William Morris Pilgrim's Rest Porch Tiles at Red House
William Morris De Morgan Arts & Crafts Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Medieval
Catalog Articles Blue & White Textile Designs Site Map Search FAQ
William Morris De Morgan Arts & Crafts Pre-Raphaelite Victorian Medieval
Catalog Articles Blue & White Textile Designs Site Map Search FAQ
The Pilgrim's Rest porch tiles consist of three patterns: "Si je puis", Tudor Rose, and the Morris family crest. William Morris took great care with every detail of Red House, his first married home with Jane Burden Morris. Red house was designed by his friend, architect Philip Webb. The interior, with its stained glass and its medieval furniture and themes was an ongoing work of love for Morris, Burne-Jones, Webb and their friends. Morris called it, "The Beautifullest Place on Earth."
Morris designed and hand-painted each tile himself on Dutch blanks. Despite being somewhat protected from the elements in the porch, the garden tiles have not stood up as well as later tiles made by Morris & Co. at Merton Abby. To understand why, see William Morris Tile Making Process.
The garden porch was called The Pilgrim's Rest because the location Morris chose for Red House was along the route the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales would have taken. The Pilgrim's Rest porch tiles were some of the first tiles and designed, hand-painted, and fired entirely by Willis Morris.
Colors: Light and dark variations. Can be modified slightly. See How to Order Tile.
Designer: William Morris
Sizes: 4 inch or 6 inch tiles
Title: Pilgrim's Rest Porch Tiles
Quantity: Twelve tiles
Tile: Tumbled marble stone or Ceramic
*Please note: Although Morris used these tiles in the Pigrim's Rest Porch, they are not suitable in places where they will be exposed to freezes and thaws. Like all tiles, they will fade in direct sunlight. Even Talavara tile does this. These tile are best suited for interior walls on a sun porch.
4 inch square tiles: $58 each
6 inch square tiles: $68 each
Rossetti described Red House as "more a poem than a house". Its external structure was nearly free of ornamentation, in contrast to surrounding homes and the fashion of the day. Its interior was anything but stark: A wedding house for his marriage to stunner, Jane Burden. It was a fairy tale home for his fairy tale princess, the daughter of an Oxford stable hand.
Red House was designed by architect Philip Webb, a bit of a renegade as Victorian architects go. He and Morris chose a site near the valley of the river Cray, a tributary of the Thames, near the route taken by the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Morris was enchanted with the Tales and Chaucerian themes worked their was into the home's interior decorations, decorates planned and executed by Morris and his friends.
William Morris: The Soul of Arts and Crafts
Morris Tapestries and Textiles
Applications, Care, and Dimensions
The Prioress Tale cabinet at Red House (detail)
It was at Red House that Morris and his friends conceived Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., the forerunner to Morris & Co. and arguably, making Red House the birthplace of the Arts and Crafts movement.
