Encaustic Floor Memorial Tiles in Rothley Church

In 1897, in the South Aisle of Rothley Parish Church, a new window was put in place to attest to the wonder of faith and to commemorate the long association with the parish of the Paget family. A third and patriotic reason is likely to have been the national mood of celebration occasioned by the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria's reign. This led to an upsurge of more commemoration activity with the special commissioning of personalised tiles in the floor in front of this new window. In each case the central four tiles of each diamond pattern in the floor were removed, originally laid in the 1877 restoration. The empty space was filled with a single larger tile dedicated to the memory of a particular individual. The tiles would have been ordered from a manufactory, and most of the examples at Rothley would have been ordered at the same time. A small number of tiles must have been ordered several years later, because of the dates of death. The manufactory must have still been able to reproduce the style, save for slight differences in the background motif. One last commemoration was concluded after a death in 1928. This example was of a much different type, built up from several odd-shaped tiles.

There are 27 tiles featured, with the names listed below. Clicking on the header surname will take you to the tile or group of tiles bearing that name. With each image short biographical notes are added to place the identity of the person featured.