Church Ceramics
The TACS 25th anniversary conference ’Church Ceramics: Decorative tiles, mosaic and terracotta during and after the Gothic Revival’ was held at the Coalbrookdale site of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust on the 6th-7th October 2006.
A major conference organised by the Tiles and Architectural
Ceramics Society with the support of |

This groundbreaking two-day conference examined the use of decorative tiles, mosaicand terracotta in the church from the mid nineteenth century to the present day, and also the problems of recording and conserving tilework.
Programme
Friday 6th October 2006
- Overview of nineteenth century church tile manufacturers and architects. Hans van Lemmen, tile historian and TACS Chairman, author of Victorian Tiles (2000) and Tiles in Architecture (1993)
- Pugin’s designs and Minton tiles. Michael Fisher, authority on Pugin’s work in Staffordshire, author of A Vision of Splendour (1995)
- Opus Sectile: Art from recycled scrap. Lynn Pearson on-behalf of Dennis Hadley, stained glass historian, author of articles on the artists of Powell’s of Whitefriars including Henry Holiday (1990)
- Visits: St Mary’s Church, Shrewsbury and St Mary Magdalene, Battlefield; or Jackfield Tile Museum, including demonstration of encaustic tile making at Craven Dunnill tile works, and Jackfield Church.
Saturday 7th October 2006
- Nineteenth century antiquarians and medieval tiles. Jennie Stopford, English Heritage, author of Medieval Floor Tiles of Northern England (2005)
- Church tiles by Maw & Co. Tony Herbert, Senior Lecturer, School of Art & Design, University of Wolverhampton, tile conservation consultant and author of The Decorative Tile in Architecture and Interiors (1995)
- The tiles of Craven Dunnill. Michael Vanns, Curator, Jackfield Tile Museum
- Conserving Church Tiles. Lesley Durbin, Jackfield Conservation Studio, author of Architectural Tiles: Conservation and Restoration (2004)
- The mosaics of Eric Newton and Oppenheimers. Robert
Field.
- Lunchtime tile identification workshop and display with Chris Blanchett, adviser to NADFAS Church Recorder groups and author of 20th Century Decorative British Tiles (2006)
- The mosaic works of Frank Brangwyn. Janet Douglas, author of Patronage and Politics in a Leeds Parish: the story of the Brangwyn mosaics in St Aidan’s Church, Harehills (1996)
- The religious terracotta works of George Tinworth. Miranda Goodby, Collections Officer (Ceramics), Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
- Broad Visions: The TACS database and the twentieth century church. Lynn Pearson, architectural historian, author of the Tile Gazetteer (2005), the TACS location guide.
Church Ceramics marked the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society (TACS), registered charity number 289090.
