Craven Dunnill Jackfield restores tiled floor

Craven Dunnill Jackfield, based in Shropshire, has completed the restoration of the ornate tiled floor at the Mansfield Traquair Centre, known as 'Edinburgh's Sistine Chapel'.

The Mansfield Traquair Trust formed in 1993 and took on the task of preserving the building and its murals.

Some GBP6.3m later and the final stage of the project has recently been completed: the restoration of the encaustic and geometric tiled floor, featuring tiles handmade by Craven Dunnill Jackfield.

The trust's architects, Simpson and Brown of Edinburgh, researched the options available to restore the decorative encaustic and geometric tiled floor, which had been damaged when stalls and the organ had been ripped out and concrete screed coarsely applied to fill the holes.

The ornate tiles run throughout the original chancel and chancel aisles and there were five large areas requiring replacement tiles to match the existing originals - the latter dating back to when the church was built in the 1870s.

In the late 19th century, Godwins of Hereford made the original tiles for the church, having established a reputation for its medieval-styled inlaid tiles.

The tiled floor design combines popular motifs of the era, such as fleur de Lys and scrolls plus the Celtic Knot, which is found in the connecting areas.

To restore the floor, more than 1,000 encaustic tiles were made by Craven Dunnill Jackfield in seven different designs and four colours: buff, red, green and black.

The tiles feature an unusual glazed, textured finish, which is achieved using a technique involving the hand-dipping of the tiles.

Glazed green and black slip tiles and more than 5m2 of red geometric tiles were made.

The patterns repeat in both the borders and as panels and therefore it was crucial that these matched up with the existing tiles when inserted.

To avoid any discrepancy, each section was laid out at the Jackfield works to ensure that the dimensions were exact.

The colours were also important; today, visitors to the Mansfield Traquair Centre need to look carefully to see the difference.

In the mid-19th century, encaustic tiles were made using plaster moulds impressing a pattern into plastic clay and then filling the indentations with liquid clay in contrasting colours; the same process was used by Craven Dunnill Jackfield.

In applying these same techniques and using traditional equipment, Jackfield ensures that it produces tiles of the exact same thickness, dimensions and pattern proportions as the original tiles.

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