Description: | From old card index: "One of a 4-tile pattern and triangular corner tile.
Square; slightly worn, good condition.
(See also NCM 1963-380)." Quarter circle with dots and quarter of quatrefoil design, with trefoil. Part of larger pattern. Slip inlay, glazed. Label on rear "Cooper", From Eames, type 2778, provenance Lilleshall Abbey, W. Midlands Chilvers Coton, C13/4, The Abbey of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, also known as St Mary of the Meadows, was founded in 1143 (or possibly 1139)
by Robert Beaumont, second Earl of Leicester, also known as "le Bossu" (the Hunchback). He provided the abbey with many
holdings, including all churches in the town of Leicester, several other churches in other counties, the manor of Asfordby,
and various other properties in Leicester. This made it a very wealthy abbey from the start, and it earned up to £1000 a year
at its peak. However, it was criticized for the extravagance and lack of spiritual strength of the Abbots and Canons,
particularly in its latter days, with one of the last Abbots ridiculed for bringing the disruptive presence of his fool into
those services he actually attended. Although the abbey accepted Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy in 1534, the abbey was never
converted to become Leicester Cathedral as once planned, due to its debts of more than £400, and it was closed in 1538. The
abbey was mostly demolished with the lands given to the aristocracy, who later built homes in the grounds.
Accession number: NCM 1963-363 |