Manufacturer: Unmarked but probably Mintons.
 
Date of Manufacture: 1845-60.
 
Type: Glazed inlaid tiles of sandwich construction.
 
Description: Set of fifteen plastic clay tiles, solid red bodies, inlaid with white and glazed with yellow (now worn), after medieval examples from the Temple Church and Westminster Abbey Chapter House. On reverse, no maker's mark, but random holes punched, each ringed by a circle. These tiles were possibly removed from the Temple Church after bomb damage during the Second World War. From the British Museum's web site, "Minton & Co.'s first major commission was for the restoration of the Temple Church in 1840-42, under L. Cottingham. Some of the designs of the tiles produced by Minton are copies of medieval tiles from Westminster Abbey Chapter House which had recently been rediscovered; others were copied from the medieval tiles in the Temple Church itself and some were new designs, i.e. the symbols of the Inner and Middle Temples. The earliest Minton tiles are two-colour inlaid tiles characterised by random stabmarks (a device which aids drying found on the reverse) together with the yellow glaze covering the inlaid white or buff areas."
 
Design: From designs by Mintons for the renovation of the Temple Church in 1840-42. Various including, King Edward the Confessor giving a ring to a pilgrim.
 
Colours: Terracotta red and buff.
 
Dimensions: 6 1/4" x 6 1/4" x 1" (158 mm x 158 mm x 24 mm)
 
Condition: Poor to good with some discolouration/loss of glaze, scratches, chips and nibbles (see photos)