A haunting view of Leicester looking across the Newarke towards Leicester Cathedral

This photograph was taken from scaffolding erected during the construction of the final phase of the Hawthorn Building (now De Montfort University) in 1936. Most of the chimneys and other landmarks in the background have gone, but the cathedral spire provides context.  The buildings in the foreground face The Newarke. 

In 1897, £25,000 was raised to build 'a very handsome school that would be enormous credit to the town and … so that it would answer its purpose for the next 100 years'.

The Hawthorn Building is still home to the Faculty of Applied Science. At the time of the first phase of the Hawthorn Building construction, there were 500 art students and 1,000 technical students.

The Newarke Tycho Brae mosaics

Leicester City Council commissioned Mansfield-born artist Sue Ridge to design a series of colourful mosaics to adorn the Newarke Subway walls. The final designs were brought to life by ceramics expert Christopher Smith.

Sue Ridge took her inspiration from the work and life of the 16th century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Born in 1564, Brahe made a catalogue of over 1000 stars. When they were executed, the mosaics were some of the largest in the country.

The astronomical inspiration for the mosaics is apparent in this section... and the intricate work carried out by Christopher Smith the maker of the mosaics. 

Sue Ridge, who designed the mosaics, has worked on public art all over the country but Norwich is the city which has most of her work. She also teaches and is well known for her work in hospitals. As can be seen, the mosaics were often intricate, decorative and pleasing to the eye. Many of the panels were brightly coloured. Others, like this one, rather more subtlely hued.

Sue Ridge says, "My work considers place and audience, private thoughts and public moments. My approach to site is through investigation and research: what makes a place specific, memorable?" Her mosaics made the subway memorable.

Many of the mosaic segments were extremely colourful bringing a real sense of drama to something as mundane as a city centre subway. Towards the end graffiti had taken its toll. But for many the mosaics will be much missed.

Sadly, the Sue Ridge Mosaics have been condemned to oblivion after only decades. At one time they were some of the biggest in the country and were admired as engaging pieces of public art.

Carey was born in Paulerspury in the county of Northamptonshire in 1761, the son of a shoemaker.  He became a Baptist in 1783 and from 1785 to 1789 was pastor at nearby Moulton before moving to Leicester in 1789, as minister of the Harvey Lane Chapel.  He stayed for four years, living in the cottage opposite, supplementing his income by shoemaking and running a small school. 

He was largely self-taught, but became fluent in Greek, Latin and Hebrew as well as knowledgeable in science and history.  While in Leicester he wrote his impressive treatise The Enquirer, which has been described as the finest missionary treatise ever written.  The Baptist Missionary Society was founded in 1792, largely as a result of Carey’s influence, and in 1793 he travelled with his family to India.  He worked as a foreman in an indigo factory in Calcutta, and later was able to establish a church there before moving to Serampore in 1799. He was made Professor of Sanskrit and Bengali at Fort William Cottage in Calcutta in 1801 and in 1805 opened a mission chapel there.  He was a prodigious translator, responsible with others of translating the Bible into six Indian languages, and the New Testament into twenty three more.  He died at Serampore in 1834. 

The Harvey Lane Chapel was destroyed in a fire in 1921 and his cottage was demolished in 1963 to make way for the Southgates Underpass and Holiday Inn development.  The various relics that had constituted a small museum in Carey’s Cottage are now at the Central Baptist Church in Charles Street.