Building record 7198/419/3 - Unattached Workshop To The Rear of 13 Wood Street

Boot and shoe workshop on Wood Street. This two-storey workshop, built circa 1880 and once possibly the premises of a leather dresser, is at the rear of 5-13 (odd) Wood Street a row of terraced houses. The 1884 Ordnance Survey map suggests that the houses and the workshop were built as a single unit. Subsequently the workshop became divided from the houses. The brick-built workshop is gable on to an alley running between 13 and 15 Wood Street. The first floor of the two bay elevation fronting onto this lane has segmental winodw heads and cast iron frames. The ground floor has a wide entrance which may be original. The five bay north elevation has been built against a boundary wall. The south elevation faces into a small yard subdivided from the plot at the rear of 11 and 13 Wood Street.

1} The whole of this end of Kettering, known as 'Newtown' in the 1870s and 80s, was developed by the local shoe magnates to support the rapidly expanding shoe industry at the time.
Workshops attatched to rear of No. 5 and No. 13 Wood Street with detatched workshop to the rear of No. 13. This seems to have been divided off at some time in the past as it is within the same plot as terrace and attatched workshops on the 1899 OS map.
The terrace consists of 5 houses with an entry between nos 7 and 9 to gain access to the rear. Access to the upper storey is only through a trapdoor in the ceiling of one of the gound floor workshops.
The date of construction is uncertain but there are recorded in the 1871 census.
An elderly lady at No. 5 has owned the block for around 50 years.
With photographs

{2} This 2 storey workshop, built c.1880 and once possibly the premises of a leather dresser, is at the a row of terraced houses. It was once on the side of a large common yard behind the houses so they may have been built as a single unit. The first floor of the 2-bay elevation has segmental window heads, stone sills and cast-iron window frames. The ground floor has a wide entrance which may be original.

<1> Bellamy B., 2000, Correspondence, (unchecked) (Correspondence). SNN100559.

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

<3> Bellamy B, 1993-4, Boot and Shoe factories in Kettering, P40 (Photographs). SNN111256.

<4> Historic England, Undated, Northampton Boot and Shoe Industry Project (Archive). SNN113277.

<5> Historic England, Workshop to the rear of 13 Wood Street (Alban Engineering), Kettering, BF103791 (Archive). SNN115266.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:16PM