iMEDI^VAL PAVKMENT AND WALL TILES OF DERBYSHIRE. I 23 



Jewitt's collection. Tiles were also found in 1843 at Bakewell 

 Church, some passing into Mr. Bateman's hands,* while others 

 were afifixed to the floor of the porch, where they still remain. 

 Medifeval tiles are also to be seen in the churches of Tideswell 

 (under the communion table), Cubley, and Boulton. 



The tiles of our county are, with very few exceptions, of the 

 usual shape — square. They vary considerably in size, but are 

 rarely larger than 5f inches square, and more rarely still, less than 

 4 inches. There are two prevailing sizes, one having 4I inches 

 for its mean, and the other 5^ inches, intermediate sizes being 

 scarce. In all loose specimens that I have examined, I have 

 found the body-clay to be red, rarely very fine, and with 

 evidence of not having been much worked when in the plastic 

 state. The manufacture is obscure, but it does not seem 

 to have materially changed during the period covered by our 

 tiles, which may be roughly set down as from the latter 

 part of the fourteenth century to the first quarter of the 

 fifteenth. The lower surface is invariably rough and sandy, 

 but the sides, which are always more or less on the bevel, 

 are smooth, and frequently show signs of having been cut into 

 shape by a knife or a wire moving downwards, i.e., from the face 

 to the lower surface, with a slight lateral motion. I think we may 

 conclude that the clay was, in the first instance, rolled upon sand 

 into a sheet about one inch thick, and was then cut into squares 

 of the requisite size, as above indicated. 



The ornamentation is more easy to understand. In the first 

 stage, the squares, while still plastic, were pressed with a stamp 

 having the decorative device in intaglio, or in relief. In the former 

 case, the resultant pattern would, of course, be in relief. This 

 variety of tile is known as embossed, but it does not appear to have 

 ever been extensively used, and the Derbyshire examples can 

 certainly be counted on the fingers of both hands. The patterns 

 impressed from the other kind of stamp were either simply left as 



* The three Wirksworth tiles mentioned in Mr. Bateman's Catalogue are 

 still in the Weston Park Museum, Shefifield, but several of the Bakewell tiles 

 have disappeared. 



