Floor tiles are hard-wearing slabs of fired clay, stone or other material laid to form a durable, decorative floor surface. In historic buildings they include plain terracotta and quarry tiles, glazed and inlaid ceramic tiles, marble and stone squares, and the colourful geometric and encaustic tiles typical of Victorian hallways.
Decorated floor tiles have a long history in Britain. Medieval abbeys and churches were paved with inlaid tiles in which a pattern of white clay was set into a red body, and this technique was revived in the nineteenth century as the encaustic tile, championed by the Gothic Revival and manufactured on an industrial scale by Minton and others. Victorian and Edwardian houses commonly have entrance paths, porches and halls laid with geometric tiles in red, black, buff and blue, framed by borders and centred on encaustic motifs. Country kitchens, dairies and service passages were more often laid with unglazed quarry tiles or flagstones. Reclaimed antique floor tiles are now widely sought for restoration, and buyers check for wear to the patterned surface, chips and the depth of inlay. Carefully cleaned and sealed, period tiles bring warmth and character to halls, kitchens and conservatories.
