138 MEDIJEVAL FLOOR TILES. 



candle bracket in our south transept where this tile was 

 unearthed mark the site of an altar to this favourite maiden Saint 

 in our Church. 



The next period of our tiles supplies specimens smaller, but 

 thicker (5! inches square), with corner pieces which, had they 

 been triangular, would have had the two equal sides ten inches 

 in length ; but these, having been cut at right angles seven and 

 a-half inches from the corner, a five-sided tile was obtained, 

 four of which formed a square of fifteen inches, enclosing a 

 space suitable for seven and a quarter inch tiles to be inserted. 

 These corner pieces are primitive in design, but very effective 

 in display. The cable specimen shows distinct imitation of the 

 style of design found in Roman pavements lines, circles, foliage, 

 and intertwined ropework. The next tile, which I call the twin 

 doves addorsed, presents a very unusual treatment of a favourite 

 subject in tile ornament. We are fortunate in securing a few 

 samples of this tile in mint preservation with the original glaze 

 perfect, so that a comparison with its fellows which have stood 

 the test of footwear is most instructive. 



The next tile in this period shows a coat of arms with a letter 

 on each side. Heraldic tiles were in great demand, and this is 

 an excellent example of a griffin or griphon segreant. I thought 

 that I might unhesitatingly pronounce this to be the arms of 

 Daccombe, an ancient Dorset knightly family who certainly bore 

 the same charge ; but Mr. St. John Hope assures me that it is the 

 shield of De Redvers, Earl of Devon. I find that members of 

 that family owned great estates in this county, including 

 Mosterton, Lower Loders, Buckland Ripers (which takes its 

 second name from the Latin form of De Redvers, De Ripariis], 

 and Puddletown, a parish adjoining to Fordington. Notice the 

 enormous claws of the griphon. There is a reason for this. In 

 the middle ages the horn of the rhinoceros did duty for the claw 

 of this fabulous beast, and was in great demand for use as a 

 drinking cup. The story of St. Cuthbert illustrates this. 

 Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, still possesses a rhino horn 

 mounted with gold which the ancients venerated as a -griphon's 



