Mosaic Tile - Historic Environment Scotland

The building and maintenance of abbeys was usually undertaken by laymen, such as masons, carpenters, glaziers and tilers. Skilled workers often travelled significant distances to work on different buildings. Tiled pavements became popular in the 13th century and were only used in the finest and most important buildings such as royal residences and the churches and chapter houses of the wealthier monasteries. Tiles were made of clay, rolled out and cut into the required shape. The colours were usually yellow and either dark-green or brown. The yellow colour was achieved by spreading a layer of white clay over a red clay quarry tile then coating this with lead glaze. When a lead glaze is fired in a kiln, the glaze goes brown; adding copper gives a dark green. The piece of tile in the Handling Box is not a replica. It comes from Melrose Abbey and dates from the 13th century.