Building record 3124/7/1 - Boot and shoe factory, Station Road

Griggs and Co Shoe Factory. A single-storey shoe factory (now demolished) was built circa 1905. It consisted of north-lit sheds behind a screen wall incorporating office accommodation.

{1}
History:
1899 Not shown (OS 1:2500, XXXIX.16)
1922 Wholesale and Export Shoe Co. Ltd, Irchester (no address)
1923 ‘Boot & Shoe Factory’ (OS 1:2500)
1940 As 1922; address given as Station Rd
1972/3 ‘Boot & Shoe Factory’; extension to east (OS 1:2500, SP 92/93 65)
2000 R Griggs & Co, Irchester Factory (shoes)

A single-storey boot and shoe factory probably dating from shortly before the First World War. The south front was originally of five bays and follows a typical pattern for the period, having a tall parapet to conceal the north-lit ranges behind. The wall, which is articulated by piers, is of orange-brown brick on a blue brick plinth, but the parapet is pebbledashed. Dressings, including the parapet coping, are of concrete. The central bay breaks forward boldly and incorporates the main entrance, which has a stained-glass fanlight and is centrally placed between small flanking windows. This symmetry was originally extended across the whole elevation: the bays flanking the entrance bay have large four-light transomed windows, probably indicating office accommodation behind, while the outermost bays have a smaller window indicative of workshop space. The westernmost window has been altered and a small doorway has been inserted in the easternmost bay. To the rear the five north-lit sheds (actually lit from due east) are built in an inferior brick with simple unembellished openings.
The factory was extended eastwards by six narrower bays after 1923, probably circa 1930. The south elevation mimics the original work in its use of piers and parapet, but the brick is of a more orange colour and only the panels of the parapet are pebbledashed (i.e. the piers are expressed as brick for their full height). The windows are steel-framed beneath ferroconcrete lintels. The westernmost bay has a loading doorway marked ‘DESPATCH’. To the rear of the extended façade there are two wide ranges. An asbestos-roofed range, and possibly further additions, exist to the rear of the main block.

{2} The factory was demolished by 2009 and replaced by residential housing.

<1> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Irchester site 1 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<2> Info Terra Ltd; Blue Sky; Tele Atlas, Google Earth Imagery, EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 24-MAY-2009 ACCESSED 25-MAR-2019 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112277.

<3> Historic England, Undated, R Griggs and Co Ltd, Station Road, Irchester, BF103660 (Archive). SNN115760.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2025 6:35PM