Monument record 7198/99 - Chelsea Works, St Michaels Road

The Chelsea Works on St Michaels Road dates from 1906 and was initially the premises of Caswell & Co makers of polishes, dubbins and adhesives for the shoe trade. It was called the Chelsea Works in memory of the London premises originally occupied by the firm. It was later a glue factory manufacturing specialist adhesives for the footwear industry. The north front of the brick built factory has a three storeyed three bay central block with a hipped roof, flanked by single storey gabled ranges; to the rear there are north-lit ranges.

Chelsea Works (Blacking), St Michael's Road
Early 20th century building. Three storey central block flanked by single storey wings of north lights. Now in use by Caswell and Company Adhesives. (1)

{2} The Chelsea works was occupied by Caswell & Company Ltd, boot polish manufacturers. In the late 20th century the company move into glue production and now trades as Caswell Adhesives from Princewood Road in Corby. Their current products include specialist adhesives for the footwear industry.

Factory built between 1910 and 1914, possibly in two phases with the eastern end first. The factory was certainly complete by 1924. Relatively few alterations were undertaken during the later use of the factory. These consist mainly of modern (late 20th century) blockwork and stud wall partitions. The only additional structures comprise a small building to house the sprinkler pumps and a new production building in the centre of the yard.

Very little evidence survived to indicate the function and processes carried out during the earlier use of the building as a blacking factory. The three storey part of the factory, which was later used as offices, may have been used for some production processes. Only the detached workshop in the corner of the yard retained any evidence for earlier mechanised equipment. Here a row of cast iron brackets fixed high up on the rear wall would have supported a line shaft to supply power via belt drives to machines below. A row of closely set windows in the front wall of this workshop would have provided good
lighting.

It is likely that a significant amount of the workshop space would have been used for filling and packaging processes. Blacking or polish has always been marketed in small packages; a small amount goes a long way and it tends to dry up if stored for too long. From the late 19th century it has been sold in the small round tins that are still used today.

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

<2> Phillips, M., 2016, Chelsea Works, St Michaels Road, Kettering: Archaeological building recording, 2016 (Report). SNN110946.

<3> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, KETT42 (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<4> Historic England, Chelsea Works, St Michael's Road, Kettering, BF103860 (Archive). SNN115280.

<5> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, EHC01/044 (Archive). SNN113193.

Record last edited

Jul 14 2023 10:10AM