iidii 



Mr. T. Oldham read a paper " on the Tiles fuund in the 

 ancient Churches in Ireland." 



Mr. Oldham commenced by drawing attention to speci- 

 mens of old tiles, from various places, which were on the table; 

 and having alluded to the fact, that there has hitherto been 

 no published representation of these tiles from any place in 

 Ireland, proceeded to show that there were three distinct 

 varieties : — 1st. Impressed or indented, in which the pattern 

 is formed by being sunk below the general surface of the 

 tile. 2nd. Encaustic, in which the pattern is produced by a 

 differently coloured substance inlaid; and 3rd. Tiles in re- 

 lief, or embossed, in which the pattern is raised above the 

 general surface or ground. 



From the great simplicity of the patterns in the indented 

 tiles, from their interlacing character (Fig. 1), and from the 

 fact, that several of these patterns occur also in the more 

 carefully formed encaustic tiles, it was shown that the im- 

 pressed variety was the earliest in date; and, from a conside- 

 ration of the history of the establishments where they occur, 

 probably belonged to the twelfth century ; that the encaustic 

 variety was a subsequent improvement on this more simple 

 form, and that the embossed tiles belonged to an era when 

 the knowledge of the arts had very much declined. This 



