Monument record 1933/5/1 - Tower Factory, Wellingborough Road (Formerly R. Griggs & Co.)

Three storey boot and shoe factory, a red brick structure with decorative use of blue and cream brick bands. This factory appears to have been built by Arthur Nutt, possibly in 1893. Now demolished.

{1} Boot and Shoe Factory, Wellingborough Road. Three storey boot and shoe factory, a red brick structure with decorative use of blue and cream brick bands. Has a post 1926 extension to the side which follows the same architectural style. Now in use by 'R Griggs and Co Limited'. Film 4, photo 22,23,24.

{2} Attractive three storey shoe factory dating from 1903, with later single storey extensions. Of red brick with white and blue brick banding and white brick window arches. Occupied by Arthur Nutt up until the 1970s, then by the Tower Boot Co who were later incorporated into the R Griggs Group. Production ceased in mid-2000 and the factory is for sale at the time of writing.

{3} Plans of factory prior to conversion to residential

{4} History:
1884 Not shown (OS 1:2500, XXXII.16)
1890 Arthur Nutt, boot upper closer (Kelly’s)
1893 Arthur Mutt [sic], boot & shoe mfr (LT)
1899 Original factory marked (OS 1:2500)
1916 Arthur Nutt & Co Ltd, boot & shoe mfrs, with vignette (SLN)
1924 ‘Boot & Shoe Factory’ – much extended since 1899 (OS 1:2500)
1940 Arthur Nutt & Co (Kelly’s)
1967 Tower Boot Co (ISE)
1970 ‘Boot & Shoe Factory’ (OS 1:2500, SP 90/91 71)
2000 R Griggs & Co, Tower Factory (shoes)
This factory appears to have been built by Arthur Nutt, possibly in 1893 when Nutt, formerly listed as a boot upper closer, appears as a boot and shoe manufacturer. The same date is given for
‘the foundation of this prosperous business’ in a 1916 account of the firm (SLN, xxxvii). The 1916 account includes a vignette of the factory which clearly establishes the link. The name Tower Factory, shared with the former factory in Tenter Lane (Site 1) may be relatively recent. The Tower Boot Company appears in a 1922 directory with an address in Well Street, and appears to have acquired the Wellingborough Road factory in the post-war period, the name being retained by the present occupiers, R. Griggs & Co.
The site now occupies a large corner plot at the junction of Wellingborough Road and Laws Lane, but was originally much smaller, with a frontage only to Wellingborough Road on the south-east (hereafter treated as south). The earliest part, a three-storeyed building originally of seven by two bays, is unusually elaborate for one of the smaller boot and shoe towns. The principal elevations, to the south (Wellingborough Road) and west (and probably also to the east originally), are given a polychrome treatment with limestone keys, blue and buff brick flush bands and semicircular arches on orange brick walling. The south front is articulated by two pilasters at either end and flanking the central taking-in bay where, although the openings have been altered, a scar remains from the former crane. The ground and first-floor openings (many now altered) have keyed semicircular heads while the second-floor windows have cambered heads beneath a cogged eaves. On the west gable the windows are arched on all floors, and set within arched recesses, with an oculus above. There is an entrance close to the road on this gable.
The 1916 account explains that ‘in a very short time [after 1893] it was found necessary to considerably extend the premises’, and continues: ‘Early in 1914 it was again found necessary to double the size of the works; the factory was wholly re-organised and equipped with the latest machinery’ (SLN, xxxvii). The accompanying vignette presumably shows the works in this twice-extended form, including three north-lit ranges, the northernmost incorporating an engine house and stack placed somewhere near the centre to provide the additional power made necessary by the alterations. Two phases of additions are clearly identifiable, but only one is reflected in the vignette: either the vignette was out of date by 1916 or the additions which it shows are in fact the product of two phases.
The vignette shows the three north-lit ranges extending five bays east of the original factory, two of the ranges continuing behind it as well. A gabled entrance in the second bay from the west is in an Arts-and-Crafts style, with a segmental red brick and concrete pediment and a rendered tympanum. The building evidence indicates a phase-break at the end of the fifth bay. West of this point the details closely match those of the original factory (with the exception of the entrance): the windows have keyed arches and are set in pairs or, west of the entrance, a triplet, divided by pilasters, and the bays are linked by a flush polychrome band. To the east a further five bays continue the flush band (though the polychromy is inferior and faded), but the bay rhythm is interrupted and the windows are large with original ferroconcrete lintels. A later phase, perhaps circa 1920, involved raising to three storeys the single-storeyed three-windowed bay immediately adjoining the original building. Again the style of the original was followed, but there are minor differences (e.g. the sills).
A three-gabled addition to the east, probably of post-war date, brings the complex close to the Laws Lane perimeter; it is set back from the south front and has no architectural pretensions. There are further modern sheds to the rear of the site.

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

<2> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2001, NIAG Industrial Gazetteer, (checked) (Draft). SNN101121.

<3> Terrence Hodgkins Associates, 2006, Tower Boot Works, Finedon: Plans As Existing, (checked) (Plan). SNN107397.

<4> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Finedon site 9 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

Record last edited

Jan 10 2024 4:17PM