SNN112011 - Former Dickens Brothers Ltd, Leather Manufactory, Kettering Road, Northampton: Historic Building Record

In November 2019, a former leather manufactory building in Northampton was recorded prior to its conversion to residential apartments. Formerly known as Dickens Brothers Ltd., the factory was purpose-built in 1900. It was located a short distance to the east of the town centre, an area characterised by rows of late 19th century terraced houses, interspersed with large contemporary edifices - boot and shoe factories, schools and places of non-conformist worship. It is situated in the Northampton Boot and Shoe Conservation Area. The business was run by the same family until its closure in 2019 and was one of the UK’s longest operating leather producers. The factory is a rectangular three storey building with gabled ends. It is typically built in red brick, roofed in Welsh slate and has blue brick door jambs and window sills. A main architectural design feature of the building’s interior is a twin colonnade of cast-iron columns, on three levels, which provide the main internal structural support system up to third floor level. The report greatly expands on a preliminary study of the building and record of its exterior, made by English Heritage in the course of the ‘Northamptonshire Boot & Shoe Industry Rapid Survey’ (1999). Principally, the present study derives information about the building’s historical context from an interview held during the course of research with Mr Brian Roy Dickens, former director of Dickens Brothers. The report includes a number of detailed photographs, of leather-production operations inside the factory, which were taken in 1929 to mark the company’s 20th anniversary. The report provides a descriptive and illustrative account of the building’s interior and exterior in its present ‘as found’ state by means of photographic catalogue, scaled elevations and plans.