Corners were nipped off the tiles to allow the screw to pass between the tiles, a washer was put on the screw and it was screwed in to a timber rail behind the tiles. The Victorians used many arrangements of tiles in fireplaces. Ten tiles all the same were popular whereas continuous five tile panels were quite scarce. Most tiles in fireplaces were a combination of different types and sizes of tiles. Some fireplaces were designed for more than the standard ten tiles.
Fireplaces requiring twelve tiles, the extra two in the canopy, are quite common.
Foundries had iron plates which could be inserted where the canopy tiles fitted, and on occassion brass and copper plates are found. Other standard size cast iron fireplaces took up to sixteen tiles, these are rare. In the 1890's they were replaced by just the centre part of the insert in cast iron, tiles were slabbed in to panels to fill the full width of the mantel opening. Not all Victorian and Edwardian tiles are beautiful, and some were combined in the most bizarre sets. The pictures below show many typical and unusual tile arrangements but this is only a small selection of what was done.