The Manchester Tiles Letter I – Irk and Irwell
£35.00
The spot where the River Irk and the River Irwell meet was the centre of Medieval Manchester – or Manceastre as it was then. This Manchester ceramic tile captures that historic meeting point in stunning detail. Rich with fish life, it became a hub of trading vessels and eventually factories, mills and terraces, so as you’ve probably guessed the fish went somewhere else in the 19th century.
The threshold where Manchester and Salford meet, it is now home to Manchester Cathedral and Chetham’s Library and still has The Hanging Bridge, a medieval bridge spanning the Hanging Ditch, which dates as far back as 1343 and thought to be Roman. Buried in the 1770s, excavated again in the 1890s, it’s an amazing bit of Mancunian heritage, and we’ve very much enjoyed recreating the landscape for our medieval map-styled I Tile.
Each I Tile is designed here in Manchester then hand-rolled in the UK’s ceramic heartland Stoke-on-Trent, before returning for firing in local kilns. A fitting end for a quintessentially Mancunian statement.
Material: Ceramic
Production: Hand-rolled
Size: 6in x 6in.
