Rushen Abbey floor tile

Date made: AD 1400

Description: This floor tile was one of over 1700 tiles or fragments of tiles found during archaeological excavations at Rushen Abbey. Made from clay, it is decorated with a four leaf pattern and would originally have had a dark green glaze over the surface.

When Rushen Abbey was first built during AD 1100s, the monks wanted to live simply, without grand buildings. But times changed and hundreds of these decorative tiles were used to pave parts of the abbey complex, with an alternating dark green and cream colour scheme giving a rather sophisticated chequerboard effect.

Measurements: overall: 12 cm x 12 cm x 2 cm

Materials: clay

Date found: 1978

Object name: floor tile

Collection: Archaeology Collection

ID number: 1984-0185.6

Subject tags : #MM100BEAUTIFULTHINGS

Comments