Large medieval inlaid glazed floor tile, depicting a crowned human head within two intersecting vesicas. Plain base. From Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire. Medieval.

Large medieval inlaid glazed floor tile, depicting a crowned human head within two intersecting vesicas. Plain base. From Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire. Medieval.

Floor tile

Medieval, 13th-14th century

Found 5 feet down on the site of Hyde Abbey, Winchester in 1928

Glazed inlaid floor tile with the unusual design of a crowned figure, presumably a king, within two intersecting vesicas or pointed ovals. The base is plain. The glaze has worn on the left side of the tile and the blackened areas hint at burning, perhaps at the time the abbey was demolished after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Large medieval inlaid glazed floor tile, depicting a crowned human head within two intersecting vesicas. Plain base. From Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire. Medieval.