Building record 953/0/7 - Possible Shoemakers Workshop

This small two storeyed building was probably built as a shoemakers workshop in the mid 19th century. The north front has an entrance and a small window with a modern frame on each floor. However the ground floor window has been narrowed and the brickwork above it and the entrance has been rebuilt, suggesting that the size of the upper window may also have been narrowed. There is a stack in the centre of the rear wall, serving a fireplace on the ground floor. A cramped winder stair in the north-west corner gives access to the upper level.

{1} Small two storey building, shown on the 1st edition OS map. Oral testimony from the present owner states that it was originally a cottage, but later used as a shoemaker's workshop. The existence of a garden plot and outbuildings might support the cottage interpretation but the evidence for the original fenestration might indicate that it was originally intended as a workshop.
The north front has an entrance and a small window with a modern frame on each floor. However, the ground floor window has been narrowed and the brickwork above both it and the entrance has been rebuilt, suggesting that the size of the the upper window may also have been narrowed. There is a stack in the centre of the rear wall, serving a fireplace on the ground floor, but possibly a stove on the first floor. A cramped winder stair in the north west corner gives access to the upper level. There was formerly a pigsty attached to the east end, and a single storeyed stone and asbestos-roofed outbuilding survives at the west end.

<1> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Site 18 (checked) (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<2> Historic England, Undated, Probable shoemakers workshop in Cotton End, Long Buckby, BF103879 (Archive). SNN113470.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 7:13PM