SNN112371 - A late 19th-century corn dealer's premises at the rear of Nos 4 & 5 Cambridge Street, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Historic Building Record

A record was made of a historic corn dealer’s premises and mill in the centre of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, prior to its conversion to residential usage. The building is located in a rear yard on the north side of Cambridge Street. The report provides a descriptive and illustrative account of the building in its ‘as found’ state, by means of photographic catalogue, scaled elevations and plans. The building’s history, function and chronological development are explored through a combination of oral tradition, primary documentary sources and material evidence. It is deduced that it was purposebuilt, in the late 1870s, by John Hobson Bearn, who ran a long-established corn dealership and bakery business, primarily based at Silver Street, Wellingborough. The Cambridge Street premises were purchased in 1900 by George William Hollis, a baker and confectioner of Wellingborough, who also bought up the Silver Street elements of Bearn’s bakery. After change of ownership in 1915 the building was put to other uses. Its tenant throughout the 1920s was a motor cab proprietor. This was followed by a builder, c. 1930 to c. 1945. From then onwards until c. 2010 it was used as a workshop for two successive building maintenance companies. On the ground floor were two suspended overhead flat belt-drive counter shafts bolted to floor joists. These are surmised to have been a part of the apparatus for driving a gas-powered corn crushing mill, installed in the late Victorian period. In addition, there were a few fittings in situ from the building’s later use as a workshop.