Monument record 0274304000 - TYLERS GREEN, PENN: pottery/tile industry

FINDS FROM 2 SITES (CASS 2165, 5211) SHOW POTTERY WAS PRODUCED BETWEEN LATE C15/C17. DATING SUGGESTS 2165 TOOK OVER FROM 5411; NOT CONCURRENT PRODUCTION. FABRIC IS BRICK RED, SOMETIMES GLAZED (B1-3).
'POTTERS CROSS' IS CROSS ROADS 30M N OF KNOWN SITES (B4).
STUDY OF CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF CERAMIC (B5).
In 1937, the author Loyd Haberly first suggested Penn tiles were decorated, not by first stamping the tile with the design and then filling in the depression with white clay, but by a method that combined both processes and as more economic - the stamp was first dipped into white clay/slip. The size of the tile was also reduced to an average of 4.5 inch x 0.75in thick making then lighter and easier to handle and transport. A paviour was working at Penn in 1322. Three men were assessed on their stocks of tiles and lime at that time - Henry Tyler, Simon the pavyer, and the John the tyler. The total tax payable by these three was 6s 4 1/4d - almost as high as the tax payable by the Lord of the Manor. Henry Tyler's stock was assessed as 10 2/7 pence per thousand tiles (roof tiles). The stocks of Simon the payver and John the tyler were both valued at 2s per thousand (probably floor tiles). Eveidence for the continuation of the trade exist in records of sales for the period after the Black Death where roof tiles seem to have sold at 2s - 3s 6d per thousand and floor tiles from 6s -8s per thousand. In 1368, reference is made to a John Paviere in the enquiry in the murder of the vicar of Penn. A William Pavyer is recorded as a member of a jury in 1479. A tyle house at Tyle Ende, Penn is referred to in a lease in 1512 suggesting that tile making was still in progress, but it is believed that decorated floor tile making died out at the end of the 14th century (B6).
The author notes that the best documented tilery is that at Penn with its products are being used by the king's clerk of works in royal building between the 1330s-1380s. The tiles were selling for about 6s per thousand at the kiln and the customer paid for their transportation. It is suggested that the tiles were laid by experts attached to the tileries. Penn tiles were sold to sites along the Thames from Oxford to London and up the Wey as far as Guildford. There seems to be three qualities of tiles produced at Penn. The early tiles are the largest and best fired with human figures, animals, inscriptions and some heraldry. Tiles of the next series, after the Black Death, are smaller and less well-fired and the decoration includes large numbers of repeating patterns based on one tile or a group of four tiles. The tiles of the later group from the 1380s tend to be smaller still and overfired with a purple-brown or orange colour. The white decoration is often smudged. The three styles may represent three generations of tilers. The floor tile industry was probably added to an existing roof tile industry which continued after the floor tiles industry ceased (B7).
Late 14th century documents identify seven men - Walter Baldewyne (1348), William Tylere (1349), Robert Jonesone (1350) and Robert Tillare (1353), John Paviere (1388) and William Paviere (1389). In 1344, some 40,000 roof tiles were ordered from Penn by the Royal Clerk of Works and in 1351, the first order for decorated floor tiles was placed for Windsor Castle (5,000 at 8s per thousand). An order placed for 10,000 paving tiles for the Canons' cloister confirms that tilers, carriers and pavieres were all part of the same organisation (Robert Tillare of Penn supplied the tiles and Elie pavier transported them with William Cook and William Tillare cited as Elie's workmen and co-transporters by cart). Some 13,000 tiles were eventually laid over a 33 day period in the Canons' Cloister (approx 400 tiles per day over a 5-6 day week). Penn tiles were used also used at the Tower of London, Westminster Palace, Whitehall Palace, and the Royal Palace at Eltham. The last order appears to have been placed in 1388 (B8).