The decorative qualities of iron, with its strength, durability and comparative cheapness, have rendered it one of the most useful metals in the applied arts. Used from an early period for implements of war and the chase, it gradually became associated with architecture and furniture, reaching in the 15th and 16th centuries a remarkable degree of beauty and skilful craftsmanship that has never been excelled. Many fine Norman hinges of wrought iron are still in existence, having a straight central bar or strap, with small scroll terminations; these central straps were strengthened with crescent-shaped pieces, terminating in small serpent forms, probably a survival of the Viking traditions. This form of hinge was succeeded by the Early Gothic hinge, which was a series of spirals springing from the straight bar or strap, the spiral being welded or fastened with collars; these spirals were enriched with the three-lobed foliage or trefoil, typical of the Early Gothic period; fine examples of this hinge occur on the west door of Notre Dame, Paris, where this typical spiral has the trefoil leaf, with birds, dragons and small rosettes in stamped iron. This stamped characteristic may be seen, but in a less degree, in the fine hinges of Leighton Buzzard Church, Eaton Bray Church, Bedfordshire, and the Eleanor grill in Westminster Abbey, by Thomas de Leghton, in 1294. In the 14th and 15th centuries, when panelled doors took the place of the earlier doors, this Early Gothic style of hinge was not needed (fig. 5) so that we find no trace of it in that period, but the art of wrought iron was continued with the hammered and chiselled hinges and lock plates of the most varied and delicate workmanship, which enriched the beautiful Gothic chests of the 14th and 15th centuries. The simple wrought screen, which was so largely used in the 13th century was now elaborated, especially in Italy, and fine examples of quatre-foil grilles with massive wrought framing and a rich frieze of foliage, cupids and animals in pierced and hammered iron are to be seen at the cathedrals of Orvieto, Prato and Siena, dating from about 1337 to 1350, and at Santa Croce, Florence, 1371; but it was in Spain and France that the screen reached its culmination. The Spanish screens or “RÉjas” in the cathedrals of Seville, Toledo and Granada have a fine range of turned and chiselled vertical bars some 30 to 50 feet high, with an elaborate frieze and cresting.

Beautiful wrought and chiselled gates were erected in France about 1658, for the Louvre and the Royal Chateaux of Anet and Econeu. There are some fine wrought gates at Hampton Court by Jean Tijon, who published some drawings of them in 1693, and many good simple gates of the last century are still in position in many parts of the country.

The wrought iron gate piers in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, with their architectural treatment of open panelling, cresting, and massive buttresses, in filed, bolted and riveted, are splendid examples of Flemish workmanship, and are probably by Quintin Matsys (1450-1529).