"FOOTSHAPE BOOT WORKS" 2019

Image: © Chris Taken: 27 Oct 2019

The former Barratts Shoes headquarters, in Kingsthorpe Hollow, now converted to apartments. A fine example of terracotta detailing, built in 1913. See Image and https://www.heritageofindustry.co.uk/citysafaris/PreviousCitySafaris/2012_Northampton/2012_Northampton.html Alas my memory of it is not a happy one. I used to pass it daily on the No.24 or 25 bus on my way to school in Abington Street, Northampton. I always rode on the upper deck for a better view. So also did a bunch of women who worked at the shoe factory. It was a cardinal sin for me and my fellow pupils not to wear the school hat, and unfortunately it identified us a pupils of what they called the "posh school". I couldn't wait for them to get off: they spent their entire journey jeering and mocking and hurling insults at me. I could have gone downstairs to the lower deck but I would not be bullied by them so I stayed. Ironically their factory survives, but my beautiful (but then much hated by me) gothic Notre Dame High School was pulled down and replaced by shops.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0