SNN100758 - Archaeological Buldings Recording, Photographic Survey And Desktop Survey Of The John White Shoe Factory, Rushden

Archaeological buildings recording and photographic survey were undertaken by Northamptonshire Archaeology in August 2000, accompanied by a desktop survey, prior to development works to turn the former John White Shoe Factory into flats. A record of the building as it stands today, and an attempt to show how the building functioned throughout its lifetime as a factory has been made. The factory was designed by Sir Albert Richardson specifically for John White, and the design executed as planned, but has since been added to. The rise and decline of the John White Company in the context of the Northamptonshire and Rushden boot and shoe industries has been charted. There is a substantial collection of plans (167) concerning all stages of the building process (1937-9) as well as a mass of related written documents held at the Bedfordshire County Record Office. There is little information concerning any later alterations to the fabric of the factory. The factory’s canteen building to the north-west is the work of Richardson and seems to have been built during 1942-4 and expanded in 1951. The house within the grounds (63 Higham Road) and the electricity sub-station to the north-west are contemporary with the factory and also the work of Richardson, the architect of the factory building itself.