Where was this produced?
Chertsey Abbey was one of the principal religious abbeys in the country – comparable to Reading, Glastonbury, and St. Edmund's. After being founded in the 600s by St. Erkenwald, Chertsey Abbey led a history clouded with destruction. It was rebuilt in 889. The original abbey was very limited in terms of buildings, but the initial layout confirms a chapel, a dwelling for those abbot and monks at the residence, and a grassy courtyard. The Chertsey monks spent hours of their day reproducing religious texts, copying legal documents, recording rulings, and working in the forge or the mill. Some monks interacted with the town outside the monastery.
In 1110, the abbey was rebuilt in stone, in line with the Norman architecture of the time. The church and the chapter house were assembled from white sarsen stone. The other buildings were made from green sandstone. Chertsey Abbey later suffered from two fires: one in 1235, another in 1381. The Peasants' Revolt, a major uprising in 1381, arose from socio-economic and political tensions.
The Chertsey tiles were likely laid as part of the abbey's rebuilding after the 1235 fire. Improvements to the abbey in this period included fishponds, precinct walls around the main buildings, and also vegetable gardens which helped to combat against flooding. In additions, drains were installed, wells were dug, roads were paved around the abbey, and a bridge was laid across the River Bourne where the Chertsey Library now stands. This medieval drawing of the abbey shows some of its water systems.