The history, architecture, and antiquities of the cathedral church of StCanice, Kilkenny . MarysChurch, Kilkenny, and the parish (originally collegiate) churchof Gowran in the county of Kilkenny—both of them Early Englishstructures. To conclude our notices of the ancient fittings of the cathedral, a few wordson the flooring tiles used in the building may here be allowed. It is now impos-sible to trace, with any degree of certainty, the connexion between the tilepavements of our ancient religious edifices, and the tesselated pavements of theancient Romans. That the former sprang from an adaptat
The history, architecture, and antiquities of the cathedral church of StCanice, Kilkenny . MarysChurch, Kilkenny, and the parish (originally collegiate) churchof Gowran in the county of Kilkenny—both of them Early Englishstructures. To conclude our notices of the ancient fittings of the cathedral, a few wordson the flooring tiles used in the building may here be allowed. It is now impos-sible to trace, with any degree of certainty, the connexion between the tilepavements of our ancient religious edifices, and the tesselated pavements of theancient Romans. That the former sprang from an adaptation of the principleof the latter seems, however, almost self-evident. Neither can the date of theintroduction of tile pavements be assigned with precision ; all we at presentknow is that they occur in churches at dates ranging from about the year 1200to the end of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, though found in Normandy ofa somewhat earlier date. In England attention has long been directed to thesubject, and the use of this beautiful style of pavement has been very extensively. Stuwnf Palirnirur S! CaJiioc Cathedral. CHAP. III.] THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CATHEDRAL. 77 revived there. In Ireland, although numberless specimens lie scattered in theruins of our churches and abbeys, no notice of their existence was taken untilMr. Thomas Oldham printed his treatise on Ancient Irish Pavement Tiles,some years since. Irish specimens of three varieties have been observed, viz.:1. Impressed; 2. Inlaid; 3. In relief. In the first class, the tile, from four to sixinches square, and from one to two inches thick, was fashioned out of pieces ofwell-compacted clay: on this was impressed the pattern, geometric, floral, or, insome instances, heraldic ; over all a glaze was passed, and then the tiles wereburned. The next step was to impress the pattern more deeply and broadly,and into the cavity thus left after the withdrawal of the stamp was forced whiteor coloured clays, care being taken to
Size: 1332px × 1876px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidhistoryarchi, bookyear1857
