Tile making course
9:30am to 4:30pm on Saturday 11 July 2026
It is important that the skills and crafts involved with tile making are preserved. One way to do this and to raise general awareness is to run short courses. Hopefully this will encourage others to make tiles and to develop their skills. This year I will be running several one-day courses. The aim of the course will be to make a replica medieval floor tile using authentic designs, materials and tools as much as possible. My intention is that the finished tile will be very authentic and everything else will be as medieval as possible - but I think I draw the line at what clothes we wear.
The first one day course in July will give you the opportunity to recreate a tile from the renown collection at Titchfield Abbey. The course will start at the Abbey (just a couple of miles from our pottery) to inspect the world-renown pavements. Whilst learning how they were made we will identify a couple of designs to make during the day. During the morning you will work at the pottery to recreate the chosen designs as lino ‘stamps’ – much quicker than wood carving – and then mount the stamps ready for imprinting.
After lunch you will use the stamps to imprint the designs into locally dug London clay as used at Titchfield Abbey and Winchester Cathedral. You will then inlay the imprinted design with a white clay to complete the design.
Finally we will supply you with some inlain tiles that have hardened enough for you to scrape away the surplus lighter clay to reveal the final design. You can then choose two of your tiles to be dried and fired at our pottery before they are posted back to you later in the summer.
Age limit: eighteen as working with sharp knives.
Access: the abbey and the pottery have various steps, door cills etc.
Please wear old clothing, as clay can stain some materials, and wear sturdy closed toe footwear.
Tea and coffee supplied; we will offer a hearty soup and bread for lunch – or bring your own.
The July course is filling fast. We plan to run more courses later in the year.
If you would like to attend this course, or later ones, please contact me as below (email preferred) and I can send you an invoice, etc.
Date: 9:30am to 4:30pm on Saturday 11 July 2026
(Email me to go on the emailing list for future course dates).
Price: £85 per person to include all materials. Two places remaining
Venue: Titchfield Abbey and Mountwood Pottery, near Wickham, Hants
Email: Tom@chalcombe.co.uk
Download the course details as a PDF