Rights Holder: Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service
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Unique ID: ESS-36BF07
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
Fragment of a glazed Medieval tile, probably a floor tile, dating from c. 1300 - 1500. The fragment is a small portion of what was likely a square shaped tile. The fabric is a bright orange and relatively fine with very small mica inclusions. The core is reduced and dark grey in colour. Interestingly, both surfaces are glazed, though only one surface is decorated with patterning. The pattern itself is not known but it is made from a raised ceramic design which may have been decorated with a coloured slip. The background is glazed.
Dimensions: weight: 14.8g, length: 46.6mm, width: 23.6mm, thickness: 11.7mm
Notes:
Floor tiles used in Medieval houses and buildings were usually reserved for relatively high status premises. Ceramic floor tiles eventually came into use just before the mid 13th century, and there is significant evidence of these decorative trends in London. They likely came into more widespread use a little later, in the 14th century, and were used thereafter. Finding in situ tiles during excavations is still a very uncommon occurance, and most examples are found as part of dumped materials removed from their original context. There are also many tiles found on the shores of the Thames through mudlarking. See Keily 1998: 38-40, in Egan, P. 'The Medieval Household':
see also: ESS-36E8AE
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1250
Date to: Circa AD 1450
Quantity: 1
Length: 46.6 mm
Width: 23.6 mm
Thickness: 11.7 mm
Weight: 14.8 g
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4 Figure: TL9728
Four figure Latitude: 51.91567262
Four figure longitude: 0.8630194
1:25K map: TL9728
1:10K map: TL92NE
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
No references cited so far.