Medieval Tile Making

If you made a tile at the City Museum during the 2024 Festival of Archaeology in July, these are now ready to collect from the Hyde Tavern, SO23 7DY.  

Tiles made at St Bartholomew during Heritage Open Days in September will soon be fired - we'll be in touch with everyone who provided contact details as soon as we know which survived the process!

Many fragments of medieval tile have been found during the community digs. These inlaid (encaustic) tiles were made from red-brown clay with a bright white inlaid slip decoration and a transparent glaze.

Inlaid tiles in Britain were popular from the 13th-15th centuries and were mostly used in monastic and royal buildings. The inlaid technique may have come from France where the encaustic tile industry was thriving from c. AD 1200.

Medieval floor tile with white inlaid griffin on red clay tile, found during the 1995 excavation.
Two hand-carved wooden stamps with fleur-de-lys and griffin medieval tile patterns found during the community digs

At many events, Hyde900 has offered medieval tile workshops where replica inlaid tiles can be made using traditional methods.

The hand-carved wooden fleur-de-lys and griffin stamps are based on medieval tiles patterns found during the community digs. 

A lady is beating the clay down firmly into the stamp mould with a wooden stick

The clay is wedged to remove air bubbles which could affect the firing. 

The stamp is placed face upwards inside the wooden mould and sprinkled with fine sand to help release the tile.

The clay is then beaten down firmly into the stamp to create smooth sides and to prevent cracks.

The tile is removed from the stamp and filled with white slip.

The excess slip on the tile is being hand-scraped by a person holding a file.
9 square scraped tiles are displayed in a 3 by 3 layout.

The tiles are left in an open shed for several months to dry naturally.

The excess slip is hand-scraped back to a flat surface to reveal the tile pattern.

The tiles are then glazed and fired.