Codacal Tile factory

Basel mission under the banner of The Commonwealth Trust established a tile factory in Codacal in 1887. It was mainly constructed to support newly converted Christians for their livelihood. After the conversion to Christianity, most of them were excluded from their own communities. Even before establishing a tile factory, Basel mission constructed a weaving factory to accommodate new converts. Several people from Codacal area were employed in tile factory. Tiles were on high demand in those time. Most of the houses in the end of nineteenth century and in the beginning of twentieth century had roofs with palm and coconut leaves. A rapid transformation to the houses with tile roof took place after the arrival of tile factory. Tiles were exported to outside of the Malabar and even outside of India including Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

Even in the areas of Tirur and Tanur, tile roofing houses appeared only after launch of Codacal Tile Factory. Namboothiri Manas and Illams were among first structures which are tiled.