THE mural artworks on the former Barnsley Library could not be saved because they were stuck on 'too well', the council has revealed.
It had been hoped the artworks, unveiled in 1999 by Kes author Barry Hines, could be removed and saved before the building was demolished, but when workmen tried to remove them, they started breaking up.
One has been destroyed already, and the other too will come down as demolition of the library continues.
A council spokesman said: "The college made every effort to remove the artwork from the walls of the library. However, the tiles were bonded to the building so tightly that any attempt to remove caused them to splinter beyond recovery.
"Given these ongoing results, the conclusion was that it wasn't financially viable to continue with the efforts to preserve the murals.
"However, high-quality images have been taken for reference so that we can produce printed copies of the originals."
