So far we have been dealing with roofing tiles, or 'thakketyles,' but from the middle of the fourteenth century onwards with increasing frequency, we find mention of 'waltyles' or bricks. For building a new chamber at Ely in 1335 some 18,000 wall tiles (tegularum muralium) were made at a cost of 12d. the thousand.[421] They seem to have been introduced from Flanders, and are frequently called 'Flaundrestiell,'[422] as, for instance, in 1357, when a thousand were bought for a fireplace at Westminster at 3s. 2d.[423] At Beverley, in 1391, three persons acquired from the gild of St. John the right to take earth at Groval Dyke, paying yearly therefor 3000 'waltyles,'[424] and in 1440 Robert Collard, tile-maker, took 'le Grovaldyke on the west side of le demmyng' at a rent of 1000 'waltyl.'[425] It was probably more particularly with regard to brick kilns than to ordinary tile kilns that the regulations drawn up in 1461[426] ordered that, 'on account of the stench, fouling the air and destruction of fruit trees, no one is to make a kiln to burn tile nearer the town than the kilns now are, under penalty of a fine of 100s.' The term 'brick' does not seem to have come into common use much before 1450, about which time the use of the material became general.
In addition to roof tiles and wall tiles, there were floor tiles. References to these occur in many building accounts. At Windsor, in 1368, 'paven-tyll' cost 4s. the thousand, and a large variety 2s. the hundred, while plain roof tiles were 2s. 6d. the thousand.[427] These were probably plain red tiles, but at Westminster in 1278 we have mention of the purchase of 'a quarter and a half of yellow tiles' for 7d.[428] Tiles with a plain yellow or green glazed surface are of common occurrence in medieval buildings, and in many churches and monastic ruins pavements of inlaid, so-called 'encaustic,' tiles remain more or less complete.[429] In the case of these inlaid tiles the pattern was impressed or incised before baking, and then filled in with white slip, the whole being usually glazed. Some of the patterns thus produced were of great beauty and elaboration, and it would seem that they were often designed, if not actually made, by members of monastic houses. The finest known series are those discovered at Chertsey Abbey, and it is possible that the remarkable examples in the chapter-house of Westminster Abbey,[430] which date from c. 1255, are by the same artist. In the case of the Abbey of Dale in Derbyshire,[431] and the priories of Repton and Malvern,[432] the kilns used for making these inlaid tiles have been discovered, and similar kilns, not associated, so far as is known, with any religious establishment, have also been found at Hastings.[433] The manufacture of these inlaid tiles in England gradually died out towards the end of the fifteenth century, and has only been revived in recent years.
It is curious that although there is abundant circumstantial evidence of Glassmaking in England, during the medieval period, direct records of the manufacture are extremely scarce, and practically confined to a single district. From the early years of the thirteenth century, Chiddingfold and the neighbouring villages on the borders of Surrey and Sussex were turning out large quantities of glass. Laurence 'Vitrarius' (the glassman) occurs as a landed proprietor in Chiddingfold about 1225, and some fifty years later there is a casual reference to 'le Ovenhusfeld,' presumably the field in which was the oven or furnace house, of which the remains were uncovered some years since.[434] It is possible that in the case of glassmaking, as in the case of many other industries, improvements were introduced from abroad, for in 1352 we find John de Alemaygne[435] of Chiddingfold supplying large quantities of glass for St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster.[436] In one batch he sent up three hundred and three weys (pondera) of glass, the wey being 5 lbs., and the hundred consisting of twenty-four weys, being, that is to say, the 'long hundred' of 120 lbs. A little later he sent thirty-six weys, and soon after another sixty weys were bought at Chiddingfold, probably from the same maker. The price in each case was 6d. the wey, or 12s. the hundred, to which had to be added about 1d. the wey for carriage from the Weald to Westminster. In January 1355-6 four hundreds of glass were bought from the same maker for the windows of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, at 13s. 4d. the hundred.[437]
