Handmade Clay Tiles in Bedfordshire
Handmade Clay Tiles
Why are handmade clay tiles so popular?
Everything today seems so clinical and precise. This is why so many now seek out the more traditional items for their properties.
Even the log burner is seeing a return after many years of gas central heating; such is the appetite for the bygone era. Handmade clay tiles are no different. Many do not want the sharp, uniform edges that mass produced clay tiles may have, they want the aged, textured patina of a quality handmade clay tile to finish their property. But how are the handmade clay tiles made?
After being dug from the ground, often locally, the clay used to make the roof tiles has to be weathered for around nine months to a year.
The weathered clay is then ground into fine particles with water added to make the clay workable. At this stage, previously fired clay pieces that have been ground down are added to help reduce shrinking, cracking and warping during the firing process. This also naturally adds texture to the finished handmade clay tile.
Historically, handmade clay tiles would have been hand thrown into the mould before being finished. However, nowadays they are more often mechanically pressed either by hand or by using a hydraulic press to ensure a more consistent density and to speed up the production, but even then, they are still essentially handmade clay tiles.
The handmade clay tiles are then handled and dried in several ways to create the different character variations of shape and colour. The shape is created either by hand or machine and the colour can be varied by adding different oxides. Many different textures and colours can be achieved by adding these oxides to the handmade clay tiles prior to firing.
Even the temperature variations within the kiln can lead to variations in colour, with a higher temperature resulting in a much darker finished tile. No matter what colour or texture you choose, a high quality handmade clay tile will make your property stand out from the crowd.
A little information about Bedfordshire
Another wild animal facility in Bedfordshire
Whipsnade Zoo is a zoo and safari park located at Whipsnade, near Dunstable in Bedfordshire. It is one of two zoos, the other being London Zoo in Regent's Park, London, that are owned by the Zoological Society of London, a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats.
The Bedfordshire Park covers six hundred acres and can be seen from miles to the north and from the air because of the Whipsnade White Lion, which is a figure that has been carved into the side of the Dunstable Downs below the white rhino enclosure.
Due to its size, inside the park, visitors may walk, use the zoo's bus service, or drive their own cars between the various animal enclosures, or through an area where some animals are allowed to roam free around the cars. There is also a train service that is called the Great Whipsnade Railway, also known as the Jumbo Express.
Whipsnade Zoo is the UK's largest zoo and one of Europe's largest wildlife conservation parks. It is home to over three and a half thousand animals, many of which are endangered in the wild. Most of the animals are kept within sizeable enclosures; others, such as Peafowl, Patagonian Maras, and Red-necked Wallabies, roam freely around the park, this is just one of the reasons why so many people visit the Bedfordshire Park.
History of the Bedfordshire Park
The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Sir Stamford Raffles with the aim of promoting the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. To this end London Zoo in Regents Park, London was established.
Almost a century later, Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell was inspired by a visit to the Bronx Zoological Park to create a park in Britain as a conservation centre.
Hall Farm, a derelict farm on the Dunstable Downs in Bedfordshire was purchased by the Zoological Society of London in 1926 for nearly fourteen thousand pounds. The Bedfordshire site was fenced, roads built and trees planted.
The first animals arrived at the Bedfordshire Park in 1928, including two Lady Amherst's pheasants, a golden pheasant, and five red junglefowl. Others soon followed including muntjac, llama, wombats and skunks.
Whipsnade Park Zoo opened on Sunday 23 May 1931. It was the first open zoo in Europe to be easily accessible to the visiting public. It was an immediate success and received over 38,000 visitors on the following Monday. The brown bear enclosure is a surviving feature from the earliest days of the Bedfordshire Zoo.
Bedfordshire Park acts as refuge during WW2
During the Second World War, the Bedfordshire Zoo acted as a refuge for animals that had to be evacuated from the Regents Park London Zoo. The celebrity giant pandas Ming, Sung and Tang were among these animals but were soon returned to London to boost morale in the capital.
Over the course of the war, forty-one bombs fell on the park with little damage to the zoo structure itself; with only one giraffe at the zoo being frightened to death by the explosions. Some of the ponds in the Bedfordshire Park are the remains of bomb craters from this period.
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Further Information
If you would like to know more or are interested in a quote we would be happy to help. Phone us on 01634 471 344, email us at sales@heritagetiles.co.uk and we will be in touch as soon as possible.
