Antwerp Maiolica Tiles At Firle Place

By Michael Archer / Timothy Wilson (As published in Keramos, Vol. 210, October 2010)

Towards the end of the reign of Henry VIII, Sir John Gage (1479–1556), who had a long and trusted career at the King’s court and held a succession of offices of state, built a substantial house at Firle, near Lewes, East Sussex. Firle Place was extensively rebuilt in the second quarter of the eighteenth century: the beautiful house which remains the home of the Gage family is essentially eighteenth-century in appearance, but incorporates parts of the Tudor house(1).