REPTON TILE-KILN.
At various times and places within the precincts of Repton Priory tiles
have been dug up. In the year 1851 the British Archæological Association
held a Congress at Derby, and a visit was made to Repton. Its members
examined, among other interesting things, some remarkably fine specimens
of encaustic tiles, which Dr. Peile, then Headmaster, had dug up, on or
about the site of the Priory Church, but it was not till the year 1866
that the kiln itself was discovered. This discovery cannot be better
described than in the words of Dr. Pears, quoted from _The Reliquary_,
January, 1868.
“Through the months of October and November, 1866, the boys of Repton
School were busily engaged in levelling a piece of uneven grass
land within the Old Abbey (Priory) Wall. During the work they came
unexpectedly upon patches of a stiff red clay, quite unlike the ordinary
soil of the place, with here and there fragments of encaustic tiles, such
as have from time to time been found in other parts of the Old Abbey
(Priory) grounds. Presently they found a considerable number of whole
tiles of various patterns, in two rows of layers, placed face downwards.
On the sixth of November they struck upon brickwork, so covered and
choked with the clay and broken tiles that it was extremely difficult
to clear it.” When the accumulated mass of broken tiles and clay had
been cleared away, it proved to be a tile-kiln, “one of the most perfect
mediæval kilns hitherto unearthed in England.” It consisted of two
chambers, side by side, seven feet six inches long, two feet six inches
wide, and about one foot ten inches high. Six arches of chamfered bricks
or tiles, specially made for the purpose, supported a flat roof. Between
the arches were recesses wide enough to receive the tiles placed there to
be burnt, hundreds of which were found piled up one upon another, but, as
they were unburnt, they were soft and pliable, and soon crumbled away.
Among the _débris_, however, many whole tiles and fragments were found,
greatly varying in pattern. The more perfect specimens were placed over
the fire-place in the old “big school,” and formed a most interesting
mantel-piece. When the room was dismantled in 1889 they were taken down
and placed in a cupboard in the inner room till a suitable place can be
found for them.
During the excavations made in 1883-5 on the site of the Priory Church,
many more tiles were discovered which, with many carved stones, have been
affixed to the old north aisle wall, where they can be seen in various
stages of decay, suffering from the effects of exposure to our climate.
Among the tiles discovered in 1866, Mr. Llewellyn Jewitt writes,
(_Reliquary, Jan. 1868_), “are examples different in form, as well as in
material and design, from any others which had come under my notice, made
of light stone-coloured clay, the foliated pattern in very high and bold
relief, and covered with a rich green glaze.” One consists of the crowned
letter M, terminated at either end with a crowned letter A, with foliage,
all in high relief, and green glazed. The letters are the initial ones of
_Ave Maria_, and probably adorned the “Chapel of Our Lady” in the Priory
Church, where one was found during the excavations. Among the _single
tile_ patterns, of which these two are the most beautiful, are many very
curious ones, armorial bearings of England, with label of France, the de
Warrenes, de Burghs, Berkeleys, and Hastings, &c. Alphabet. Fleur-de-lis.
Emblems of Saints Peter and Paul, (Bell, Key, and Sword). Grotesques,
(men, animals, birds, &c.) One, bearing the name Redlington and arms,
which some suppose stand for Bridlington, and the arms of the founder
(Gant) of that priory. Geometrical, Foliage, especially oak leaves, with
acorns. Another is divided into nine square compartments, (stamp used,
intended for smaller tiles,) in the centre a flower, right-hand top
corner, arms of De Warrene, left-hand bottom corner, arms of Berkeley,
the others, a double fleur-de-lis, a cross lozengy between four pellets,
a rabbit, a martlet, and two grotesque animals.
Of _four tile_ patterns there are some good examples, geometrical designs
with foliage (oak leaves), and armorial bearings.
There are also some remarkably rich and beautiful _sixteen tile_
patterns. One has a border of curving foliage between a double circle,
within the circle is a quatre-foil, enclosing a most elegant foliage
design, in the centre is an octagonal flower, in the cusps formed by the
quatre-foil are figures of hares playing, in the corners of the tile are
two pigeons, facing each other, with a cross, with double head, issuing
from their beaks, like Sir John Port’s crest. A second is similar to
this, but the centre is wanting. A third, also circular, still more
elaborate, with dragons in the corners.
There are also some elegant border tiles, with patterns, consisting of
undulating or waving foliage, or birds perched on the side of a straight
branch, with double circles and pellets between them.
Besides these there are some curious examples of tiles simply indented
or stamped, with circles and foliage, and painted within the pattern
with green glaze, not filled with “slip,” as the liquid clay was called,
and two have a pattern which has evidently been cut or incised with some
sharp instrument, not stamped as all the rest have been.
The size of the tiles varies from 10 inches square to 2½ inches square,
by 1¾ inches to 1 inch thick. The body-clay is red, the patterns are
filled in with white or yellow “slip,” which is brushed or poured over
the face of the tile, then the “slip” is scraped off the surface of the
tile, leaving “slip” in the pattern. Glazes of various colours, green,
yellow, buff, brown, &c. The stamps were most probably made of wood, and
vary in size.
The discovery of the tile-kiln enabled Llewellyn Jewitt to _localise_
the manufacture of tiles which he had examined in various churches in
Derbyshire, especially at Newton Solney, Thurgaton Priory, and Bakewell.
A larger tile-kiln was discovered at Dale Abbey, about thirty-eight years
ago, close to the ruins of the gatehouse of that Abbey.
The comparison of the tiles, made there and at Repton, forms another link
between them, and proves that, at least, similar stamps were used in the
production of the tiles, and it may be, as suggested by Mr. John Ward,
F.S.A., (“Mediæval Pavement and Wall Tiles of Derbyshire,” Vol. XIV., of
the “Derbyshire Archæological Journal,”) “that stamps were passed on from
tilery to tilery, or that companies of tile-wrights, carrying about with
them their stamps, &c., temporarily settled down at places where tileries
existed.”
[Illustration: Plate 10.
Repton School Chapel. (Page 77.)
Mr. Exham’s House.]