119 



Notes on t1)c iitctfi^bal ^abcmcnt antr OTall 

 STiles of I3tri>gsl)tre. 



By John Ward. 



|T is difficult to say whether, in respect to these tiles, 

 Derbyshire ranks high or the reverse amongst English 

 counties. The subject has been but little dealt with 

 and no attempt has been made, so far as I am aware, to 

 catalogue the examples of even a single county. No branch of 

 mediaeval art was more utterly lost sight of in the centuries that 

 followed the Reformation ; and none has received a more tardy 

 appreciation in the so-called Gothic revival of the present reign. 

 Even still, simple as they look, they have points that modern skill 

 has failed to re-produce. 



As will be seen later in this introduction, it is impossible to 

 study the tiles of any given county to the exclusion of all others, 

 at least, if we are to arrive at results of any great value. For this 

 reason, I shall add to my list the names of places outside our 

 county where the same tiles occur, depending in a great measure 

 upon the interest of members of this Society to make the list as 

 complete as possible.* 



The tiles found during the excavations on the site of Dale 

 Abbey in 1878-9, and now preserved in the little museum there, 

 form the largest and most interesting collection in the county. 



* I have tracings of the old tiles of Repton, Newton Solney, Ashbourne, 

 Tideswell, Boulton, Bakewell nd Fenny Bentley for future additions to this 

 paper. 



