It was to Minton that Pugin turned for both the floor tiles in the Palace of Westminster and for the encaustic tiles at Our Ladye Star of the Sea. Encaustic tiles are where the pattern is created by the inlaying of clay in different colours and not simply surface glaze. Encaustic tiles are laid on the floor of the Sanctuary, Blessed Sacrament chapel and Lady chapel and form the votive square in front of the statue of Our Lady and Child.
The Ceramic factory Minton was established in Stoke-upon-Trent in 1793.
Herbert Minton and Augustus Pugin established a long-held working relationship. According to the V&A Museum, it was Pugin who encouraged Minton to develop techniques for producing the medieval-style, coloured clay tiles, as part of his interest in Gothic revival. Decorative imagery incorporated heraldry symbols, such as the fleurs-de-lis you find in the church.
Minton merged with Royal Doulton in 1968, which was subsequently taken over by Waterford Wedgwood in 2005. That firm was bought by a private equity firm a few years later. Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton and other brands were transferred into a holding company WWRD Holdings. Then in 2015, WWRD Holdings Limited was purchased by a Finnish company, Fiskars.
Although the Minton company has unfortunately gone, Craven Dunnill Jackfield based in Shropshire is now the last remaining encaustic tile-maker in the UK, making traditional ceramics by hand using the same Victorian methods.
They were responsible for restoring the flooring of the Central Lobby of the House of Commons, relaying 60,000 tiles following the original design of Augustus Welby Pugin. These are similar to the tiles in our sanctuary. The final tile was laid in April 2021 concluding a nine-year long project.
So if you are ever visiting Ironbridge, go to the Jackfield Tile Museum where you can find out more about the historic Minton tiles displayed there, including our own Pugin designed tiles, and see some examples being made just as they were made for Our Ladye Star of the Sea.
