Handmade Floor Tiles
Sussex Terracotta floor tiles are truly handmade from Wadhurst clays dug here on site in the heart of the Sussex countryside.
These clays have been used to make terracotta articles for over a thousand years and are a familiar building material in the region, the warmth of their colours being a distinctive feature of the landscape.
The claypit yields clays, which readily lend themselves to produce the oranges, yellows and browns which naturally complement each other.
They are used in Sussex
Terracotta floors to make a variety of traditional geometric patterns, put
together from unglazed tiles of simple regular shapes. The designs are ideal for
kitchens, conservatories fire hearths and patios.
Unlike most other floor tiles today which are machine extruded or pressed, Sussex Terracotta tiles are made by hand using a slow but simple process which has been employed in this country since Roman times.
Each tile is struck from a sand covered beech-wood mould, dried on a wooden bat and then fired to well over 1,000°C.
The finished tiles are not absolutely uniform, like machine made tiles, but vary slightly in shape, size and shade, so much sorting and matching is done to get the desired results.
The tiles age beautifully, acquiring the attractive patina so much desired for a timeless appearance; that normally takes hundreds of years to achieve.