The mosaic had been less than two hours from demolition when it was saved
A mosaic on High Lane in Chorlton which was saved from demolition at the last minute(Image: Cube Homes)
A priceless mosaic hidden in Chorlton for decades was saved from being lost forever after demolition work was stopped at the last minute.
Tracey Cartledge, who by lucky chance professionally restores mosaics, recalled how a friend visiting had spotted the mosaic after it was exposed by demolition work, making it visible from the street.
Tracey, 58, rushed to the site on High Lane on July 30, arriving there at 7am before the contractors working at the site started their day’s work.
When she spoke to the site manager, Tracey discovered that demolition work on the building was scheduled to begin at 9am.
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Undeterred, Tracey contacted Manchester City Council, as well as the contractors who were working on the site.
“I went back at about 7.30am. The demolition team were there by then,” she told the Manchester Evening News.
“We talked with the site foreman. He said he was very sorry but the team would be there at 9 o’clock to tear it all down.”
Tracey Cartledge rushed to save the mosaic(Image: Kit Roberts / MEN Media)
She explained that there had been a plan to donate the tiles to local schools for projects.
“To receive priceless fragments of a smashed to smithereens mosaic, it was a misinformed approach. The good will was there but they needed more knowledge to be able to do things the right way.”
Happily, thanks to Tracey’s intervention at the eleventh hour, developers Cube Homes agreed to pause the demolition work to allow time for the astonishing mosaic to be properly removed.
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Tracey, who is also working on the mammoth restoration project at Manchester Town Hall, explained that this will be a delicate and complex process involving dividing up the illustration into pieces, before placing an adhesive layer over the front of the mosaic.
This will ensure that when sections of the illustrations are removed they will come off in one piece and can then be safely stored until restoration work begins.
A team of people from Chorlton’s community is working hard to find a home for it, but for now the first challenge is to safely get the mosaic off the wall and stored away, with plans being put in place for work to potentially begin next week.
A view of the mosaic(Image: Cube Homes)
Developers Cube Homes have also committed to supporting the mosaic’s safe removal, including financial support for its removal and restoration.
Chris Heath, Cube Homes’ Managing Director, said: “Preserving local history and heritage within communities is important to us, and we are working collaboratively to find a solution to the logistical challenges around the mosaic removal at our new Chorlton Grange development.
“We have already agreed a way forward to remove and preserve the smaller mosaic at the front of the building.
The other side of the mosaic(Image: Cube Homes)
“Following discovery of the internal mosaic, we have been working closely with Tracey, community partners and our contractors, and have committed funds and time, to remove this mosaic as efficiently and as safely as possible so that the development can proceed.”
Cllr Mathew Benham from the Chorlton Ward told the M.E.N.: “Thank goodness we’ve got a lot of people that are experts, because it could have been lost.
“With Tracey’s tenacity we’re in a position where we can try and save as much of it as we can.”
The history
Before being the Islamic High School for Girls, the site is thought have been part of the original Chorlton Convent School.
It is believed that the astonishing mosaic had previously gone unnoticed on building surveys as the depictions of angels had been covered up by wooden boards for decades when the building was the Manchester Islamic High School for Girls.
Previously, another mosaic was successfully removed from the entrance to the building.
Ruth Douglass went to school before the mosaic was covered over(Image: Kit Roberts / MEN Media)
Older pictures, as well as students who attended the school before it changed hands, remembered that the newly-rediscovered mosaic had been there the whole time.
Ruth Douglass, 47, went to school in the building in the 1980s, before the mosaic was covered over.
“I remember it being the music room when I was there, but it was also a chapel,” she said.
The mosaic has been covered over to protect it from the elements(Image: Kit Roberts / MEN Media)
“We found out in the final hours, when the building was exposed.”
Preliminary estimates date the mosaic to around 1905, with the illustrations running all round the top of the ground floor walls up to the ceiling.
It is believed to have been made by a Manchester-based Eric Newton of Ludwig Oppenheimer’s, a company founded in Manchester in 1865 which specialised in mosaics and produced incredible work across Northern France and in Ireland.
Detail of the astonishing work(Image: Cube Homes)
The astonishing artistry includes tesserae, mosaic tiles, made of specialist venetian glass, as well as gold leaf which Tracey said is likely to be at least 22 carat, and possibly 24 carat.
While smaller than other works by the company in large churches, the intricacy of the pictures and the materials used suggest that it would have been a high-end commission.
Once the mosaic has been safely removed more work can also be done to identify and study it.
The rescuers also hope to use the opportunity to plan “workshops, hands-on activities, and educational opportunities for all ages.”
For now however, they have managed to save a priceless piece of Manchester’s history.
Anyone wishing to donate to help restore the mosaic can do so here.