SILVIO HOUSE in Richmond is graced with a great name and it is adorned by two of our favourite things: a sundial and, even more excitingly, a firemark.
Firemarks are fabulous. They were lead plates given out by insurance companies to show that a property was insured. Many of them have the policy number beneath the company’s logo.
Firemarks had to be clearly visible on a property but also had to be high up so they couldn’t be stolen.
Before the advent of the municipal fire brigade, the insurance companies employed their own brigades and it is said that when a private brigade arrived at a blaze, if the firemen could not see the firemark through the flames, they would turn round and go home because they would not be paid for tackling them.
They would therefore leave the house to burn down.
Sun Fire Office firemarks are probably the most common survivors in our area
There are not many records of this actually happening, and certainly by the early 19th Century, the firemark was as much about advertising for the company and boasting for the homeowner that he was rich enough to have something to insure.
Silvio House’s firemark is from the Phoenix Assurance Company, which was the first company to offer homeowners insurance against fire.
It was started in London in 1667 – the year after the Great Fire – and for 30 shillings, it would insure a property for £100 for seven years.
The sundial and, top, the Phoenix firemark above the door of Silvio House in Richmond
The brains behind the company was Nicholas Barbon, an MP, property developer, builder and economist who is said to have been the first to espouse the free market. He is also said to have been baptised with the name Ifjesuschristhadnotdiedfortheethouhadstbeendamned by his father who throughout his life rejoiced in being called Praisegod Barbon.
Ifjesuschristhadn… sorry, Nicholas gained a reputation as a ruthless property developer – he would demolish a person’s house and build many dwellings on the plot before anyone noticed – and he also came up with the fire insurance idea, which was copied by many companies. In this area, the Sun Fire Office was one of the most prevalent, and its firemark showing a blazing sun can still be spotted.
“The firemark on Silvio House is one of only three still remaining in Richmond,” says Jane. “Over to you to find the other two!”
This is too good a gauntlet not to pick up. Can you locate Richmond’s other two firemarks, or do you know of any surviving firemarks elsewhere? Please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk with any firemark sightings.
IF you were to google “Silvio and Richmond” in the hope of finding information about the North Yorkshire horse which won the Gold Cup in 1764, you would be taken immediately to Silvio’s pizza house in Richmond – in Melbourne, Australia. We imagine that Silvio’s was named in honour of its Italian founder rather than in homage to an equestrian star of 250 years ago.
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