Mawer and Ingle was a company of architectural sculptors, based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, between 1860 and 1871. It comprised cousins Charles Mawer (born 1839) and William Ingle (1828–1870), and Catherine Mawer (1804–1877) who was mother of Charles and aunt of William. The group produced carvings on many Gothic Revival churches and their internal furnishings. They also worked on civic buildings, warehouses and offices. Many of these are now listed by Historic England, and many of the surviving buildings are within Yorkshire. Their work outside Yorkshire included Trent Bridge.
Sculpture studio
This was known as Mawer's Stoneyard. Some free-standing and smaller items could be completed or half-worked in the stoneyard, then transported and completed onsite as necessary. Because massive stones with delicate carving could not be transported, exterior architectural sculpture was worked on location. The masons prepared the stone by roughing out a protuberance for the sculptors. After the walls were built, incorporating those roughed-out stones, the stone carvers would ascend those walls on ladders and scaffolds, and complete the sculptures in public view.
The partnership between Hugh Collitt, Robert Mawer and George Hope, masons of Leeds, was dissolved on 14 May 1842. Thereafter, Mawer worked with his wife Catherine, and his nephew William Ingle after he came of age. After Robert Mawer died in 1854, Catherine ran the Stoneyard until Mawer & Ingle was formed in 1860.Perry's Bankrupt Gazette, Saturday 04 June 1842 p8: "Partnerships dissolved" Until at least 1854, the stone and wood-carving was carried on at 7 Oxford Place, Leeds - and on 22 November 1854, Catherine and Charles pledged to carry on the business there, under the superintendence of Wiliam Ingle.Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 25 November 1854 p1: "To the Nobility, Clergy and Gentry"
The stonemasonry companies Mawer & Ingle, and Catherine Mawer & Son, flourished between 1846 and 1871. The Press refers to the firm as "Mawer & Ingle" throughout that period. Catherine Mawer was partner in both businesses, and both were located at 50 Great George Street, Leeds,This building was demolished in the early 1980s (see image on Leodis). It was replaced by St George's House in 1984, and re-numbered to 40 Great George Street. The stone yard was originally accessible via an arch just to the left of the remaining Victoria Family and Commercial Hotel (which is still no.48). Nothing of the original stone yard remains behind the present buildings. Before demolition, a stone carving by the Mawer group existed in or on the yard wall. specialising in monumental masonry, stone masonry and wood-carving. Charles Mawer was partner in Catherine Mower & Son, and later worked under his own name.Charles Mawer, Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 accessed 21 Oct 2016 Mawer & Ingle contributed to the Leeds Tradesmen's Benevolent Institution,Leeds Times, Saturday 23 March 1861 p4: "Leeds Tradesmen's Benevolent Institution" in 1861, and in 1863, they contributed £3 9s 3d to the Cotton Districts Relief Fund, Leeds.Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 14 February 1863 p4: "The Cotton Districts Relief Fund, Leeds" The partnership Mawer, Mawer & Ingle, between Catherine Mawer, William Ingle and Charles Mawer, described as stone carvers, was dissolved by 11 January 1867.Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser, Saturday 12 January 1867 p4: "Partnerships dissolved"Yorkshire Gazette, Saturday 19 January 1867 p2: "Partnerships dissolved" Although Charles describes himself as a stone carver in the Census, Catherine is merely identified as a business owner in the trade directories McCorquodale's and White's.Catherine Mawer, Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 accessed 21 Oct 2016McCorquodale & Co.'s Topographical and Commercial Directory of Leeds and Neighbourhood, 1876, pp. 292, 436, 450White's Directory and Topography of the Boroughs of Leeds and Bradford, 1861, p. 330
Charles Mawer worked alone from 1870, when William Ingle died, Deaths Mar 1870 Ingle William 41 Leeds vol9b p359. The certificate says: 26 March 1870, 73 Portland Crescent, William Ingle, male, 41 years, Phthisis 2 years, certified, Ann Agar of 27 St James St Leeds present at the death. until at least 1880 when the Church of St Thomas the Apostle at Killilnghall was completed.Pateley Bridge and Nidderdale Herald, 31 July 1880: "Killinghall: consecration of a new church at Killinghall". On microfilm at Victoria Library, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England By 1882, he had been joined at Great George Street by sculptor Benjamin Payler, and they were trading as Mawer & Payler for a year or two.Leeds Directory 1882 part I p213Leeds Directory (Post Office) 1882–1883 part I p212: Mawer & Payler sculptors, at George's St (now Great George St) Around 1881, Charles disappears from public record. Thereafter, Payler continued the business at the same premises, under his own name.Kelly Leeds Directory Part I 1886 p72: Benjamin Payler sculptor 50a George's Street (now Great George Street)
Works by Mawer & Ingle Former Barnsley Cemetery chapels, lodges and gateway, 1860–1861
The two former Gothic Revival chapels designed by Perkins & Backhouse at Barnsley Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Barnsley, were demolished in 1983. All that remains of them is the Grade II listed arcade which originally linked the two. Historic England describes the arcade thus: "Coursed squared stone with ashlar dressings. Central pointed arched gateway, gabled with kneelers and a band of circles with trefoils. Trefoil in apex. Reducing angle buttresses with pinnacles. A low Gothic arcade to each side, gabled and divided by reducing buttresses."Historic England 1151141: Linking arcade to former Barnsley Cemetery chapels
