How was this made?
The Chertsey tiles were made with earthenware clay– which has these distinctive red and white features. A stamp is pressed onto the soft clay about 1 cm deep and white slip clay is applied to fill in the hollow impressed design. The tile is left to dry and excess white clay is scraped off. A wooden bat is placed on the surface of the tile and then struck down with a mallet. The process served to consolidate the inlaid white clay and break down surface level clay so that the face of the tile was smoother.
The tile is trimmed to shape, and then a lead glaze would be applied to the surface of the tile to give an essence of yellow-goldish color. The tile is then fired in a kiln. What is fascinating about this object is that it's one of the premier lasting tiles from the medieval period. Due to the techniques in design, the tile resembled many of the features that it initially held.
The differences in coloring is caused by the amount of oxygen present in the firing process within the kiln. A shortage of oxygen creates darker greens and browns which comes as a contrast to the brighter reds and oranges. What is fascinating about this object is that it's one of the premier lasting tiles from the medieval period. Due to the techniques in design, the tile still resembles many of the features it initially held.
The diagram of the kiln hopes to shed light on the internal construction of the kiln. In fact, unused clay at the end of season would be reused as rebuilding material for the maintenance of the kiln. The diagram on the left, containing the semicircular tool, was what was used as a tool to scrape the excess clay off the face of these tiles. The picture that accompanies it on the right of the page are more materials discovered in an English tiler's workshop within Medieval England.
All the tiles when fired properly were then moved to a drying space or 'hackstead'. Often these spaces would be outdoors, which served to explain why some tiles show footprints of small animals. Important tiles were dried in a shed. Certain tileries were unheated, but some had well-ventilated drying sheds with slatted sides that can be either opened or closed depending on the season at hand. Some medieval drying sheds would even have shutters, because it was crucial that the drying process wasn't hindered by the wet-weather season. Once leather-hard, the tiles were returned to the forming tables where they were then decorated, trimmed, and glazed to be fired once again.
The Black Death had a profound impact on the tiler industry as it ended for several decades of the concept recognized as commissioned tilers from an established tilery. Craftsmen died during such tumultuous times, and those who remained would demand higher wages alongside raising the prices for their products.