Building record 1160/0/284 - Former Countess Road Works, Northampton

A large former leather works built for George Barker in 1907. Three-storey, brick-built with a pitched roof covered in slate. Extensions are recorded in 1909, 1912 and 1915, probably including most of the north-lit sheds to the rear.

{1} A large former leather factory on the west side of Countess Road and the north side of Lyttleton Road. The great length of the three-storey, 22-bay range fronting Countess Road suggests phased development, but no confirmation was found; it may, therefore, have been built in a single phase in 1907. Extensions are recorded in 1909, 1912 and 1915, which probably include some or all of the range of north-lit sheds at the rear of this block along with a loading and handling bay and an office at the south end. The 1915 extension was said to be specifically ‘for the making of Pure Chrome Box Calf and Willow’. Ordnance Survey maps show that the factory was built over the course of the Dallington Brook. Given the requirement for large quantities of water in the leather finishing processes the brook may have been an important factor in the selection of this site for the factory.
The 1907 range is built of a red-orange brick with blue brick window sills. The segmental window heads that occur on the ground floor and on all levels of the gables are also executed in the same coloured brick. All but three of the ground-floor windows on the east front have been blocked with modern brickwork, but similar-sized openings in the ground floor of the north gable suggest that they contained cast-iron window frames. Except on the gables, the windows in the upper floors have timber lintels and contain what appear to be original timber window frames with large top-hinged hoppers; this design of frame appears to be similar to those found in other leather factories. An opening attic light in the north gable is surmounted by an oculus. A more elaborate oculus, with a keyed rubbed brick surround, is in the south gable. The roof of this range retains large ridge-mounted ventilators which, along with the attic lights, suggests that the attic space was either used for ventilation or storage.
The south gable has two entrances set next to each other on the ground floor. Both have green-glazed brick jambs and are surmounted by a stone entablature which may retain the company name hidden beneath a modern applied fascia. The right-hand entrance (closer to Countess Road) may be an office door as the window frame to its right is smaller than the frames in the front elevation and has a top-light which is not a top-hinged hopper. Three similar frames on the ground floor at the south end of the Countess Road elevation suggest that the office occupied this corner of the factory. The other entrance may lead to a stair as the size and spacing of the windows on its left side suggests that they light a stair well. A goods entrance, now blocked, is placed four bays in from the south gable on the front elevation.
The substantial base of a stack, with a stone coping, is attached to the west side of the south gable; this may have been the exhaust for a gas engine or part of a ventilation system for drying leather. The rear elevation of the factory appears to be very similar to the front except for various additions connected with the north-lit extension. The rear range also incorporates a privy block placed next to the stack.
The post-1924 phases of the north-lit range have been demolished leaving a large empty area at the rear of the factory. The surviving north-lit range of five pitches with slate covered roofs is built of the same orange-red brick as the 1907 block but a straight joint suggests that it is the product of at least two phases. The roofs are supported on timber trusses and what appear to be timber posts. The office and loading/handling area is smaller with a three-pitch north-lit roof built over the south end of the north-lit range and a four-bay south elevation. The loading door is at the east end of the south front and although altered with a new steel lintel, it retains bull-nosed red brick jambs. The other three bays contain cast-iron or steel window frames in segmental-headed openings. The office is a two-storey single-bay block built onto the east side of the loading area with a monopitch roof. The window frames are identical to those in the loading area, suggesting that they are contemporary.

{2} Details of the three steam engines in place at the factory in 1971.

<1> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 2000, Northamptonshire Boot and Shoe Survey, Northampton Site 159 (Catalogue). SNN105075.

<2> O'Rourke, R & Starmer, G, 1971, Engines at George Barker & Co Ltd, Countess Road, Northampton (Article). SNN112648.

<3> Historic England, Undated, Countess Road Works, Countess Road, Northampton, BF103521 (Archive). SNN113869.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 6:57PM