Repton and its neighbourhood

by F. C. Hipkins

(3) A wall was to be built, by both parties, from the Chancel north-east Corner, to the north side of the door of the Nether School House.

(4) And the boys were allowed to play between the wall and the Greate Gate (the School Arch).

A receipt for £14. 19s. 0d., half the cost of building the wall, signed by Wm. Jordan, proves the wall, and pillars were built, or finished in May, 1670, and the long continued disputes ceased.

In Dr. Sleath’s time the gates were removed, and the wall, which at first was nearly level with the capitals of the pillars, was taken down on the west side, and lowered on the east, as it is now. This is the history of the pillars and wall, as recorded in the deeds, &c., lately discovered in the Muniment Chest, which may contain other interesting details of events long ago forgotten in the history of Repton School, and may be unearthed (literally) out of the dust of ages!

CHAPTER X.
REPTON TILE-KILN.

At various times and places within the precincts of Repton Priory tiles have been dug up. In the year 1851 the British Archæological Association held a Congress at Derby, and a visit was made to Repton. Its members examined, among other interesting things, some remarkably fine specimens of encaustic tiles, which Dr. Peile, then Headmaster, had dug up, on or about the site of the Priory Church, but it was not till the year 1866 that the kiln itself was discovered. This discovery cannot be better described than in the words of Dr. Pears, quoted from The Reliquary, January, 1868.

“Through the months of October and November, 1866, the boys of Repton School were busily engaged in levelling a piece of uneven grass land within the Old Abbey (Priory) Wall. During the work they came unexpectedly upon patches of a stiff red clay, quite unlike the ordinary soil of the place, with here and there fragments of encaustic tiles, such as have from time to time been found in other parts of the Old Abbey (Priory) grounds. Presently they found a considerable number of whole tiles of various patterns, in two rows of layers, placed face downwards. On the sixth of November they struck upon brickwork, so covered and choked with the clay and broken tiles that it was extremely difficult to clear it.” When the accumulated mass of broken tiles and clay had been cleared away, it proved to be a tile-kiln, “one of the most perfect mediæval kilns hitherto unearthed in England.” It consisted of two chambers, side by side, seven feet six inches long, two feet six inches wide, and about one foot ten inches high. Six arches of chamfered bricks or tiles, specially made for the purpose, supported a flat roof. Between the arches were recesses wide enough to receive the tiles placed there to be burnt, hundreds of which were found piled up one upon another, but, as they were unburnt, they were soft and pliable, and soon crumbled away. Among the débris, however, many whole tiles and fragments were found, greatly varying in pattern. The more perfect specimens were placed over the fire-place in the old “big school,” and formed a most interesting mantel-piece. When the room was dismantled in 1889 they were taken down and placed in a cupboard in the inner room till a suitable place can be found for them.

During the excavations made in 1883-5 on the site of the Priory Church, many more tiles were discovered which, with many carved stones, have been affixed to the old north aisle wall, where they can be seen in various stages of decay, suffering from the effects of exposure to our climate.