Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][graphic][graphic]

EARLY PAVEMENT TILES IN IRELAND.-FLORAL DESIGNS.

Scale

Trim, and sold by the workmen employed there to a person in Trim. The complete pattern is intended to be formed by four of these tiles placed in a square. At the same time a couple of tiles with the arms of the Earl of Kildare were obtained; they were roughly burned, and belonged to the variety described in my first Paper, without the letters E. G.

No. 6. This handsome tile, designed to constitute portion of a large pavement surface was obtained from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and also from Newtown Abbey, Trim. It is figured by Mr. Oldham (in No. 10), and he gives a representation of nine of these tiles so disposed as to show the complete details of the ornamentation, four tiles being required to display the convoluted branches in a perfect circular arrangement.

No. 7 is a more elaborate and ornamental modification of No. 6. It is an impressed tile, and was obtained, when Christ Church Cathedral was restored and repaired by Mr. Street, in whose plates it is represented.

No. 8. Also represented in Mr. Street's plates. The pattern is impressed on the clay body of the tile. I have examples of the usual square form, and also one of a perfect sectional half tile, both got from Christ Church Cathedral.

No. 9. Obtained from St. Patrick's, Dublin. It is represented in Mr. Oldham's tiles (No. 13), and a perfect half tile was also found at St. Audoen's Church, Dublin, in 1887. The design is impressed and covered with a good yellow glaze. A similar pattern was got on a tile from Norton Priory, Cheshire, having acorns, in addition to the oak leaves.

No. 10. The pattern was utilised in many places, for specimens were obtained from Christ Church and St. Patrick's Cathedrals, from St. Audoen's Church, Dublin, and from the Abbey of Mellifont. The figure was impressed, and had a thick yellow vitreous glaze. It was intended for use as a border, and although roughly drawn made an effective design.

No. 11. This affords another example of floral ornament intended for a border pattern. It is an encaustic tile, the design being filled in by a paler coloured clay, forming a contrast with the red surface of the tile itself, the external surface being subsequently covered with vitreous glaze. It was got from Christ Church Cathedral.

No. 12.-Four tiles require to be placed together to obtain the perfect design; it is impressed on the surface of the slab, which has burned to a pale red colour of considerable hardness. Like many of the mediæval floral designs it is difficult to identify the plant intended to be represented, possibly it was a small branch of oak leaves. It was found in the explorations made in 1886, at St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, and subsequently got at St. Audoen's Church, High-street, Dublin.

No. 13. There is no difficulty in recognising the oak leaves and acorns on this specimen. The design was impressed on the clay slab by a die, and then glazed. I obtained it from St. Audoen's Church in 1887.

No. 14. This represents a transitional design, in part floral, and partly geometric, of which there are some variations. See Mr. Oldham's No. 14, in which circular dots occur on the arched band, running across the pattern, and the heart-shaped portion has a somewhat different arrangement. Mr. Oldham's modification came from St. Patrick's, and also from Christ Church. The one now figured was obtained in St. Mary's Abbey, and St. Canice's, Kilkenny.

No. 15.-Is a geometric pattern found at Christ Church, of which Mr. Oldham has represented a modified example, not showing annuli in the angles of the design, which was obtained from St. Patrick's, Dublin. This is an encaustic tile, with paler clay inlaid into the surface of the slab. I have also a tile of smaller size than that figured, got from the ruins of the Chapter House in Christ Church Cathedral, without these annuli, and having a large ring with triradiate partitions shown in the centre space. A similar tile to that figured was got in England at St. Cross, Winchester.

No. 16.-A large-sized tile, intended to form the pattern by juxta position of several slabs. Mr. Oldham (No. 3) gives a representation of a modified form of this design, and of the effect produced by arranging a series. He describes it as obtained from St. Patrick's and Bective Abbey. I obtained the specimen now figured from Christ Church and from St. Audoen's.

No. 17.-A tile of exceptional thickness and small size, measuring one inch and one-third in depth. The encaustic pattern impressed on clay that had, by strong burning, acquired a pale-red hue. I got it from the excavations at St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, where also was found a similar pattern spread out so as to cover over four contiguous tiles, each showing a fourth of the design.

No. 18. A small-sized and exceptionally thick tile, similar to the last, well burned, and having the encaustic design shown in paler colour; from long-continued use the surface of this tile had become much worn. It was one of the specimens got from St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin.

No. 19. This handsome design raised in strong relief from a die impressed on the surface of the tile, was obtained from the Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul at Newtown, near Trim, and from Great Connell Abbey, Co. Kildare. It is figured in the rare supplemental plate attached to a few copies of Oldham's Paper on "Irish Tiles." The specimen I have is covered with a thick layer of yellow vitrified glaze.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][graphic]

EARLY PAVEMENT TILES IN IRELAND.-FLORAL AND GEOMETRIC DESIGNS.

Scale.

« PreviousContinue »