shovel, a poker, and another item I can't remember now.
 
Sylvia. We did not have a companion stand as we was'nt that posh but we did have a toasting fork like Peter.  Used to sit on the peg rug in front of the fire, my Gran was always afraid if we used the draw tin we would set the chimney
on fire and it was great to see somebody else's chimney on fire.
CHIMNEY I cannot spell the brummy version of this word, something like CHIM-DEE guess I cannot spell Brummy either ?
Just loved the Baked Potatoes or Rice Pudding with Nutmeg on the top when it came out of the oven.
Always had my bath in front of the fire.
 
I recall the the trivet that hung from the bracket at the front of the fire and the old kettle that was blackened in one part, where it stood so close to the coals.   The singed and in parts burnt cloth, by which ones parents took it off, hanging on a hook in the fire surround.
Will.
 
A. Willoughby.  Was the trivet also the bracket that things were hung from ?
                      You reminded me of the big cast iron oval cooking pot that was used for stew, I can smell it today
                       it was usualy rabbit stew although they did use any bones for stews as well.  also sultana pudding
                       boiled in a cloth wrapping ( not steamed )  I get the steamed version today its just not the same.
We must have had coal tongs as I remember that remedy for something ( hot coke in water, take
the coke out first of course and drink it. Well l did anyway , maybe it was meant to be just a mouth
wash perhaps for a sore throat Who Knows ? I dont.   
 
Hi Sylvia: Here's a photo I found on Ebay for the Horseshoe Shaped Companion set. Very nice.
We had one and it was on a Ship theme. The postage is more than they are asking for it. It's six pounds-ninety-nine pence. The price for the set is Three pounds and ninety-nine pence so far.
 
What a nice lot of replies. We also had a companion set, and a peg rug and toasting fork. Thanks for the memories. :)
 
JUST LIKE TO SAY ALTHOUGH I HAVE CENTRAL HEATING WE STILL HAVE A OPEN FIRE FOR COAL AND LOGS IN THE WINTER MONTHS SO WE HAVE THE COMPANION SET. THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT A COAL FIRE WHICH MAKES ME FEEL SAFE AND SECURE WITH THE LIGHT FLICKERING IN THE ROOM & OUR GRANDCHILDREN ASKING HOW FATHER CHRISTMAS COMES DOWN THE CHIMNEY WITH THE FIRE LIT.
JOHN
 
Ger22van,
No a trivet is normally a flat plate of iron of sufficient size to hold a kettle or pot on. At the side nearest the fire it had, what I can only describe as two prongs, that hooked onto the grill effect at the front of the fire that itself stopped, or was intended to stop, hot coals falling into the hearth.
I bought a rather 'posh' one some time ago where the flat plate is fitted to two heavy rods that in themselves formed the two prongs at the one end. This plate has a copper handle, its intention being, to be able to draw the plate to and from the fire. By so doing one can put a kettle or like onto the coals for immediate heating or pull it back for it to simmer. It stands as a 'ornament' in my lounge hearth but should we have a gas or electric supply cut then I am able to use it on a coal fire I have in my hallway. The trivet works for I have tried it - in a dry run -just in case
 
JennyAnn thanks for posting the picture of "my companion set" it is almost exactly the same. I can't remember what happened to mine when we went over to gas fires and then central heating. Another memory from the past.
 
thats a cheap reproduction , and they were made smaller than the large
fancy ones the toffs used to have , thats the poor mans version ,
 
