Saturday, October 15, 2011

Medieval roof tile stamp - Agnus Dei


Roof tile stamps have only been a very minor feature of my cbm career as I've only seen one or two.  But today, I came across one in a publication and was mightily impressed.  I've long known about the cbm powerhouse of East Yorkshire, but this example is outstanding.  

It is Agnus Dei - Lamb of God, a pretty typical medieval motif, but to see it on a roof tile is wonderful.  It probably comes from a seal and it's speculated that the tile was part of a batch that was 'blessed' or approved by the seal owner.  I hope the authors don't mind the scan I took of the back cover of the publication. The details of the Agnus Dei tile are fully discussed.  

The full details are: 

Archaeological Investigations at Morton Lane, Beverley, East Yorkshire by R McNaught and A Webb, Archaeological Services WYAS Publications, 2005.

The cbm report details are: Ceramic building material by J Tibbles, pages 21-24.

The whole publication can be obtained by visiting this website.

Other cbm includes: tile discs, brick weights and brick net weight/sinker and a ridge tile with finial hole.  Unfortunately, these aren't illustrated.