King of Hornsea

I like a bit of a challenging trail when putting together a bit of writing.

Today's starts from a brief reference that I came across in the pages of an account of a 2014 Archaeological dig at a site on St Lawrence Street, York.

I am often stationary at the traffic lights right at that point which is a major junction just outside the defensive walls. There has been fairly frantic construction activity over the last 12 to 18 months  and the site is now under a large student accommodation block . The standard (for historic York) excavation process prior to the development unearthed a great and diverse range of items, mainly ceramicware from the Roman occupation of the city through the Anglo-Scandinavian era (Vikings), the Middle Ages and the following :

"Twelve sherds of unusual form were present, these clearly all originated from objects of a single design, but despite the number of sherds no single original object could be reconstructed. The sherds were from flat fish-scale shaped tiles stamped Wade & Cherrys Patent Hornsea on one site and are widely known as ‘acorn tiles’. 

The tiles are roofing tiles which were known as fish scale or acorn tiles, and they have a raised rim on the top half of the uppermost side of each tile which overlaps with a rim on the lower half of the adjacent tile. The design was aimed at reducing the area of overlapped tiles on the roof, and the rims were designed to hold the tiles firm on the roof"

The fragments for a product dating from the 1860's from the small East Yorkshire coast town of Hornsea were found in very auspicious company in the York excavations.

I was intrigued about the use of the descriptive terms as "unusual", "fish scale"and "acorn tiles" and this led me to recall that I had recently been working opposite a house in Hornsea which seemed to have all of the attributes of an unusual appearance and yes, the external walls were clad in what seemed like the scales of a fish.

The house occupies a prominent corner position overlooking the town Memorial Gardens, an ideal location to showcase its unique elevations.

Wade and Cherry's Tiles were an association of John Cherry, a brickmaker and who appears to have been the more flamboyant of the pairing, Joseph Armytage Wade referred to by the title of a book about him as "The King of Hornsea". This alludes to his championing of the town which included his support for the arrival of the railway line and various entrepreneurial enterprises.

Interestingly Wade and Cherry also appear in the records of the United States Patents Office for engineering inventions mainly it seems, pumping equipment which they needed to remove groundwater from their clay pits which were at the end of Marlborough Avenue, subsequently the location for the iconic Hornsea Pottery and now a shopping Freeport complex.

The York Archaeologists referred to the  sherds (fragments) as roofing tiles but in fact the clever design, each shaped something like the ace of spades, so that their form renders the amount of lap smaller than in ordinary tiles, were equally suited to vertical hanging on external walls.

Now to the science and technology of the design:

 "A flange, or raised rim, of dovetailed or under-cut section is formed on the top half of the uppermost side of each tile and on the lower half of the undermost side.This interlocks with two neighbours from the course above, and on the opposite face, again slightly chamfered or dovetailed, is a flange to fit with the lower course. This holds them firm, excludes wind and rain and makes render pointing unnecessary."

The Hornsea clays are a heavy boulder type originating, I believe, from the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. Hornsea itself spreads our over a series of low hillocks or Moraines from this time in prehistory. The clay is well suited to both commercial products and fancy ceramics.

The York discovery suggests that Wade and Cherry distributed their distinctive tiles regionally if not wider afield. Urban regeneration, wartime damage and yet more demolition and clearance will have relegated many of the buildings clad or roofed in the wonderful acorn tiles to, at worst hardcore rubble and at best a corner of a reclamation yard.

These tiles are very much sought after today, and the best example thought to remain is situated at the corner of New Road and Westbourne Road, Hornsea.

I stop at giving an accurate address or infringing copyright and privacy with a photo. You have the clues as to what to look for and where, so just go.

Just as additional background. The aforementioned Joseph Armytage Wade also ventured into property development and in the 1860's, perhaps the height of his wealth and influence he bought land on both sides of New Road. He will have sold off the plots to individual purchasers and a Legal Conveyance dated 8 January 1879 made between (1) Joseph Armytage Wade and (2) Alfred Maw it seems, afforded an opportunity for Wade to sell off a good stock of the acorn tiles for the construction of the property in question.

Although not strictly specified in the small print there is a strong suggestion that any villa or house shall be built of good white or stock bricks or such other material as shall be mutually agreed on between the said Joseph Armytage Wade his heirs or assigns and the said Alfred Maw his heirs or assigns and which may be deemed by the said Joseph Armytage Wade not to be a disfigurement ".

He may have been the professed King of Hornsea but that Wade was quite a shrewd cookie as well.

Pevsner's book on The Buildings of York does refer to a 12th Century converted church, Old St Oswalds in Fulford as having a Wade and Cherry Acorn Tile roof and this would be worth a drive out some time. If anyone has any other sightings of the distinctive fish scale tiles I would be grateful. Perhaps there is a case for a geeky tile spotting movement.