The Medieval Floortiles of Herefordshire

The Medieval Floortiles of Herefordshire presents a survey, in the form of a gazetteer, of the extant decorated floortiles of Herefordshire, with some tiles that are no longer available but which are known from records also included. For each site, each individual floortile design is illustrated and parallels from other sites are outlined. It is to be expected that the largest collections of medieval floortiles in Herefordshire would be found at the religious centres of Abbey Dore, Wigmore, Leominster, and Hereford. However the largest installation visible today is at St Katherine’s Chapel, Ledbury, where approximately 500 tiles of the Bristol Canynges Group (c.1485) survive in remarkably good condition. Similar designs from the Bristol Canynges Group have been found at Netherwood in Thornbury and at Deans Place, Yatton. At Stretton Sugwas and at Croft there are virtually identical collections of random tiles, many with designs similar to a pavement commissioned by Abbot Sebroke for Gloucester Abbey in 1455. Other close links with Gloucester are evident in the Dilwyn tiles which feature many of the same designs found at Blackfriars, Gloucester. Two of the designs exhibit the same flaw in the stamp, reinforcing the connection between the two sites. Whilst many of the designs are to be found at multiple locations, Leominster has some unusual edging strips featuring dots and squares and a dotted chequer board design not found elsewhere.
Leominster also puts us in direct contact with the tile maker (or his assistant) who has made his own random design. Elsewhere, some surprisingly rural churches (such as Castle Frome) have retained really interesting examples of decorated floortile (see front cover) - well kept secrets!