Monument record 3738/11/1 - Tower Works Shoe Factory

A late 19th-century shoe factory, owned by Abraham Allebone in the late 19th century and the firm of T & C Partridge in the 20th century. Now demolished apart from the frontage house, which stands on the south side of Broad Street. To the rear a factory grew piecemeal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, first rearwards and then eastwards. All but a small two-storey fragment has been demolished.

{1} On Broad Street (SP853636) is a manufacturer's house with two-storey workshops attached.

{2} History:
1884 House & rear ranges shown around yard (OS 1:2500, 46.1)
1890 Abraham Allebone, shoe mfr, no address (Kelly’s)
1896 Abraham Allebone, Tower boot factory (LT)
1899 Rear ranges extended to form second yard (OS 1:2500)
1906 As 1890 (Kelly’s)
1914 Firm of T & C Partridge & Co established (SLN, civ)
1916 View of Tower Works published (SLN)
1922 T & C Partridge & Co, boot & shoe mfrs, no address (LT)
1937 As 1922 (LT)
1967 T & C Partridge & Co, boot & shoe mfrs, Tower Works, 120 employees
1974 ‘Shoe Factory’: extensive works to rear & east (OS 1:2500, SP 84/85 63)
1980s? Blitz Shoes Ltd (sign)
1999 House boarded up & for sale; factory to rear demolished

The factory grew piecemeal in the late 19th and 20th century, first rearwards, and then (after 1916) eastwards. All but a small two-storeyed fragment has been demolished. The view published in 1916 shows what appear to be three phases of three-storeyed factory extending southwards along the east side of the yard. The first two phases have a narrow plan and small windows, features characteristic of shoe factories of the 1870s or early 1880s, and both appear on the 1884 OS map. The final phase is wider, of six broad bays, with larger windows and a lean-to boiler house and stack on the south gable. It was probably added between the late 1880s and mid-1890s, and appears on the 1899 map. A single-storeyed range returns along the west side of the yard does not appear to correspond to a series of structures shown in this position in 1899, and may be wholly, or in part, an addition of the early 20th century. What appear to be two gabled extensions on the east side of the wide range are also post-1899.

Of this shoe factory little remains beyond what was probably the owner’s house, which stands on the south side of Broad Street. It is two-storeyed and of three bays, and probably dates from around 1870. It has a central-entry plan with end stacks. On the north front the openings have painted stone lintels and sills, and the eaves incorporates chamfered blue brick brackets. The roof has been re-laid with concrete tiles.

<1> Palmer M; Neaverson P., 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p.90 (checked) (Book). SNN3691.

<2> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Earls Barton Site 4 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<3> Historic England, Undated, 36 Broad Street (formerly Tower Works), Earls Barton, BF103831 (Archive). SNN114619.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2025 6:15PM