3

TILES

FROM THE ANCIENT PRIORY, MONMOUTH.

The site of the priory of Monmouth is now partly occupied as a parish school and partly by the offices of James Gilbert George, esq., solicitor and county clerk. What little remains of the ancient monastic buildings has been so altered and masked by modern alterations and additions, to adapt them to the purposes of the present times, that it is impossible, from any outward appearances, to recognize them as having formed portions of an ancient monastery; if we except a window of probably the fifteenth century, which, however, some one-a foolish tourist probably, has christened Geoffrey of Monmouth's study. In making some alterations in the portion belonging to Mr. George, it became necessary to remove a part of what was apparently a very thick wall, which, however, turned out to be hollow, and in the cavity were found a number of encaustic tiles, carefully piled up, of six different patterns, coloured tracings of which I have the pleasure to transmit to the Association. See plate XVII.

Fig. 1, presents a coat of arms, which, I suppose, was intended for three towers, and has a griffin passant for a crest. Round the margin we read Orate pro animabus Thome Coke et Alicie uxoris ejus. f. t. c. No second example of the tile bearing the names of Thomas Coke and his wife seems to have been noticed.

Fig. 2 has on the verge of the tile ANNO R. R. H. vi, xxxvi (Anno regni Regis Henrici VI, 36° i. e., 1457-8), which would seem to imply the date of its manufacture. Fig. 3 presents the arms or emblems of the Passion; composed of the cross, nails, scourge, spear, and ladder. Fig. 4 gives the sacred monogram of the Saviour, IHC surmounted by an open crown. Fig. 5 exhibits the royal arms, France and England quarterly, surmounted by a like crown. Fig. 6 has a pelican in its piety supported on the top of a tree-" the true one."

Tiles analogous to these have been met with at the Priory Church of Great Malvern, Worcestershire, some of which have been figured in the Examples of Encaustic Tiles, Part iii, Nos. 67 to 71 inclusive, published by Nichols and Son in 1842, where they are called "Walled Tiles," and described as intended to have the effect of tapestry hangings.1 It is likewise stated that this species of ornamentation has not been found at any other place but Malvern, a supposition now corrected by the present relation. Great Malvern was a place in which tiles were manufactured, and a kiln was discovered in 1833 in the immediate vicinity of the priory, and upon the authority of Mr. Albert Way it may be stated that the same tiles, the production of the Malvern kiln, may also be seen in many churches in the neighbouring counties of Hereford, Gloucester, and Monmouth.2

1 Reduced copies of these are also to be seen in Gent.'s Mag. for April 1844, vol. xxi, p. 494, Plate 2, and also arranged as a border on p. ii of Encaustic Tiles.

2

Gent.'s Mag., vol. xxi, p. 494. See also Journal of the British Archaeological Association, vol. iv, p. 216. Good examples of encaustic tiles are also engraved in the same Journal, ii, 261; v, 372; vi, 121; vii, 70, 384; viii, 151, 249; xii, 75, 196.

Upon comparing five of the tiles found at Monmouth with those obtained at Great Malvern various minute differences may be observed. The size of the specimens at the former place are not quite eight inches and a half long by barely six inches and a half in breadth; those of the latter rather more than eight inches and a half long by barely six inches and a half. A different quality of clay may perhaps be esteemed sufficient to account for the small difference in size, but there are yet many other little peculiarities observable serving to distinguish them from each other. It is not clear to what part of the monastery the Malvern tiles had belonged; they may have been wall tiles, and they may have also constituted a border for the adornment of some particular portion. The Monmouth tiles were badly made, coarse, and many of them fell to pieces as they were taken up. It may, therefore, be, that they were the originals of the pattern, and the monks of Malvern, copying the general design and arrangement, gave more finished ornament and employed a better material in the manufacture. The monasteries were of the same order, and no doubt held frequent communication with each other, and that the pattern should be carried from one to the other is easily accounted for, but the carriage of the tiles themselves such a distance at that time of day would have been a serious and expensive undertaking; it seems, therefore, more probable, that some monk may have carried a rough drawing of the different patterns from one house to the other, and had them made at home. If the design originated at Malvern the brethren of Monmouth did not succeed very well in their imitation; but if the invention is due to the Monmouth men, to those of Malvern must be awarded the merit for great improvement. The tiles being different in form from those of a similar fabric generally used for flooring, it has been suggested that they were not so applied, but rather placed erect against the wall in the same manner as the Dutch tiles which were much in vogue a century ago, and still found in old houses, used to be employed. This may be so, and at the same time the fact of their being made oblong rather than square presents no obstacle to their having been used for flooring. Thomas Coke and his wife had probably been at the expense of providing them whatever may have been their use, and in return claimed the prayers of the community. Who or what he was I have not discovered. There is a family of the name now resident in the neighbourhood, but I believe their connexion with this part of the country does not date so far back, and their arms are totally different.

END OF VOL. I.

INDEX.