Building record 1160/464/1 - The Vulcan Works, Nos. 34 to 38 Guildhall Road (Even Nos)

Engineering works, at present vacant. C.1875. For Henry Mobbs, engineers. Red brick with painted stone and brick dressings and parapeted roof. A two-storey, nine bay building on the west side of Guildhall Road and single- and 2-storey north light sheds to rear with glazed, pantile and corrugated sheet roofs.

{1} Engineering works, at present vacant. c.1875. For Henry Mobbs, engineers. Red brick with painted stone and brick dressings and parapeted roof. 2 storeys to Guildhall Road, and single- and 2-storey north light sheds to rear with glazed, pantile and corrugated sheet roofs. The front is a 9-window range at first floor of iron-framed (some boarded) windows with round-arched heads and hoodmoulds. On the ground floor there are carriage entrances to left and centre right, the office entrance to centre under a bracketed hood, and 3 windows to left and one to right of this which have pilaster mullions and are boarded at present. A further entrance and shuttered window to far right. The front is characterised by giant pilasters rising through both storeys to a bracketed brick cornice, though in the centre 3 bays they end at window soffit level thus forming an arcade to mark the main office entrance. The sloping site probably resulted in the unusual plan of offices, etc., on the ground floor with workshops formed on the first floor on a level which continues through to the rear. HISTORY. The Vulcan Iron Works were built for the firm of Henry Mobbs who were engineers whose productions include boot and shoe machinery. The firm remained here until the later 1890's when the north range became Phipps and Co. Leather Warehouse and the rest was vacant. Phipps remained in part because the Goad insurance maps of 1928 and 1956 identify their presence as shoe mercers. It is also noted that Phipps were here in 1961 for footwear components. The central section remained as an engineering works owned by Crossley Brothers. The successive Goad editions show that their goods entrance was at the rear with a yard entrance onto Fetter Street. SOURCES. EH Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Industry Survey, Site Report No. 167.

This former engineering works is the best survival of the 14 extant examples of the type producing boot and shoe machinery as identified in the EH Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Industry Survey. It has a well-detailed and impressive front to Guildhall Road and it is also an unusual example of a surviving town-centre engineering works. Its remarkably central position means that it forms a significant commercial and civic group with No. 27 opposite (q.v.), the entrance to the Theatre Royal (q.v.), now Derngate Theatre, further up the street, and with The Guildhall (q.v.) closing the view at the top.

{3} Detailed history and development of the site which had its origins with the creation of Guildhall Road in 1972. By 1876, the three original plots were all in the possession of the Sheppard family and the site contained 'a large factory, workshops, sheds, engine houses and the buildings necessry for carrying on his said trade or business of an engineer and machinist', although they quickly appear unable to service their mortgage and the site was sold to Henry Mobbs, an engineer, who renamed the factory 'The Vulcan Works'. The Vulcan Works foundry manufactured boot and shoe machinery. Mobbs appears to have sold the main factory in 1891 to the Sphincter Grip Armoued Hose Company and by 1899 the site was owned by Reddaway and Sons who leased the buildings to a number of different companies, most associated with the boot and shoe industry.
By 1937 the entire site was occupied by Phipps and Son as a shoe mercery who occupied it until at least 1956. The Fetter Street stores were built in phases between c1928 and 1937 for Phipps and Son.

{5} Archaeological recording of a gas engine pit before infilling. The pit was much-altered, and no trace of the former engine was present, although evidence of access for maintenance, fume-extraction, and drive-shafts were seen. It connected at right angles to a second basement, which had latterly been used for storage. Depicted on the 1912 Goad insurance plan but not subsequently, suggesting it had been replaced by electrical power at a later date.

{6} A two storey, nine bay building on the west side of Guildhall Road. The building was constructed as three separate premises of three bays each. Two of the central ranges were used as leather warehouses, the other as an engineering works. The entire building is constructed in brick with a slate roof. This was Henry Mobb's Vulcan Works opened during 1877.

{8} The Vulcan Works were started in 1874 by Henry Mobbs to complement his Lion Foundry which he had purchased in 1868. In 1912 shoe mercers Phipps & Son expanded into the Vulcan Works. In 2020, the premises were redeveloped as a creative hub for businesses.

<1> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Northampton/Site 167 (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<2> DCMS, 2004, Listing Schedule, (checked) (Schedule). SNN104967.

<3> Soden, I and Walker, C, 2015, Building recording and analysis of the former Vulcan Works, 34-36 Guildhall Road, 4-6 Angel Street and Northampton Borough Museum's Fetter Street Stores, 2015 (Report). SNN111371.

<4> Soden, I, 2018, Additional building recording at the former Vulcan Works, 36 Guildhall Road, Northampton, December 2018 (Report). SNN111372.

<5> Soden, I, 2020, Archaeological recording at Vulcan Works, Guildhall Road, Northampton: The gas engine pit and adjacent basement (Report). SNN111918.

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

<7> Undated, 34-38 Guildhall Road, Northampton, BF103526 (Archive). SNN113650.

<8> Perkins, P, Whittaker, R and Denton, A, 2022, A Guide to the Industrial Heritage of Northamptonshire, p. 57/ Site 247 (Book). SNN113793.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 7:20PM