Description:A cast steel box iron. The iron slug is heated on a fire or stove, picked up with tongs and placed in the iron through the lift-up gate at the rear. Two slugs would be used, one being heated while the other was being used for ironing.
It is believed that box irons were first developed in the Netherlands in the 16th century. This design is of the style patented by Isaac Wilkinson in Denbighshire in 1738. This example was collected from Gnosall.
From the Staffordshire County Museum collection.