Monument record 3738/17/1 - Industrial Building to Rear of 60 High Street

Formerly a boot and shoe factory (Austen's). Now demolished

{1} Industrial building to the rear of High Street, Earls Barton. The original building is of 19th century date and appears to have been erected in three phases. The building was of two and three storey construction with various changes of floor levels within the structure. The building is of utilitarian construction with no architectural adornment to the exterior of the building. A large single storey extension was added in 1962 and this surrounds much of the original building. The owner of the building gave a potted history of the development of the building (based on documentation from Northamptonshire Record Office):
1890: Shoe Factory (Mr Austen)
1910: Boswells Engineering and Mr Green (wheelwright)
1935: Burtells Crisps and Pickles
1947: Wine warehouse and wholesale depot
1980: Subdivision of building into several units
2000: Application to develop the site for residential

{2} The building has been altered over time with each successive change of use making analysis of the structure very difficult. The windows on the three-storey building to the north of the site are of interest as they are unusual in large-scale industrial buildings. The windows consist of long, single height windows divided into four or five panes and allow only a limited amount of light into the building. The reason for the use of these windows is uncertain.

{3} In 1885 the 1st edition OS map shows a narrow building aligned north-east to south-west along the former property boundary. It is shown with a possible carriage arch (for which no physical evidence has been seen) through the central part of the building with a number of smaller sheds at the southern end (subsequently lost). By the turn of the 19th-20th century, a larger, square-shaped addition had been added at the north end of the building and a smaller addition had been made to the rear. The factory is thought to have been the premises of Austin boot and shoe makers, although there has been no definitive historical proof. In 1890 and 1893, an Austin and Brooks is listed in Trade Directories for Earls Barton. By 1896 an F W Austin was noted as a shoe manufacturer and in 1898 it was listed as Austin Brothers. After this date there is no further mention in available directories.

In the 1930s and first half of the 1940s the building was in use by Birtle’s Crisps, but this company went into liquidation in 1947 (The London Gazette, 29th August 1947). By 1968, a single-storey warehouse to the east had been added. On the 1976 Ordnance Survey map, the building is marked as a Wine and Bottle Warehouse.

The portion of the existing structure which is the focus of this report comprises a long range aligned roughly north-south along its long axis with a short east-facing (added) projection at the northern and giving the earliest surviving (red brick) fabric a broadly L-shaped configuration. The whole of the eastern side and southern end of this range has been built against; as a consequence the original structure on those sides has been almost entirely engulfed. These later additions have made it impossible to observe the early exterior of the building from ground level, the only part of this side that could be seen was part of the upper storey seen from the yard to the east and part of the same observed through first floor windows within the complex.

<1> Ballinger J., 2000, Industrial Building To The Rear Of High Street, Earls Barton, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN101167.

<2> HET Buildings Conservation Team, 1993-2006, Buildings Planning Files, E105/2/11 (part checked) (HET Planning File (Buildings)). SNN105512.

<3> Prentice, J. Walker, C, and Soden, I, 2015, A level 2 archaeological building record on former shoe factory at Bowler’s Yard, Earl’s Barton, Northamptonshire 2015 (Report). SNN110830.

<4> Crank, N. (Editor), 2018, South Midlands Archaeology (48), p. 59 (Journal). SNN111393.

Record last edited

Mar 6 2019 2:22PM