BCD 2017

160 T H E B U I L D I N G C O N S E R VAT I O N D I R E C T O R Y 2 0 1 7 ENCAUSTIC TILES AT THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER ADAMWATROBSKI T HE PALACE of Westminster was destroyed by fire in October 1834 and a competition was held to build a new houses of parliament on the same site. Charles Barry (1795–1860) was selected as the architect of the vast undertaking and he chose the passionate Gothic Revivalist, Augustus Welby Pugin (1812–1852) to design the decorative elements, including the encaustic floor tiles. In February 1843 Barry suggested that ‘the floors of the several Halls, Galleries and Corridors, should be formed of encaustic tiles, bearing heraldic decorations and other enrichments in colours, laid in margins and compartments in combination with polished British marbles’. The term ‘encaustic’ is a 19th-century invention. It was originally taken from a Greek word meaning ‘burnt in’ but, in the context of tiles, a better description would be ‘inlaid’. The encaustic process was introduced into this country from France at the beginning of the 13th century and the tiles were much used in abbeys and royal palaces. The encaustic tile process was revived in the 1830s prompted by the work of Samuel Wright from Staffordshire, who registered a patent in 1830 which utilised a plaster mould with the pattern carved into it set in a metal frame and a screw press to force the clay into the mould. The resulting indented pattern was then filled with clay slip and planed level with a cutting tool. Wright was unsuccessful financially and soon sold a share in his patent to Chamberlain & Co of Worcester (Maw & Co after 1849) and to Herbert Minton (1793–1858) of Thomas Minton & Sons, the pottery firm started by his father in 1793. Herbert Minton had both the resources and tenacity to develop the process into a commercial success. With the help of Pugin, Minton developed the production of tiles with up to six colours by 1844.1 Although the coloured clay was a relatively thin layer, the tile had an overall thickness of 25mm (1 inch). This was achieved by introducing a deep layer containing ‘grog’ and a low quality, cheap red clay, sandwiched between two layers of higher quality buff clay.2 At the Palace of Westminster, the fabric of the tiles is integrated with the architecture of the important sequence of six main halls and a further dozen or so linking corridors and staircases forming the entrance and communication routes through the ground and principal floors. Each floor displays a different pattern consisting of panels or compartments of encaustic tiles in large, symmetrical layouts with wide borders of stone flags made from Valentia slate in the House of Commons floors or, in the Lords areas, borders using Hopton Wood stone.3 Tile patterns include the lion of England, the floral emblems of constituent parts of the United Kingdom and mottos in Latin and English in beautiful gothic script. The colours range from yellow ochre and burnt sienna to a vivid cobalt blue with details of pearl white and plain tiles of caput mortuum .4 It is estimated that Minton produced around 75,000 tiles to complete the complex and technically exacting contract between 1847 and the date of the official opening of the whole palace by Queen Victoria in February 1852.5 Heavy wear has resulted in the loss of part or all of the coloured areas to many tiles and has left an undulating profile to the surface of the floors. Some tiles have suffered The Central Lobby pavement from above (All photos: Adam Watrobski/UK Parliament)