Building record 1160/460/1 - No.3 Gray Street

Warehouse and light-industry factory. C.1892. Red English bond brick with stone dressings and slate roofs with end and rear stacks. 3 storeys and semi-basement. A five bay street front with a projecting pediment above the eaves. It was constructed c1892 for a currier called Mr Dyer. Former occupiers include: G.Bass & Sons, Castle Cabinet Co., Sadler & Co., H. Edgley, E.V. Grimsdell

{1} Warehouse and light-industry factory. C.1892. Red English bond brick with stone dressings and slate roofs with end and rear stacks. 3 storeys and semi-basement. 5-bay façade. 4-window range of iron-framed windows with segmental arched heads on all floors with entrance door to right on ground floor, part-glazed taking-in door on first floor above and central part-glazed taking-in door on top floor with ornamental gable above and iron crane on bracket to right. Stone lintel band with prominent brick cornice above. Gable ends blank but iron-framed windows to inner yard and rear elevations. Cast iron pillars to the interior.
The warehouse and light industrial factory was built by Mr. Dyer, a currier, most probably as a warehouse to store cured leather hides on the lower floors, above which was further space, that could be rented out. Trade directories reveal a variety of trades being housed in the building. The design best utilises the narrow plot to give maximum light and space and the building is a unique survival within Northampton which shows its original plan form.
HISTORY. The factory is first shown as occupied in 1893, and all ranges of the factory are shown on the 1899 OS map.

{2} Boot and shoe factory c.1892.

{3} c.1890 boot and shoe factory of five bays.

{4} On the north side of Gray Street is a classic factory with an ornamental centre pediment and wall-mounted crane. Plainly constructed side wings off the main spine of the building maximise the use of the site.

{5} Internal photos.

{8} Dutch gable. Wall-mounted crane to one side. A range of three-storey buildings to the rear forms an F-shape; the interior contains cast iron pillars. Used by a variety of leather and shoe companies often in multiple occupation. Briefly used by shoe manufacturer John Sears- later moved to Stimpson Avenue and created the True-Form Boot Company. Now converted to aprtments.

<1> DCMS, 2005, Listing Schedule, 725/0/10041 (Schedule). SNN105055.

<2> DCMS, 2003, Listing Schedule, 725/0/10041 (part checked) (Schedule). SNN105168.

<3> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site 83 (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<4> Palmer M; Neaverson P., 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p.195 (checked) (Book). SNN3691.

<5> 2004, 3 Gray Street, Northampton, (checked) (Photographic prints (COL)). SNN108610.

<6> Morrison K.A.; Bond A., 2004, Built To Last? The Buildings of The Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Industry (Book). SNN104903.

<7> Undated, 3 Gray Street, Northampton, BF103608 (Archive). SNN113731.

<8> Perkins, P, Whittaker, R and Denton, A, 2022, A Guide to the Industrial Heritage of Northamptonshire, p. 61/ Site 265 (Book). SNN113793.

Record last edited

Feb 4 2025 7:13PM