Monument record 7203/72 - Boot & Shoe Factory (Northampton Works, Eaton & Co., DB Shoes Ltd.)

Eaton & Co's Northampton Works was built circa 1914 as a single-storey shoe factory. It was expanded in various phases up to the 1930s, the last major phase being two-storeyed.

{1} Factory, Glassbrook Road / Sartoris Road. 'DB Shoes Ltd' on Sartoris Road has now spread to Glassbrook Road with an extension. Shown as boot and shoe factory on map of 1926 Film 14, photo 6-8.

{2} 1899 Vacant plot (05 1:2500, 40.9)
c1910 Eaton & Co established
c1914 Northampton Works built
1922 Eaton & Co (Rushden) Ltd, boot & shoe mfrs, Northampton Works, Irchester Rd
1923 ‘Boot & Shoe Factory’ in angle of Irchester & Sartoris Rds (OS 1:2500)
1929 As 1922
1937 As 1922
1969 Eaton & Co listed at College St
1974 ‘Boot & Shoe Factory’ (OS 1:1250)
1999 DB Shoes Ltd

Eaton & Co’s severely plain Northampton Works was built circa 1914 as a single-storey boot and shoe factory; a photograph of it was published in 1916. The original factory consists of four north-lit bays gabled roughly east-west, and stands on the corner of Irchester Road, which it fronts to the north, and Sartoris Road, which it faces to the east. The exterior has few decorative features: the brickwork is not graded, though superior to the Fletton work of the other elevations, but a more even orange brick is used for arches and for the stepped treatment of the simple entablature and verges on the Irchester Road front. The latter give the impression of a series of asymmetrical pediments. The original office entrance was beneath the second gable from the east on the Irchester Road front. Now blocked, it was originally flanked by small windows that have been enlarged in a comprehensive refenestration, associated in part with (the creation of?) wash- rooms towards the west end. The original openings had cambered brick heads. There appear to have been no other windows originally. Towards the south end of the Sartoris Road elevation there is a narrow semicircular-arched doorway, and at the north end there was a wider entrance, now blocked. Map evidence suggests that the building has been truncated at the south end to create an enlarged yard.

Shortly after 1923 the Irchester Road frontage was extended westwards by two bays in a matching style. This addition was refenestrated at the same time as the first phase. A further extension at this end is probably also of the 1920s. It consists of one storey over a basement, and has a single north-lit bay concealed by a tall parapet bearing a large cement signboard. The timber fenestration is original.
Probably in the 1930s a two-storey six-bay flat-roofed block extended the Irchester Road frontage as far as the acutely angled junction with Glassbrook Road, along which it returned for ten bays. This range has large steel-framed windows in most bays, but at the west end of the north elevation smaller first-floor windows serve toilets. There is a small basement at this end, and a canted corner linking the two main elevations. A large vehicular entrance has been inserted towards the east end of the Glassbrook Road elevation, and east of this the windows are smaller than elsewhere. It is possible that the long Glassbrook Road elevation is the product of more than one phase.

<1> Ballinger J., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Industrial Period, (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN4.

<2> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site 5 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<3> Historic England, Undated, D B Shoes Ltd (formerly Eaton & Co Northampton Works), Irchester Road, Rushden, BF110914 (Archive). SNN114099.

Record last edited

Sep 15 2022 1:07PM