Mathematical tiles are

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

s which were used extensively as a

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-ma ...

in the southeastern counties of England—especially East Sussex and

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

—in the 18th and early 19th centuries. They were laid on the exterior of

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

buildings as an alternative to brickwork, which their appearance closely resembled. A distinctive black variety with a glazed surface was used on many buildings in Brighton (now part of the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

) from about 1760 onwards, and is considered a characteristic feature of the town's early architecture. Although the

brick tax The brick tax was a property tax introduced in Great Britain in 1784, during the reign of King George III, to help pay for the wars in the American Colonies. Bricks were initially taxed at 2 s 6 d per thousand. The brick tax was eventually abol ...

(1784–1850) was formerly thought to have encouraged use of mathematical tiles, in fact the tiles were subject to the same tax.

Name

The precise origin of the name "mathematical" is unknown. Local historian Norman Nail ascribes it to the "neat geometric pattern" produced by the tiles. John W. Cowan suggests it means "exactly regular", an older sense of "mathematical" which is now rare. Other

attributive In grammar, an attributive expression is a word or phrase within a noun phrase that modifies the head noun. It may be an: * attributive adjective * attributive noun * attributive verb or other part of speech, such as an attributive numeral. ...

names include "brick", "geometrical", "mechanical", "rebate", "wall", or "weather" tiles. According to Christopher Hussey, "weather tile" is an earlier more general term, with the true "mathematical tile" distinguished by its flush setting. In 18th-century Oxford "feather edge tile" was used. While "mathematical tile" is now usual, Nail considered it a "pretentious" innovation, preferring "brick tile" as an older and more authentic name.

Usage and varieties

9 Pool Valley, Brighton (IoE Code 481045)

The tiles were laid in a partly overlapping pattern, akin to

roof shingle Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat, rectangular shapes laid in courses from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive course overlapping the joints below. ...

s. Their lower section—the part intended to be visible when the tiling was complete—was thicker; the upper section would slide under the overlapping tile above and would therefore be hidden. In the top corner was a hole for a nail to be inserted. They would then be hung on a

lath A lath or slat is a thin, narrow strip of straight-wood grain, grained wood used under roof shingles or tiles, on lath and plaster walls and ceilings to hold plaster, and in Latticework, lattice and Trellis (architecture), trellis work. ''Lath ...

of wood, and the lower sections would be moulded together with an infill of

lime mortar Lime mortar or torching is composed of lime and an aggregate such as sand, mixed with water. The ancient Egyptians were the first to use lime mortars, which they used to plaster their temples. In addition, the Egyptians also incorporated various ...

to form a flat surface. The interlocking visible surfaces would then resemble either header bond or stretcher bond brickwork. Mathematical tiles had several advantages over brick: they were cheaper, easier to lay than bricks (skilled workmen were not needed), and were more resistant to the weathering effects of wind, rain and sea-spray, making them particularly useful at seaside locations such as Brighton. Various colours of tile were produced: red, to resemble brick most closely; honey; cream; and black. Brighton, the resort most closely associated with mathematical tiles, has examples of each. Many houses on the seafront east of the

Royal Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Princ ...

and

Old Steine The Old Steine () is a thoroughfare in central Brighton, East Sussex, and is the southern terminus of the A23. The southern end leads to Marine Parade, the Brighton seafront and the Palace Pier. The Old Steine is also the site of a number of Cit ...

, for example on Wentworth Street, have cream-coloured tiles, and honey-coloured tiles were used by Henry Holland in his design for the Marine Pavilion—forerunner of the Royal Pavilion. Holland often used mathematical tiles in his commissions, although he usually used blue

Gault clay The Gault Formation is a geological formation of stiff blue clay deposited in a calm, fairly deep-water marine environment during the Lower Cretaceous Period (Upper and Middle Albian). It is well exposed in the coastal cliffs at Copt Point in ...

to make them. A 1987 count of surviving mathematical tiles in English counties found the most in Kent (407 buildings), followed by Sussex (382),

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

(50), Surrey (47), and

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

(37 including the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

Black glazed tiles

Black Glazed Mathematical Tiles, 44 Old Steine, Brighton

The black glazed type is most closely associated with the Brighton's early architecture: such tiles had the extra advantage of reflecting light in a visually attractive way. Black mathematical tiles started to appear in the 1760s, soon after the town began to grow in earnest as its reputation as a health resort became known. When

Patcham Place Patcham Place is a mansion in the ancient village of Patcham, now part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1558 as part of the Patcham Place estate, it was owned for many years by Anthony Stapley, one of the signatories of King ...

