Victorian era to present day

Victorian potteries and the tiles they produced reshaped British interiors and public buildings. The first and most famous producer being Thomas Minton, who patented medieval-style inlaid tiles collaborating with Pugin to supply churches and public buildings. Thomas’s son, Herbert Minton would later take over from his father partnering with Michael Hollins in 1845.

Later, firms including Maw & Co and Craven Dunnill of Jackfield would perfect mass production techniques supplying even modest homes with geometric tiles, which were considered practical and hygienic. They also turned out to be long lasting and its doubtful any modern tile installation will endure so well.

The main colours were earthy tones of buff, coffee, brown and black, plus white, green, blue and more rarely, pink, orange and purple. Shades varied between manufacturers and over the decades as supplies of clay and the production methods varied. Within a single hallway, tiles can often be found of differing shades, thicknesses and even from different potteries. And with the passage of over 100 years, those little discrepancies — subtle shifts in tone, the way one colour tile ages faster and the softening of a fired edge — accumulate into a rich, lived patina that modern production methods just cannot replicate.

Unfortunately by the 1950s, the desire for these beautiful tiled floors had somewhat faded and the intricate patterns were seen as fussy or dated. Often, they were hidden under carpets or linoleum, or even worse discarded entirely. it wasn’t until the Victorian Revival of the 1980s that people began uncovering and restoring these features and nowadays they are once again treasured and valued.