decorated initial G

odwin of Lugwardine, Herefordshire was founded in 1848, when William Godwin (1813-1883) took over a former brickworks. Within a few years, the firm had become a major supplier of encaustic tiles for churches, town halls, railway stations and other public places, and remained so throughout the Victorian period. Since Godwin focussed on reproducing "medieval patterns in their entirety, both as to facsimile of form and ornament, and antique appearance of surface" (qtd. in Fawcett 10), he was the supplier of choice for both George Gilbert Scott and G. E. Street. The output of these two major architects alone was so huge that Godwin's tiles, often inlaid with different coloured clays to form their designs, can be found in churches and cathedrals all over the country. In 1863, Godwin had to establish another factory in nearby Withington. In its heyday, the firm employed a hundred workmen (see "Parish History"). — Jacqueline Banerjee

Works

Bibliography

Fawcett, Jane. "Decorated Pavements and Floor Monuments in European Cathedrals and Churches." Historic Floors: Their Care and Conservation, ed. Fawcett. Pbk ed. Oxford: Butterworth/Heinemann, 2001.

Parish History. Bartestree with Lugwardine Group Parish Council. Web. 14 August 2020.


Created 14 August 2020