Building record 3272/7/1 - Nos.1-14 Hope Court (Former Drage Factory)

This shoe factory was built circa 1890 by the firm of William Drage & Co. The original factory has three storeys and eleven bays, but was extended by five bays shortly after 1899.

{1} Unremarkable brick built three storey shoe factory of 16 bays, used by John Drage and Son (est 1861) later the Drage Shoe Co. Notable for large boot painted on west wall with 'Drage' motif. Recently redrawn but with evidence of earlier design. Factory currently unused.

{2} The former shoe factory includes an original long range with later extensions to the east and south, along with a small yard to the south-east, with a gated entrance. The buildings were in a variable state but all had been stripped of fixtures and fittings associated with their former use as a shoe factory.The site had been used more recently as a storage warehouse for office furniture. Both the shoe factory works and its immediate surroundings have undergone numerous phases of alteration and addition over the c.115 years since its foundation.
Further details are presented on the historical background to the shoe-making industry in Bozeat, which can be traced back to the middle of the C17th and the English Civil War.
The 1890 First Edition OS 6 Inch map shows the site of the factory as in the south-west part of a field fromting onto London Road to the west. The Second Edition map of 1900 shows a long range along the southern side of Hope Street, probably comprised of the original 11 bays. This may have been built in 1890 by F.Goodman & Sons, who went bankrupt in 1892, the site then being purchased by William Drage. The Drage family already had several small factories in Bozeat.
In the 1920s the factory building was extended by adding a first floor office range to an existing ground floor gated yard entrance. This correlates closely with a move by the Drage Company into direct sales as well as through retailers. This move led to the retailers cancelling orders and eventually the demise of the Drage family ownership in 1929 when it was bought by Caswells of Kettering, although they retained the company name. Reference to the original large mural on the western façade which has now been re-painted.
Production continued throughout the middle of the C20th with further expansions and a separate building being erected. In 1972 Caswell relocated production to Kettering and the factory was bought by W.Botterill & Sons for warehousing. In 1982 it was occupied by Knapp Toolmaking, and from the 1990s by The Control Group who provide storage for company archives and furniture.

Between 1890 and 1900 a long range was constructed along the southern side of the newly laid out Hope Street, probably comprising the original 11 bays. It is generally accepted that the original range was extended by 5 bays to the east during the early part of the C20th. EH suggests that this took place prior to 1916; this was probably in 1914 on the eve of The Great War. A publicity photograph of 1916 also appears to show a small closet wing with Georgian style round-arched window, projecting from the first storey on the London Road elevation.
Detailed descriptions and analysis of each phase of development of the factory building(s), with plans, elevations and photographs.
Despite good documentary information, the changes to the factory have been so extensive that accurate process flow within its buildings could not be determined with any degree of certainty. However it is clear that the structures fit a pattern of construction and development which can be seen in many of the late C19th and early C20th, three-storey shoe factories in the region and there is no reason to assume that these structures deviate from that basic blueprint.

{3} History:
1861 Firm of John Drage and Son established
1890 John and Henry Drage (listed separately), boot and shoe mfrs, no address
1896 William Drage, boot and show mfr, London Road
1899 Original factory shown (OS 1:2500, XLVI.15)
1916 John Drage and Son, producing 'medium class footwear'
1937 Drage Shoe Co Ltd, no address
C20 Later occupiers: Allen and Caswells; Gola; Mangers (paint)
2000 Vacant
The original factory stands on the corner of London Road and Hope Street, the main north elevation being to Hope Street. It consisted of three storeys and eleven bays. It is of pier-and-panel construction with iron-framed windows in segmental-headed openings. Blue brick is used for the top course of the plinth and for the window sills. The entrance, now replaced by a window, was in the westernmost bay of the north front. The taking-in bay, which is wider than the others, occupied the fourth bay from the east end, and consisted of large taking-in doorways on both the first and the second floor, both now blocked. The crane remains in situ. On the ground floor of this bay there was a large doorway, also blocked. On the west gable a large painted sign depicts John Bull with a bulldog, and the legend 'THE DRAGE SHOE' within the outline of a boot.
The building was extended eastwards by five bays in the early 20th century. The positioning of the original taking-in bay, which became roughly central to the extended building, may indicate that expansion was anticipated at the outset. The addition is in a matching style, but the windows are large and the sills, though of blue brick are of a different form. In the east gable there was originally a single window per floor, including one lighting the roof-space or attic. The fire-escape doorways are later insertions. A further addition on two storeys extended the short London Road frontage and appears to have provided office space over a yard entry. It has similar materials but a parapeted flat roof. To the rear the yard has been roofed over. This addition has been fenestrated, and most of the ground floor windows of the other ranges have been blocked or renewed. The pitched roofs have been relaid with concrete tiles, with the exception of the south slopes of the 5-bay addition, which retains Welsh slate.

{4} Original long range constructed by F.Goodman & Sons in 1890 as a boot manufacturing workshop.

Historic England, Undated, Former Drage Shoe Factory, London Road, Bozeat, BF103578 (Archive). SNN116050.

<1> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 2001, NIAG Industrial Gazetteer, (unchecked) (Draft). SNN101121.

<2> Adams C.; Hulka K., 2005, Historic Building Record: Drage Shoe Factory, London Road, Bozeat, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN105409.

<3> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site 1 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<4> Bligh P., 2003, Bozeat 2000, (unchecked) (Book). SNN109834.

Record last edited

Feb 12 2024 12:24PM