ABSTRACT
Although there are floors of other materials in the Palace of Westminster, only the coloured, patterned encaustic floor tiles found in the principal circulation areas of the building are considered here. The concept of the encaustic tiles, that of impressing a decorative shape into the top surface of a plain tile and then filling the depression with a clay slip of a different colour before firing, goes back to medieval times and has its beginnings in the thirteenth century.
