Heraldic tiles
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In 1914 William Pountney excavated pottery manufacturing remains at the site of the Chapel of St Anne in the Wood. "Amongst the fragments of the pavement of the Chapel were portions of many pavement tiles, enough of one pattern to make up about a quarter of the design [ ... ] This design represented the arms of the Beauchamp family."1
A couple of those tile fragments are contained in a box of other excavated pieces photographed at Bristol Museum. The smaller is approximately 65mm square, which gives an idea of the size of the original design (roughly 1.5m (5 feet) in diameter).
However, author and Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University, Nicholas Orme, suggests an alternative coat of arms should be considered. He kindly informed me the shield with the horizontal bar (fess) and six crosses crosslets was "also that of the Greyndour family of Bitton and Newland (Forest of Dean). Robert Greyndour, of the Forest family, married Joan Bitton, whose family held Bitton, Hanham, and other places round about."2
The colours (tinctures) were different in the Beauchamp and Greyndour coats of arms, but that wouldn't be apparent in these tiles. Robert Greyndour died in the early 1440s, which fits snugly with the 15th century date of these tiles, estimated by Jon Cannon, author and lecturer at both the History of Art and the Archaeology departments of the University of Bristol).3 Hanham and Bitton, on the north side of the River Avon, are immediate neighbours of Keynsham, on the south, which is the site of the chapel's mother house - Keynsham Abbey. There was even a bridge there in the medieval period, connecting Somerset with Gloucestershire.
This new insight offers an attractive local solution to the question of why this particular heraldic device is on these tiles, and it also invites further research into the connections between the local manors and Keynsham Abbey. Now this possibility (perhaps probability) has been raised, other evidence may be seen in a new light, and more old assumptions reviewed and revised.
The photographs of the tiles are exhibited with kind permission of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, which has these artefacts in its collection (references: G1571 (left) and G1568 (right).
The tile design is reproduced from the book held at Bristol Reference Library, Central Library, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TL, and is reproduced by kind permission of Bristol Reference Library.
1 Pountney, W J 1920, Old Bristol Potteries, Bristol, J W Arrowsmith, page 289, and monochrome illustration on Plate LV.
2 Email 20 November 2017, St Anne's Chapel.
3 Taylor, Ken 2014, The holy well and the Chapel of St Anne in the Wood, Brislington, Bristol, Bristol, Archyve, page 101.
Material: ceramic
Period: Medieval
Find spot: Chapel of St Anne in the Wood, Chapel Way, St Anne's, Bristol. ST620728
Exhibit contributed by Ken Taylor
Text written by Ken Taylor
Photographer: Ken Taylor (2012, derivative image 2017)
Acquisition number: 171122a1