Medieval Tilers

Medieval Craftsmen - Engligh Tilers

December Business

I have not blogged recently as i have been without a computer for a week after I decided to upgrade nearly everything on it in preparation for this project (and playing games!)

But whilst doing so I went to the library to find books on medieval tiles - researching this subject will help me create some designs that would have been in the medieval castle of Nottingham.

Here are a few names of books I found....

Medieval Floor Tiles - Jane A Wright - 1975
Medieval Craftsmen English Tilers - Elizabeth Eames - 1992
Medieval Tiles - Hans van Lemmen - 2000

In a later blog I shall show a selection of images that could be used in the castle reconstruction.

Building Materials

The last part of this excellent book I have sectioned is ‘Building Materials’. Reading this section helped me find what stone, timber and glass was used in the castle. Research found that Mansfield (local) stone around the 14th century was greatly used in the castle.

All this information would help create a good historical reconstruction of the castle. This book has provided me with a lot of information, pictures and reconstructed illustrations. However the next step is to research existing castle’s that were built in that period so I can have a visual of how a tower looks, or how high bailey walls are and also to provide textures that can be imported onto the 3D model.

Below are illustrations of stone, tiles and glass excavated from the castle…

Excavation Finds

The excavations at Nottingham castle recovered various artefacts. Below are a few illustrations of pottery, household objects and dress ornaments.
When the 3D model of the castle is complete, modelling a few of these artefacts can be beneficially for the visual aesthetics of a room – but also beneficial for a user to understand and see what was actually used in the middle ages.

Caves and Dungeon

A few images of the underground area in the castle rock shows King David’s dungeon, a plan of Mortimer’s Hole and a plan of the caves.
The plan of Mortimer’s Hole will be greatly beneficial when creating it in 3D, not only can I use this plan but also go down into the hole itself and take photos.

Reconstructed castle images

Some images that are quite useful in this book 'Nottingham Castle A place Full Royal' are reconstructed images of the castle with evidence and research that is contained in the book. Again like the physical reconstructed model shown in the previous post, this information would prove useful to get perspective of the layout and scale of the castle.

Model Pictures

With information gathered from excavations, images, recorded evidence and reconstructions below are images of a reconstructed Nottingham Castle c.1500. model by P.W. Dixon and D.Taylor.
The images would be very useful to use to gain a perspective of height for buildings and walls. The whole model will be studied vigorously when creating the 3D reconstruction.

Middle Bailey Excavations

Below are images of excavation work that was undertaken at Nottingham Castle in and around the Middle Bailey. These excavations were done in 1976-79 and below are some excavation plans and a photo taken at the scene.

The excavations recovered various artefacts such as pottery, glass, horse shoes, floor tiles etc...
some imagery of these reconstructed findings will be posted later.

Smythson Plan 1617

John Smythsons's plan of the Upper and Middle Baileys of Nottingham Castle in 1617. Smythson was commissioned to draw the plan of the castle and here the detailed work can be seen below.

Doorways, flights of stairs, garderobes, wells and fireplaces can be distinguished.

The Castle Layout (Part II)

Part II consists of a plan of the Medieval Castle (directly below) and the castle shown in the present day with its subterranean features (bottom).

The plans shows all the structures and buildings constructed, the key shows the names of these and where they lay on the plan.

The pictures below firstly the relationship of the Medieval Castle to the Ducal Palace that is present today. This will make modelling and understanding the relevance of the Castles structure when building the Medieval Castle in 3D Studio Max.

The final image shows a plan of the subterranean and excavated areas (numbered) of the present castle grounds. Here Mortimer's Hole is can be seen - which will make it easier to model from the top.

The Castle Layout

These next set of images show Nottingham Castle's development from the 11th century. Directly below are the defences plan and how they were amended and added onto in the early stages of the castle's existance when William came to power as king upto and including Henry III.


The next set of images are show the Castle's building plan from the late 12th century upto the late 15th century. Everything that is in bold black is a new addition to the castle.