Red earthenware stamped with a design of a double-headed eagle with wings displayed, inlaid with white clay and glazed. From Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire. English, 13th century

Floor tile of red earthenware, with inlaid decoration in buff clay, in the form of a double-headed eagle, the emblem of Richard of Cornwall.

From Lyme Regis (according to Emden (1977), from St Michael's Church). Formerly Edkins Collection. The double-headed eagle is the heraldic emblem of Richard of Cornwall. The design is known from sites associated with the Wessex school of tilers, most notably the refectory of Cleeve Abbey. There they are laid in association with designs (the Royal Arms, the Arms of Poitou and the Arms of Clare) produced to celebrate the marriage of Richard's son, Edmund of Cornwall, to Margaret de Clare in 1271.

Related to tiles present in the Cleeve Abbey refectory floor.

This 13th-century inlaid tile bears a double-headed eagle, the emblem of Henry III's brother, Richard of Cornwall. It was apparently found at a site in Lyme Regis. Tiles of the same design were used at Cleeve Abbey in Somerset, where a medieval tiled floor has survived almost intact at the site of the refectory. This heraldic design was among several first produced to commemorate the marriage in 1271 of Richard's son Edmund to Margaret de Clare.

1310-1892