IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Thomas Street, WELLINGBOROUGH, NN8 1DU

This neat row of terraced houses probably dates from the 1890s. It is not present on the large scale Ordnance Survey map of 1888, but is present (the houses on this side of the street, not those on the other) on that of 1900.

On Mill Road.

This area of Wellingborough is littered with scattered odd buildings that reflect the town's industrial past. This former boot and shoe factory, at the junction of Thomas Street with Mill Road, probably dates from the 1890s. It was latterly a warehouse, but now appears to be in residential use.

This area of Wellingborough is littered with scattered odd buildings that reflect the town's industrial past. This former boot and shoe factory, at the junction of Strode Road with Mill Road, dates from 1898. It was latterly occupied by the engineering firm of Gilmour & Vale, and now appears to be disused, although the pile of building material bags outside would suggest that refurbishment work is imminent. Please see Dave Bevis's photograph of the same building from the same viewpoint in 2012 here Image]

On Mill Road.

This is the Gordon Street aspect of the 1895 built Grade II Listed former Victoria Junior School, currently boarded up and out of use. The adjacent former Infants' School is also included in the Listing. According to the Historic England website the reason for the Listing is that "the buildings are an impressive example of a late C19 provincial board school, with three handsome street frontages, two cupolas and a striking plenum tower. The design was by Walter Talbot Brown, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects with a number of listed buildings to his name. The high-quality Elizabethan and Jacobean decorations owe their inspiration to his collaboration with J A Gotch on Architecture of the Renaissance in England, published in 1891-4. Both the junior and infants schools have double-height central halls with elaborate interiors, that of the junior school being particularly fine. The schools are remarkably unaltered and retain all their original features including panelling, glazed screens, cupboards, doors and windows. The quality of craftsmanship and materials reflects the wealth and civic pride generated by the Northamptonshire boot and shoe industry. The schools are still surrounded by their original context of terraced housing and boot and shoe factory buildings." From the Historic England website again, "The octagonal plenum tower (on the left in this view) has a top stage of the tower of eight round-arched openings with banded stone and red brick columns in between, carved stone festoons and cherubs below, and a stone dentil course above. The tower is surmounted by a banded stone and red brick spire with a miniature stone lantern." And again from the Historic England website, "The wooden bell-cote (on the right in this view) is octagonal and has a balustrade and dentilated eaves. It is surmounted by a lead-clad cupola and spire and sits on a square lead-clad base." It is not known by the photographer what the future holds for this building. Evidently it is not fit for purpose for its original use any more, and there are details online of a planning proposal from several years ago to convert it into residential apartments.

On Mill Road.

This public house (or private club as it states to be now) is on the junction of Ranelagh Road with Mill Road. Old large scale Ordnance Survey maps show that it was once the Ranelagh Hotel.

The Rising Sun is on Mill Road at its junction with Victoria Road. It is shown on the large scale Ordnance Survey map of 1886, opposite the former Victoria Theatre. The road configuration here at that time was markedly different from today's layout. Victoria Road stopped at a T-junction with Mill Road and Cambridge Street, which themselves formed a continuous thoroughfare, while Cannon Street took off from Cambridge Street along what is now the side access to the west of the traffic island with the trees. There were then buildings adjoining The Rising Sun on this side of it.

On Mill Road.