, a mid 16th-century house in nearby

Patcham Patcham () is an area of the city of Brighton & Hove, about north of the city centre. It is bounded by the A27 (Brighton bypass) to the north, Hollingbury to the east and southeast, Withdean to the south and the Brighton Main Line to the west. ...

(now part of the city of Brighton and Hove), was rebuilt in 1764, it was clad entirely in the tiles.

Royal Crescent, Brighton Royal Crescent is a crescent-shaped terrace of houses on the seafront in Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in the late 18th and early 19th century as a speculative development on the open cliffs east of Brighton by ...

's first unified architectural set piece and first residential development built to face the sea, was faced in the same material when it was built between 1799 and 1807. When Pool Valley—the site where a winterbourne drained into the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

—was built over in the 1790s, one of the first buildings erected there was a mathematical tiled two-storey shop. Both the building (now known as 9 Pool Valley) and the façade survive. All three of these have Grade II* listed status, indicating that in the context of England's architecture they are "particularly important ... ndof more than special interest". Other examples can be seen at Grand Parade—the east side of Old Steine, developed haphazardly with large houses in a variety of styles and materials in the early 19th century; York Place, a fashionable address when built in the 1800s; and Market Street in

The Lanes The Lanes are a collection of narrow lanes in Brighton, in the city of Brighton and Hove famous for their small shops (including several antique shops) and narrow alleyways. The Lanes are commonly taken to be bounded by North Street to the no ...

, Brighton's ancient core of narrow streets. Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, has many buildings clad with mathematical tiles in black and other colours. These include the Grade I-listed Jireh Chapel in the Cliffe area of the town which is clad in red mathematical tiles and dark grey slate. The timber-framed chapel was built in 1805. Elsewhere, a study in 2005 identified 22 18th-century timber-framed buildings (mostly

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

s) with mathematical tiles of various colours. Examples are the semi-detached pair at 199 and 200 High Street, the small terrace at 9–11 Market Street, 33 School Hill (an old building with a mid-18th century renewed façade), and the Quaker meeting house of 1784.

Examples from Brighton

Image:Bay Window Mathematical Tiles.jpg, Brick coloured mathematical tiles on a bay window in George Stree
Location on Google Maps
Image:Grand Parade Mathematical Tiles.jpg, Terracotta coloured mathematical tiles on a bay window in Grand Parad
Location on Google Maps
Image:Cream Coloured Mathematical Tiles.JPG, Cream coloured mathematical tiles on a building in Old Stein
Location on Google Maps
Image:Marine Square Mathematical Tiles.jpg, Cream coloured mathematical tiles on houses in Marine Squar
Location on Google Maps
Image:White and Terracotta Mathematical Tiles Grand Parade.jpg, White and Terracotta coloured mathematical tiles on Grand Parad
Location on Google Maps
Image:Cream Mathematical Tiles 47 Grand Parade.jpg, Cream coloured mathematical tiles on an Amon Wilds house at 47 Grand Parad
Location on Google Maps
Image:Cream Mathematical Tiles St Georges Place.jpg, Cream coloured mathematical tiles on an Amon Wilds house on St George's Plac
Location on Google Maps
Image:Portland Place Mathematical Tiles.JPG, Rare example of blue, cream, maroon and dark maroon mathematical tiles at the end of the terrace on the West of Portland Plac
Location on Google Maps
Image:Brighton Ship Street 68.jpg, Brick and Flint effect mathematical tiles on a building in Ship Street. (This image is composed of four individual photographs.
Location on Google Maps
Image:Black_Mathematical_Tiles_Offset_Bay_Window.jpg, Black mathematical tiles on houses with unusual offset bay windows on Grand Parad
Location on Google Maps
Image:Royal Crescent Mathematical Tiles.jpg, Houses on

are entirely faced with black mathematical tile
Location on Google Maps
Image:Mathematical Tiles On Laurence Oliviers Former House.jpg, Laurence Olivier's former house on

with mathematical tiles Image:Two Styles of Black Mathematical Tiles.jpg, Two styles of black mathematical tiles on

Image:Mathematical Tiles on 44 Old Steine.jpg, 44 Old Stein
Location on Google Maps
Image:Missing Mathematical Tile.jpg, Missing mathematical tile on St James's St showing the flange of its lower left neighbour used to attach it to the woodwor
Location on Google Maps
Image:Modern Mathematical Tiles on Pool Valley Bldg.jpg, Modern mathematical tiles fixed to the building in Pool Valley, Brighton. File:Jireh Chapel, Cliffe 2.JPG, The Jireh Chapel at Cliffe, Lewes, has one mathematical-tiled face.

Notes

References