Besides the two chapels, the Board was planning a lodge, a mortuary chapel, and an entrance gateway in 1860.Barnsley Chronicle, etc., Saturday 03 March 1860 p1: Barnsley cemetery The lodge and mortuary chapel survive, now Grade II listed as two lodges and a gateway, on Cemetery Road. The left-hand lodge has an entrance with an "arched head and hoodmould with foliage stops." One pair of windows on the right hand lodge has similar decoration, plus moulded gutter brackets.Historic England 1293376: Two lodges and gateway linking wall and railings to Barnsley Cemetery However the "lodge" which was originally the mortuary is again recognised as such, and as of 2011 it served as a gallery for the Friends of Barnsley Cemetery.The Friends of Barnsley Cemetery: History
The foundation stones of the two chapels were laid by the chairman of the Burial Board on Tuesday 29 May 1860. "Mr. Mawer of Leeds, carver" is listed among the artisans, in documents placed in bottles under each of the foundation stones. A large procession, including three brass bands, officials, clergy, Sunday School children, architects and the contractors, walked from Peel Square to the cemetery for the occasion.Barnsley Chronicle, etc., Saturday 02 June 1860 p3: Laying the foundation stones at the new cemeteryLeeds Intelligencer, Saturday 02 June 1860 p7 col5: Laying the foundation stone of the cemetery chapels The Church of England portion of the cemetery was consecrated on 2 November 1861 by the Bishop of Ripon.Barnsley Chronicle, etc., Saturday 09 November 1861 p4 col5: Consecration of the Barnsley Cemetery
Warehouses, Bradford, 1862
This was a set of warehouses designed by Eli Milnes of Bradford.Milnes and FranceThe Builder vol.20, 18 October 1862, p.751: New warehouses Peel Place Bradford Yorkshire, Milnes Architect They were in Peel Place and Leeds Road, Bradford, intended for the occupation of "David Abercrombie & Co. Messrs M'Kean, Tetley & Co.They were stuff merchants, or dealers in cloth and others."Leeds Intelligencer, Saturday 25 October 1862 p7 col.5: "New warehouses, Bradford Yorkshire" The Bradford Observer said in 1862: "The pile of warehouses cover a building area of about 1,200 square yards of ground. They are six stories in height, and built in the Italian renaissance style of architecture, the basements being of Bramley Fall sandstone,See Bramley Fall Woods. The former site of the quarry for Millstone Grit is in these woods; the stone was used to build Kirkstall Abbey. and the remainder of principal facade of Park Spring ashlar,From Park Spring quarry, Bramley, Leeds highly enriched with appropriate carving, chiefly symbolical of the trade and commerce of the town ... The length of frontage to Peel Place and Leeds Road is about 160 feet ... The large warehouse in Vicar Lane, the property of and now occupied by Messrs Schwann, Kell & Co.Stuff merchants, or cloth dealers..Kell built himself Heaton Mount (now part Bradford University Management Centre) as a residence in the same Italian style ... is six stories in height, besides attics, and has two frontages of a plain Italian style of architecture, about 210 feet in length ... The large pile of buildings in Well Street, known as Foster's buildings ... has, during this last year, been considerably added to and improved, by the erection of three additional warehouses, which now complete the entire block, encircled by Well Street, Swaine Street, Hall Ings and Collier Gate. They are built in a bold, substantial manner, in the Italian style of architecture, and are seven storeys in height ... The carving in the whole of these buildings has been executed by Messrs. Mawer and Ingle of Leeds, from the designs of the architect, and is executed in the most artistic and creditable manner.Bradford Observer, Thursday 27 March 1862 p5 col.2: "New warehouses" (Bradford Observer 27 March 1862)
The warehouses were demolished and replaced by housing in the 20th century.
Church of St Mary, Low Dunsforth, Boroughbridge, 1861
This is a Grade II listed building,Church of St Mary 1150321 in Lower Dunsforth. It was designed by Mallinson & Healey of Bradford, and consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon on Tuesday 24 September 1861. In 1861, the Yorkshire Gazette reported: "The pulpit is a handsome piece of workmanship. It is of Caen stone, and rests upon a base of alabaster with marble columns. It is hexagonal in shape, and upon the six faces are the figures of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, St. John, St. Peter and St. Paul. The desk of the pulpit is supported by an angel with clasped hands and expanded wings. The font, which is placed at the south corner of the nave, is also of Caen stone, and has a very neat appearance. It rests upon an alabaster base, with serpentine marble columns, and is in perfect keeping with the pulpit. The reredos is elaborately carved, and comprises seven niches with marble columns. It is of Caen stone. All the carved stone work is by Mawer and Ingle, of Leeds ... The windows of the chancel are filled in with stained glass from the establishment of Mr Wailes ... The church has been erected after a design by Mallinson and Healey of Bradford, architects."Yorkshire Gazette, Saturday 28 September 1861 p10 col.1: "Consecration of St Mary's Church, Low Dunsforth" (Yorkshire Gazette 28 September 1861)
This building replaced an earlier Norman church, of which fragments were re-set in the new vestry in 1861.The corpus of Romanesque sculpture: St Mary, Dunsforth or Lower Dunsforth, Yorkshire, West Riding The school and master's house were built at the same time. At the consecration there were so many visitors that 200 had to wait outside during the service, although Mallinson gained admittance. As of 2017, the font, reredos and pulpit survive, although the pulpit has been lowered.English Architecture, North Yorkshire, Lower Dunsforth, St MaryThe Dunsforth villages: St Mary's Church
Former St Bartholomew's, Armley, Leeds, 1861