Building record 1160/37/1 - Boot and shoe factory, 68 Denmark Road

Listed as W & E Evans, boot and shoe manufacturers in 1877. A three-bay, three-storey boot and shoe factory on the south side of Denmark Street.

{1} This three bay, three storey former boot and shoe factory is located on the west side of Denmark Road. The 1882 1:500 plan shows it filling a small plot apparently sub-divided from the garden of No. 7 Billing Road. Later maps indicate that the extension of the factory to the west across the gardens of Nos. 5 and 6 Billing Road took place after 1924. These houses were the homes of William and Eli Thomas, who may have been the first occupants of the factory.

The Denmark Road elevation of the factory appears to be substantially built with a centrally placed loading doorway on the first floor. This door has the same panelled and keyed stone head as the windows. The present entrance, in the southern bay, has been inserted in a former window opening. Other inserted openings have obscured the original arrangement of the remainder of the ground floor. The remaining original windows on the front elevation all have bracketed stone sills and conventional hornless timber sashes apart from the two windows in the southern bay which have narrow sashes divided by a central mullion. These frames along with a single stack at this send of the building, might indicate the location of offices. The eaves cornice has moulded brick modillions, which also occur on the adjoining houses to the north. The rear elevation has four bays with plain brick window heads and brick sills, and lacks the ornamentation found on the front. The roof has been covered with concrete tiles.

The post-1924 extension appears to have originated as a single-storey range at the rear of a yard created from the former garden plots. More recently the yard has been roofed over.

<1> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site 148 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<2> Northampton Borough Council, 2011, Northampton's Boot and Shoe Quarter: Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, p. 34 (Report). SNN112202.

<3> Historic England, Undated, 68 Denmark Road, Northampton, BF103517 (Archive). SNN115609.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2025 6:36PM