HI SYLV;
Don,t get me wrong they are nice orniments and useful ,
but i remember them when they first started to reproduce them by a
bussiness man whom was a G.E WILKINSON LTD , I KNOW HE WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHOM MADE THEM
GEORGE , WILKINSON , WHOM I KNEW PERSONALY MADE WIRE GOODS AND FANCY GOODS ,
HE TAUGHT ME ABOUT ENGINEERING , HE TOOK ME UNDER HIS WING,
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CALL IT THAT
WHEN MY FATHER DIED WHILST I WAS AT SCHOOL.
HE HAD LITTLE PREMISES IN KING EDWARDS RD LADY WOOD
WHERE HE HAD A WORK FORCEOF ABOUT 12 EMPLOYEE,S
AND HE HAD A SHOP IN ANGELSLEY RD HOCLEY WHERE HIS WIFE RAN THE FANCY GOODS
IT WAS NEAR THE JUNCTION OF THE OLD FARM ST . AND THE JUNCTION OF GERRARD ST
ANY WAY IT WAS THIS THAT BROUGHT ME BACK TO THINKING
OF THESE COMPANIONS SET . THAT I REMEMBER AFTER THE WAR
AND WHEN THEY STARTED TO REMOVE THESE OLD GRATES , AND PUT THE MODERN TILE
ONE IN .WE HAD A POSH NEIBOUR
BY THE NAME OF CRADDOCK AND WHEN WE WENT ACROSS TO THERE HOUSE
UP IN CROMWELL TERRACE, THEY HAD ONE OF THE BIG POSH ONES
AND THEN WE WENT TO MY MOM,S HOUSE ,IN NEW CANNAL ST DIGBETH
AND THEY WAS WEALTHY PEOPLE AND THEY HAD ONE , A BIG POSH ONE.
AND WHEN MOM CAME BACK SHE WANTED ONE , BUT SHE COULD NOT AFFORD ONE
A COUPLE OF YEARS LATER SHE BOUHT ONE OF THE REPRODUTION .
GEORGE WILKINSON ,AT THE TIME LIVED IN WOODCROFT AVENE,
AROUND THE CORNER FROM GORDAN KNOWLES ,
I WENT TO HIS HOUSE VERY POSH , HE WAS MARRIED WITH ONE DAUGHTER .
 
A Willoughby.  I think I know what you mean, it pivoted to form a shelf along the top bar of the fire grate once it was in position.  Another part of the fireplace was the damper used to control the draught and allowed the fire to stay
active longer ( Overnight. )
 
Yes, I think the trivet was a black cast-iron tray, with plenty of holes in it which pivoted on a vertical hook, but I also have a recollection of one house where the kettle was hung by its handle with a kind of butcher's hook over the fire. The trivet could then be used to warm up a soup or stew.
Peter
 
Peter.  I now have a vision of one that was part of the grate on which a kettle or pot could be stood at the front of the firegrate and the other was a bar that pivoted at the back of the fire place and allowed pots to hang and be swung over the top of the fire.
As I say I know the type you mean but cannot remember wether we had one, could be that we did but most large cooking pots may have been used on the gas cooker as some were quite heavy. I guess I need to pay another visit to the " Black Country Museum".
          Ernie.
 
Ernie, Here is photo I took at The Black Country Museum with all the posh gadgets on compare it with the one in Nechells below as you can see the "fender" as you call it, where ya could sit each side and stick ya torch batteries in the side oven to make them last a bit longer and if ya had any little chicks off the ragman they went in a cardboard box by the fire till they was safe enough to keep down the cellar 
 
Crommie, in your 1st picture, is that brass gizmo hanging down, for putting the Donner Kebab meat on. >:D
 
Postie it was 40 years before I heard that word Donna Kebab only Donna I heard was what Marty Wilde sung
Here is a room in a posh slum (note the hanging sticky fly paper)
 
My mother's parents, who lived in Brantley Road, Witton had a "roaster" type thing that they could attach to their fire grate for roasting joints of meat.chickens, etc. One of the Uncles had a parrot that they used to look after from time to time and he had quite a good vocabulary. When a joint was on the roaster and the parrot was visiting, he would shout out if the cat went near the fireplace to see if it could have a lick at the meat juices on the tray below the roaster. Squawking loudly "The cat's at the meat". He must have been trained to say that at the Uncle's house. I would loved to have seen that going on.
 
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