Events

TACS Events 2026 – Early Bird list

How to book

For live events, full information (meeting points, times, directions etc.) will be sent out after payment by e mail at least two weeks in advance.

For virtual events, a Zoom link will be sent to the e mail address used at booking at least 48 hours in advance.

Please contact the TACS Events Secretary, with any questions, email: events@tacsuk.org

TACS members participate in events at their own risk, and neither the Society nor its officers or servants accept any liability of any kind whatsoever, howsoever arising. TACS reserves the right to cancel, postpone or alter events as necessary

Open Lecture, Thursday January 22nd, 6-7pm, ‘Printed Tiles Galore: the mass production and applications of Victorian transfer printed tiles’ (on Zoom)

Speaker: Hans van Lemmen, TACS President

This talk will examine the enormous output of transfer printed tiles during the Victorian age. It will look at production methods, notable manufacturers and designers and the varied applications of transfer printed tiles in Victorian architecture and furniture.

Free to all

Thursday February 26th, 6-7pm, Experimental Archaeology and Medieval Tiles (on Zoom)

Speaker: Dr Tom Chamberlain

This talk will look at types of medieval inlaid tiles found in England, concentrating on the Wessex style found in Winchester and other areas of S England. Many inlaid tile pavements were destroyed with the dissolution of the Monasteries and with them much of the records and equipment about their manufacture. How might these tiles have been made? The talk will detail trials involved with the recreation of these tiles. The second part of the talk will be a live demonstration.

Biography

Tom and his wife are potters based in Hampshire producing domestic stoneware. Living near Winchester Tom has visited several of the world-renown tile pavements and collections found in that city. There is little documentation as to how tiles were made in the medieval period and how they could be recreated. Tom has been working to develop methods and techniques to authentically recreate medieval inlaid tiles. Initially he recreated single tiles in the Wessex style and these have been built up into a ‘sampler’ pavement – as described in Glazed Expressions. More recently he has been working to recreate the inlaid tile roundels found at Muchelney Church in Somerset, in the Kings Chamber at Clarendon Palace near Salisbury (now in the British Museum), and also the tile mosaics typical of the Yorkshire Cistercian Abbeys. He is documenting his progress through articles and talks, through social media and through his blog at tomchamberlain.quarto.pub

Suggested donation: £5 per person

Thursday March 19th, 6-7pm, The Dovecot Studios – An Artistic Endeavour (on Zoom)

Speaker, Rob Higgins, TACS Treasurer

The Edinburgh Tapestry Company founded the Dovecot Studios in 1954 to perform screen printing of fabrics, tiles and paper. The Studios operated until 1979, in the later years independently under the stewardship of Peter Powell. At the inception of Dovecot Studios the chief designer and driving force was Robert Stewart, the talented designer who also worked at the Glasgow School of Art and designed fabrics for Liberty’s of London. He subsequently ran his own company printing ceramics and tiles, while the Dovecot Studios was operated by a series of talented graduates from the Glasgow School of Art.

This talk will examine the history and importance of the Dovecot Studios using many examples of tiles, fabrics, table mats and original designs. An archive has recently come from Peter Powell, and this adds significantly to the information already known from other designers at Dovecot, and also from the archive kept by the Mount Stuart Trust on the Isle of Bute. Dovecot’s output will be compared with that of other Scottish and English tile makers.

Expect a cavalcade of colour and mid-century modern design!

Suggested donation: £5 per person

Thursday April 23rd, 11am-4pm, Phoenix Tile Studio and Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke on Trent, max 30 people

We will meet at 11am for a tour of the working Phoenix Tile Studio in Newcastle-under-Lyme with Sarah Watson www.phoenixtilestudio.co.uk. There will be a break for lunch followed by a curator led tour of the Gladstone Pottery Museum with Ceramics Curator, Ben Miller in the afternoon.

Members may want to extend their visit and explore the local area with the Visit Stoke Potteries Tile Trail https://www.visitstoke.co.uk/ideas-and-inspirations/potteries-tile-trail

Cost £10 per person (plus reduced price entry to the museum £7.10 payable on the day)

Sunday June 7^th, 11am – 4pm, The Brickworks Museum and Titchfield Abbey, Hampshire, with local tile historian, Jo Amey

We will meet at The Brickworks Museum, Swanwick nr Southampton, at 11am for a guided tour followed by time to explore the collection at leisure afterwards. As well as an extensive collection of bricks and brick-making equipment there are also tiles and terracotta features on display.

At approximately 2.30 pm we will meet again at Titchfield Abbey, four miles from the Brick Museum, to see the pavements of medieval tiles in situ. Admission is free to this English Heritage site but there is a charge for the car park, currently £2.00. The Abbey closes at 5pm.

Cost £10 per person, includes admission and guided tour, min 10 max 20 people, pls book by 1^st April

AGM, Saturday July 4th, 11am-4pm, Birmingham

Guided walk followed by AGM, venue TBC

Cost £10 per person (AGM is free to attend)

Manchester walk, Saturday September 26th TBC, 11am – 4pm, led by Mark Watson postponed from 2025

Postponed from 2025 due to bus strikes, this is a tour of the Oxford Road corridor and will start at Java coffee bar outside Oxford Road Station. We shall take a bus down Oxford Road/Wilmslow Road to Platt Lane and return on foot to central Manchester looking at a number of buildings on the way including Platt Lane church, Manchester Eye Hospital, Holy Name church, Holy Name church hall, the Grosvenor cinema, the Manchester School of Art and other Manchester Municipal University buildings, the Regal Twins cinema, Shaw’s warehouse, the Refuge Assurance buildings, the Oxford/Whitworth Street terracotta warehouse buildings, the Midland Hotel and depending on time maybe some more.

Finishing off with a meal at Tom’s terracotta and tiled historic Chop House.

Cost £10 per person plus meal and local bus fares at own expense

Other Events

If you would like to advertise a tile event or give a talk to TACS members about anything related to tiles or architectural ceramics, please get in touch email: events@tacsuk.org

Annual Tile Fair, Nottingham

As announced at our AGM in July 2025, TACS will no longer organise an Annual Tile Fair in Nottingham. Many members will have fond memories of the fair, sadly there are not enough dealers or visitors to warrant an event in the internet age.

Previous Events & Virtual Event replays

See the Previous TACS Events page for details of previous TACS Events, including On-Demand replays of previous TACS Zoom Events.