Towards the end of the fourteenth century the family of Sherterre, or Shorter, became prominent in the Chiddingfold district,[438] and on the death of John Sherterre in 1380 his widow engaged John Glasewryth, of Staffordshire, to work the glass-house for six years, receiving 20d. for every sheaf (sheu)[439] of 'brodeglass' (i.e. window glass), and 6d. for every hundred of glass vessels made. This is interesting as showing that glass vessels were made here; the evidence of inventories, however, seems to show that glass was as a whole very little used for table purposes, though a few pieces of the beautiful Italian glassware might be found in the houses of the wealthy. The family of Shorter were succeeded by the Ropleys, and they in turn by the Peytos, who carried on the trade during the whole of the sixteenth century, and as late as 1614, thus well overlapping the modern period of glassmaking, which began with the coming of the gentilshommes verriers from France early in the reign of Elizabeth.[440]
Glass must have been made in many other districts where fuel and sand, the chief requisites for the manufacture, were plentiful, but it is difficult to identify any sites of the industry. In 1352 John Geddyng, glazier, was sent into Kent and Essex to get glass for St. Stephen's, Westminster,[441] but where he went and whether he was successful, is not known. 'English glass' is found in use at Durham in 1397,[442] and at York in 1471.[443] For York Minster sixteen sheets (tabulae) of English glass were bought from Edmund Bordale of Bramley buttes for 14s. 8d. in 1478,[444] and at an earlier date, in 1418, we find three seams, three weys of white glass bought from John Glasman of Ruglay (Rugeley) at 20s. the seam of twenty-four weys,[445] but whether these men were glass makers, or merely glass merchants, cannot be determined. That the industry, so far at least as real stained glass is concerned, was not flourishing in England in the fifteenth century is shown by the fact that Henry VI., in 1449, brought over from Flanders John Utynam to make glass of all colours for Eton College and the College of St. Mary and St. Nicholas (i.e. King's) Cambridge. He was empowered to obtain workmen and materials at the King's cost, and full protection was granted to him and his family. He was also allowed to sell such glass as he made at his own expense, and 'because the said art has never been used in England, and the said John is to instruct divers in many other arts never used in the realm,' the King granted him a monopoly, no one else being allowed to use such arts for twenty years without his licence under a penalty of £200.[446] Most glass of which we have any account was bought through the glaziers of the larger towns; but to what extent they made their own glass we cannot say. A certain amount, especially of coloured glass, was imported, and the York accounts show 'glass of various colours' bought in 1457 from Peter Faudkent, 'Dochman' (i.e. German), at Hull,[447] 'Rennysshe' glass bought in 1530, Burgundy glass in 1536, and Normandy glass in 1537,[448] while in 1447 we find the executors of the Earl of Warwick stipulating that no English glass should be used in the windows of his chapel at Warwick.[449]
To any one who knows the beauty of English stained glass this stipulation may seem strange, but it must be borne in mind that our cathedral windows derive their glories not from the maker, but from the painter, and that the glass is but the medium carrying the designs of the artist. English glass as a rule, prior at any rate to the fifteenth century, was white and received its decoration after it had left the glass-house. The process may be gathered from the account of St. Stephen's in 1352. Here we find John of Chester and five other master glaziers employed at a shilling a day drawing designs for the windows on 'white tables,' presumably flat wooden tablets, which were washed with ale,[450] which served no doubt as a size or medium to prevent the colours running. About a dozen glaziers were employed at 7d. a day to paint the glass, and some fifteen, at 6d. a day, to cut or break the glass and join it,[451] which they apparently did by placing it over the painted designs, this being presumably done before it was painted. The glass thus cut into convenient shapes was held in place over the design by 'clozyngnailles,' and when it had been painted was joined up with leads, lard or grease being used to fill the joints. For the painting silver foil, gum arabick, jet (geet), and 'arnement' (a kind of ink) were provided.[452] Possibly the stronger colours were supplied by the use of pieces of stained glass, as purchases were made of ruby, azure, and sapphire glass.