Dec. 3. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



547 



DECOBATIVE PAVEMENT TILES FROM CAEN. 



(Vol. viii., p. 493.) 



The tiles presented, in 1786, to Mr. Charles 

 Chadwick, of Mavesyn-Ridware, Staffordshire, are 

 preserved in the church at that place. They form 

 two tablets affixed to the wall in the remarkable 

 sepulchral chapel arranged and decorated, at a 

 great cost, by the directions of that gentleman 

 towards the close of the last century, when the 

 greater portion of the church was rebuilt. The 

 north chapel, or aisle, containing the tombs of the 

 Mavesyns and the Ridwares, the ancient lords of 

 the estates which descended to Mr. Chadwick, was 

 preserved ; and here are to be seen two cross- 

 legged effigies, a curious incised portraiture on an 

 altar- tomb, representing Sir Robert Mavesyn, 

 1403, with other incised slabs and interesting me- 

 morials ; to which were added, by Mr. Chadwick, 

 a series of large incised figures, which surround 

 the chapel. These last are not shown in the view 

 given in Shaw's History of Staffordshire, vol. ii. 

 p. 191., having been executed since the publication 

 of that work ; and it is stated that they were en- 

 graved by the parish clerk under Mr. Chadwick's 

 direction, being intended to pourtray the succes- 

 sive lords of the place from the Norman times to 

 the sixteenth century, each in the costume of his 

 period. There are also numerous atchievements 

 and other decorations attached to the walls ; 

 amongst these are the pavement tiles from Caen, 

 one of which bore the same arms as are assigned 

 to the family of Malvoisin-Rosiiy, and on that ac- 

 count probably Mr. Chadwick placed these relics 

 from Normandy amongst the enrichments of his 

 mausoleum. 



In regard to Mr. Boase's first inquiry, " Who 

 was Charles Chadwick, Esq. ? " it may suffice to 

 cite the detailed account of the family given by 

 Shaw, and the short notice of that gentleman 

 which will be found in the History of Stafford- 

 shire, vol. ii. p. 185. 



On a visit to Mavesyn-Ridware in 1839, I was 

 struck with the appearance of these tiles ; their 

 design and fashion at once recalled those from 

 Caen with which I had been familiar in Normandy. 

 Having ascertained their origin, I took occasion 

 to state the fact of their preservation at this church 

 in the " Notes on Decorative Tiles," communicated 

 to Mr. Parker by me, and given in the fourth 

 edition of his useful Glossary of Aj-chitedure, in 

 1845 : see p. 367. 



It should be observed that the number of tiles 

 composing the two tablets now to be seen is forty ; 

 whilst the number, as stated Gent. Mag., vol. lix. 

 part i. p. 211., and in a second letter from Mr. 

 Barrett, in vol. Ix. part ii. p. 710., not cited bj 

 Mr. Boase in his Query, is twenty. Mr. Boase 

 is probably aware that the sixteen tiles from the 

 Great Guard Chamber at Caen, which supplied the 



subject of Mr. J. Major Henniker's memoir, were 

 presented by him to the Society of Antiquaries of 

 London, and are now in their museum, as noticed 

 in the catalogue, compiled by myself, p. 30. 



A coloured drawing of an heraldic pavement at 

 Caen, taken about 1700, is preserved in a volume 

 of the great collection formed by M. de Gaignieres, 

 and bequeathed by Gough to the Bodleian Li- 

 brary. It comprises chiefly drawings of French 

 sepulchral monuments, arranged by localities ; and 

 there is one volume, entitled Recueil de Tapisseries, 

 d^Armoiries et de Devises, in which may be found 

 the interesting memorial of this decorative pave- 

 ment of tiles, which was destroyed during the 

 fury of the Revolution. Albert Wat. 



Charles Chadwick, Esq., of Ilealy Hall, Lanca- 

 shire, and Mavesyn-Ridware, in the county of 

 Stafford, to whom the monks of St. Stephen, at 

 Caen, presented, in the year 1786, a series of 

 encaustic tiles with heraldic devices taken frorn- 

 the floor of the (so called) " Great Guard Cham- 

 ber of the Palace of the Dukes of Normandy," 

 died in 1829. I infer that the tiles were brought 

 to the Lancashire residence of Mr. Chadwick 

 because the description and the drawing for the 

 engraving were both supplied to the Gentleman! s 

 Magazine by a Lancashire antiquary, Thomas 

 Barnett, of Hydes Cross, Manchester : but as the 

 descendants of Mr. Chadwick no longer reside in 

 Lancashire, the hall being occupied by a woollen 

 manufacturer, I have been unable to obtain any 

 information respecting the tiles, though long de- 

 sirous to do so. 



I direct attention to another series of the same 

 tiles, sixteen in number, which were presented to 

 the Society of Antiquaries through the president, 

 the Earl of Leicester, in 1788, by John Henniker, 

 Esq., M.A., F.R.S.,_S.A., andM.P., who after- 

 wards took the additional name of Major. This 

 gentleman received the tiles from his brother, 

 Captain Henniker, then resident at Caen ; and 

 in 1794 he published an interesting account of 

 them with engravings, entitled Tivo Letters on the 

 Origin, Antiquity, and History of Norman Tiles 

 stained ivith Armorial Bearings (London, John 

 Bell, Strand). The engravings both in this 

 volume and in the Gentleman! s Magazine are 

 indifferently executed, and too small in scale to 

 be of use. Mr. Henniker describes the colours of 

 his tiles to be "yellow and brown," while Mr. 

 Barnett states that the tiles in Mr. Chadwick's 

 possession were " light grey and black ; " a curi- 

 ous discrepancy, seeing that in all other respects 

 they were exactly similar. These tiles are of so 

 much heraldic and antiquarian interest that if 

 either set could be made available for the purpose, 

 it is very desirable that they be engraved of full 

 size, and printed by the modern easy process to 

 imitate the colours. Gilbert J. French. 



