Factory Building (Bathcraft)

728/0/10008 HAVELOCK STREET 23-APR-04 (South,off) Factory Building (Bathcraft)

II Boot and shoe factory/workshop, now other commercial uses. c.1860, in 2 phases. Red brick with blue brick floor bands and slate roof. L-plan. First phase range projecting to left to rear. 3 storeys. Front to alley leading south off Havelock Street has a 4-window range of casements under brick segmental arches to first and second floors and a taking-in door to right end. Door and casement on ground floor. The other sides have similar casements and the gable ends are blank. HISTORY. Havelock Street was laid out c.1857 and both ranges are depicted on the OS maps of 1884, 1899 and 1924. It is difficult to identify small masters from C19 local Directories, but it is noted that Clipstone and Whitwell, leather lace manufacturers, were here in 1929. SOURCES. EH Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site Report No.17. Morrison, Kathryn A., with Bond, Ann, 'Built to Last? The Boot and Shoe Buildings of Northamptonshire', forthcoming, pp.10-12, and fig.24.

This is a very early example of a small 3-storey boot and shoe factory built at the back of houses and possibly associated with them. It is probably the best example to survive in Northamptonshire of this size of factory which is slightly larger than the individual back garden workshop but much smaller than the other factories identified as of special interest, e.g. Kettering Bedding Centre in nearby Regent Street. It is a particularly good example of the small-scale aspect of the industry which developed in Kettering in parallel with the larger factories and the home-based indivdual worker.