BUILDING FABRIC & EXTERIORS
stacking them one on top of each other, or firing them face to face which they did elsewhere in the country. This new method allowed the kiln’s atmosphere to come into contact with the exposed surface of the tile, causing a chemical reaction with the iron in the clay, producing natural ‘brindle’ colours from red to buff to brown to purple and ultimately Staffordshire Blue. This technique was adopted by the
Broseley works in Shropshire, Hawkins and Rosemary in Cannock, Ruabon in North Wales and Dreadnought in Brierley Hill and, with the growth of the railways, canal and river network, became used far beyond these localities.
and tone, with more regular shaped machine-made versions starting to appear in the early 19th century. Integral to both methods of
production were the natural clay colours which were created purely by the temperature in the kiln. Over the centuries, different tileries developed their own kiln-firing techniques. For instance, in the Midlands, with the rapid development of the coal fields and the abundance of Etruria marl in the 1900s, manufacturers started to place the tiles on their edge in the kiln, instead of
THE DECLINE OF TRADITIONAL TILE MAKING Sadly, the UK clay roof tile industry went into decline after the Second World War, and the majority of the surviving companies were bought by multi- national organisations, which often retained the old brand names, but moved production into new factories dedicated to providing manufacturing efficiencies. Traditional firing techniques that had generated natural clay tones for centuries were largely replaced by the application of surface stains and coloured sands, which do not produce
the same subtle colour variation associated with historic clay roofs. As a result, many of the ancient tile names associated with historic colours, such as ‘light’ and ‘dark’ brindle now bear little resemblance to the originals. More recently, we have also seen an influx of low cost imported tiles bearing the names of old English towns and the introduction of larger format single lap interlocking tiles describing themselves as ‘plain tiles’. Although their exposed faces can be made to resemble the appearance of two plain tiles laid side by side, they essentially perform as ‘single lap’ and do not make a good substitute for authentic heritage roofing.
THE CHALLENGE FOR HOMEOWNERS For self-builders and renovators, researching the suitability of so called ‘traditional’, ‘heritage’, or ‘conservation’ clay plain tiles for a traditional looking home or restoration, our advice is to look beyond the manufacturer’s marketing. Work closely with your local planner or Building Conservation Officer and find out how and where the tiles were actually made in order to determine how genuinely traditional they really are.
David Sherry is sales manager at Dreadnought Tiles
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www.sbhonline.co.uk
march/april 2019
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