Square terracota floor tile with a design - in white clay- of a gargoyle sticking his tongue out. Below there is an image of a small lion's head. Wealthy medieval households and religious houses covered their floors with floor tiles. These tiles could be decorated or plain but all had a glazed upper surface. This tile was made at Penn in Buckinghamshire. The tilery there produced high quality floor tiles from around the 1330s to the 1380s, which were then imported to London in large numbers. The pattern was stamped on the upper surface and this was then inlaid with creamy white clay, before being glazed and fired. This meant that the design would not wear away when people walked on the tiles.

1300 AD - 1400 AD

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