Lion stove tile

Large fragment of a ceramic stove tile, found during the excavations of the Rose theatre on Bankside. The stove tile is decorated with the royal arms of either Edward VI (ruled 1547-53) or Elizabeth I (ruled 1558-1603) as it has a capital letter E at the top and a lion. The lion would have formed part of the royal arms and would have supported a shield surrounded by the motto of the Order of the Garter (if the tile had been complete). Part of the motto survives on the tile (the word ‘QVI’ from ‘HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE’). Stove tiles were used in the construction of wood-burning stoves used for heating, though such stoves could also be purely decorative. Many stove tiles were imported from Germany but those with English royal arms are likely to have been made in England, probably in the Surrey-Hampshire area. This tile was found in a demolition layer on the theatre site. As such, we do not know whether this stove tile was part of a stove used to heat the theatre, whether it was a decorative feature (it has no sign of sooting) or whether it fell into the demolition layers from elsewhere. It is possible that the expensive gallery areas or ‘lord’s rooms’ at the theatre had some form of heating, especially as the theatres operated through the winter. In this case, it would have been much safer to have an enclosed stove than an open fire. The heating arrangements of theatres are unknown – none of the existing contemporary illustrations of the theatres show chimneys. If the tile is from the theatre itself, the royal arms will be those of Elizabeth I.

The Rose was first built in 1587 and was one of four purpose-built playhouses on the south bank of the Thames in London (the others were the Globe, the Hope and the Swan). It was demolished in 1606. Archaeologists discovered the remains of the Rose in 1988. Reference: Bowsher, J. & Miller, P. (2009), 'The Rose and the Globe - playhouses of Shakespeare's Bankside, Southwark. Excavations 1988-90’, MOLA Monograph 48.