Building record 3124/9/1 - Lancaster Works

This three-storey, four-bay former shoe factory was built circa 1890, and a long rear range (down Clifton Street) was added between 1883 and 1899. The building was used as a boot and shoe factory up until the Second World War and was then utilised as a soap factory; after the war it was in use as a warehouse for the boot and shoe trade until it closed in 1994.

{1} The building has been used by several companies including Lancaster Works, Colton Brother Retail (Ltd) and Steel King Ltd. According to the current owner of the building the first phase of the structure was erected in 1894, with an additional wing being added a few years later (this information has not been checked). The building was used as a boot and shoe factory up until the Second World War and was then utilised as a soap factory; after the war it was in use as a warehouse for the boot and shoe trade until it closed in 1994.
The first phase of the building was erected along Thrift Street, this phase is of two storeys and five bays with two windows on each storey and each bay. The structure is of red brick with blue engineering brick used as architectural detailing. Blue brick is located under the eaves of the roof, in a platband at the top of windows on the ground floor and in string courses at sill level on both the ground and first floors. There is a continuation of this architectural detailing to a further bay on the south face of the structure. This now forms a façade for a modern shed-like structure with corrugated metal roof, but presumably this originally formed an additional element to the original structure.
The second phase of the building was erected along Wollaston Road, this phase is of three storeys and four bays with a single window in every bay and at every storey. Each window has a segmental arched head of yellow brick. There is a taking in door at first floor level on the western bay of the building. The window at the second bay to the east on the ground floor has been made into a doorway. The roof is of slate and there is a small chimney on the western edge of the building.
The ground floor consisted of three separate factory floors. The first phase of the building is reported to be the block running along Thrift Street - there are some remaining pulleys in this area and a fire door linking the structure with the later phase fronting on to Wollaston Road. This later block has a number of inserted features including a metal roller door (on the front wall of the factory) used during the latter phase of the buildings operation as a factory. There is also a wooden garage door which has been added by the current owner. The final phase of the ground floor is located alongside the Thrift Street block and the architectural detailing of the building is identical to that on Thrift Street, indicating that the original layout may have been contemporary with the first structure and was probably a line of north lights. The current structure is a modem re-arrangement with a simple single storey shed. There is a wooden panelled office to the rear of the building which is accessed through two separate factory areas; this room appears to remain intact. There is a small toilet block consisting of two toilets and a urinal which is located to the rear of the Wollaston Road block. One of the toilet cubicles is panelled and the other is bare to the wall; perhaps indicating that one was for use by the management and the other by the workers. The original toilets have been replaced by modern examples. There was originally open space between the toilet block and the factory floors to the rear of the building, but this area has been roofed over in recent years.
The first floor consists of two open factory areas. The block on the Wollaston Road frontage has a large taking in door indicating that this area was used for distribution; the winching mechanism remains intact. The Thrift Street wing is a large rectangular block with rows of windows on both sides. There are wooden floor boards on the floor and there are two wide strips running down the full length of the building with double thickness wood — presumably in the area where heavy machinery stood. The second floor of the building has been much altered in recent years, for use as office accommodation, with the addition of a number of partitions and a false ceiling. The floor only extends over the Wollaston Road block, although a small extension has been added over the toilet block. This area is in use as a kitchen. An attic room has been created by the insertion of a ceiling, it is likely that the second floor would originally have been open to the roof as there are closely butted, varnished timber panels lining the interior pitch of the roof. There is evidence for a small dormer roof directly above the taking in door on the 1st floor of the building.

{4} This shoe factory occupies a prominent position in the small late 19th century expansion of Irchester in the angle of the Wollaston and Famdish Roads. It stands on a corner site with a principal front to Wollaston Road on the north and a return elevation to Thrift Street on the east.
As originally built the factory consisted of a single three-storey, four-bay range with gables to east and west. The north front has pier-and-panel walling and employs an even-coloured orange- brown brick, with a cogged eaves to the panels, segmental buff brick window heads and blue brick sills. The westernmost bay has a wide yard entrance on the ground floor and a taking-in doorway on the first floor. The smaller doorway in the second bay from the east is a later insertion, but may relate to office use of part of the ground floor from the outset. The windows are very large, of three timber lights, with transoms to the taller ground and first-floor openings. The gable and rear elevations are in a less evenly coloured brick. To the east there was a three- light window on the ground and first floors. The first-floor window is transomed, though not as tall as the north-facing windows. The ground-floor opening was later converted into a wide entrance, and a second-floor window is an insertion. The rear wall is also in pier-and-panel brickwork, but has a simpler dentilled eaves.
Before 1899 the factory was extended by the addition of a two-storey rear range flush with the east return of the original building. A closed straight joint marks the junction. The addition has ten windows facing Thrift Street, much smaller than in the front range, arranged in pairs and fitted with cast-iron frames (the fourth ground-floor window from the north has been converted into a doorway). Unusually for a rear range, it has more elaborate detailing than the Wollaston Road range. Blue brick is used for the sills and linking flush bands, for the segmental window arches on the ground floor (which are linked by deeper blue brick bands incorporating orange brick dentils), for the cambered first-floor window heads and for the eaves course which incorporates more boldly projecting orange brick dentils. The ground-floor windows have hood moulds of orange brick linked by similar moulded brick. The same treatment occurs on the three- bay south gable, which is pedimented, with a continuation of the eaves decoration. The west elevation, overlooking the former yard, has been obscured by later additions with the exception of most of the second floor. A single-flue stack rises in the re-entrant of the front and rear ranges, its position perhaps indicating that it belongs with the latter.
Shortly after 1899 (and before 1923, on map evidence) a small single-storey lean-to, presenting two bays to the back alley behind Wollaston Road, was added on the west side of the rear range in a matching style. Again, a closed straight joint marks the junction. Later additions have included a three-storey extension in the re-entrant of the front and rear ranges (the top storey sheeted), and a single-storey lean-to roofing in the remainder of the yard.
History:
1883-4 Not shown (OS 1:2500, 39.16)
1899 Front and rear ranges marked (OS 1:2500)
1923 Small additions marked (OS 1:2500)
1940 Thomas Brown & Co (Leicester) Ltd, boot & shoe mfrs, Wollaston Rd (Kelly’s)
1960s Dunlop shoes (sign)
1972/3 ‘Warehouse’ (OS 1:2500, SP 92/93 65)
2000 Vacant

<1> Ballinger J., 2000, Lancaster Works, Wollaston Road/Thrift Street, Irchester, (checked) (Report). SNN100657.

<2> Ballinger J., 2000, Lancaster Works, Wollaston Road/Thrift Street, Irchester, (checked) (Photographic prints (COL)). SNN100658.

<2> Ballinger J., 2000, Lancaster Works, Wollaston Road/Thrift Street, Irchester, (checked) (Slides). SNN112056.

<3> PMW Playfoot, 1999, Former Lancaster Shoe Factory, Wollaston Road, Irchester, (checked) (Plan). SNN109117.

<4> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Irchester site 2 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<5> Historic England, Undated, Vacant warehouse on Wollaston Road, Irchester, BF103661 (Archive). SNN115757.

Record last edited

Dec 15 2023 9:44AM