Mosaics and mosaic making information from The joy of shards Mosaics Resource

St Margaret's Church, King's Lynn

Either side of the altar are these tiles, showing Alpha and Omega, the first and the last letters of the Greek Alphabet. Alpha is to the left, Omega to the right. In contrast to similar sized groups of four tiles elsewhere in the church, these panels are made of five tiles and the central insert is circular. There are several advantages to this design. One is that the corner tiles could be mass produced to take a variety of inserts - the corner tiles for omega and the evangelists are the same ones, for example. Also it means that the insert could be aligned to the viewer, whichever way the tile pattern was orientated. In the case of Alpha and Omega, the tiles are angled diagonally at 45 degrees to the walls of the church, but for the evangelist tiles they are square to the lines of the building. The design of the central insert is quite intricate and forms the focus of the group. Having it as a separate tile means that the joins of the tiles don't cut through it.

St Margaret's: Introduction Views of the font tiling Selection of tiles around font Selection of tiles around font Lions and doves tiles around font The choir and lower altar Alpha and Omega tiles Evangelists tiles   back to region list