The organisation of Tylers (roof and floor tile layers) and Bricklayers existed in 1416; it was incorporated by a royal charter in 1568.

However, after the Great Fire of London, the king decreed that brick or stone, instead of timber, should be used as the main supporting structure of buildings.

The scope and scale of the rebuilding programme was beyond the capacity of company members alone; craftsmen flocked in from elsewhere and the monopoly was broken.

A range of social and educational events are arranged which allow members, their wives and guests the opportunity of dining in some of the City's finest livery halls and of visiting some of its greatest and historic institutions.

It awards prizes for excellence achieved by students on courses at vocational colleges and in The Corps of Royal Engineers, the company's link regiment, and also for success in craft competitions such as Skillbuild.

These are, respectively, to the students who come through the regional heats of the annual SkillBuild competition to win the national final in each of the three crafts and to Senior and Junior construction trainees at the Corps of Royal Engineers’ Training School at Chatham.

All those principally responsible for each Tylers and Bricklayers Triennial Award-winning scheme are recognised, with the company's Silver Medal being presented to the craft trade foreman.