Guildford Castle, Surreydetails

One of the features of the Surrey cottage, indeed of all those counties where tile was the principal roofing material, is the skill with which the tiling is adapted to its purpose. It covers the slopes of the buttresses and the gathering in of the big chimneys; it covers the roof and first-floor walls, works round the valleys and hips, and while never attaining to the freedom of Continental work of the same kind, suggests the possibilities of further development in its use. This art of covering surfaces with tiles was thoroughly understood by these cottage builders. They also used tiles in the cornices of the chimneys, introduced them into stone walling to make good, and sometimes covered their brick coppings. The cottages at Witley (page 38) and those at the entrance to Guildford Castle (page 37), both in Surrey, show the usual use of this material, the first-floor story of the gable end in the example at Whitley projecting over the bay on the ground floor. In the tile-hanging, the lifting forward of the lower courses was assisted by projecting a course of brick abot an inch-and-a-half, the edge of the lowest and double course covering pat of the brickwork that jutted out.