English Medieval Floor Tiles

The curator responsible for the mint s extensive ceramics collection stated the museum had nothing like it and it filled a big gap in their ceramics collection.

English medieval floor tiles.

By utilising various coloured glazes intricate patterns could be created. These were placed inside the church where they remain today as a reminder of how beautiful english abbeys must have once been. The use of the word encaustic to describe an inlaid tile of two or more colors is linguistically incorrect. The bulk of the collection comes from sites in and around oxfordshire however a few tiles do come from further afield.

Victorian english gothic revival tiles what were called encaustic tiles in the victorian era were originally called inlaid tiles during the medieval period. Straw was not needed to keep people from slipping on wet slate but it was used as a floor covering on most surfaces to provide a modicum of warmth and cushioning. This tile was once part of a highly decorated floor at chertsey abbey surrey. They were cut out using a template and had little or no pattern on them apart from a few which would have been the centrepiece of a large design.

Elizabeth eames elizabeth eames fsa 24 june 1918 20 september 2008 was a british archaeologist and scholar who specialised in the study of medieval tiles. Victorian excavation of mucheleny abbey revealed medieval floor tiles belonging to the lady chapel. In castles the ground floor might be beaten earth stone tile or plaster but upper stories almost invariably had wooden floors 2 and the same pattern likely held true in town dwellings. Tintern abbey medieval floor tile pendant medieval design jewelry resin pendant medieval design necklace key chain key ring key fob.

Fourteenth century tiles you might not have given much thought to medieval floors but they were quite varied and these days they offer good opportunities to a novelist for scene setting or showing a character s state of mind. The medieval inlaid tiles which are considered here may seem relatively mundane by comparison if only because of the level of erosion which has taken place over the centuries since they were first made which has left little more than ghosts of their original designs. Medieval reproduction tiles chained swan tiles english heraldic tile design dragonpottery. 14th century english floor tile gifted to the mint museum of art in charlotte nc august 2013.

Her expertise grew out of a job at the british museum which involved cataloguing and conserving their collection of decorated english medieval floor tiles.