Report - R S Lawrance Boot & Shoe - Desborough Mar 19

[Mikeymutt]

Missed that the first time. Norwich like Northampton was a big industry for shoe making. I knew a few people who worked in the factories. At Bally and Startrite, one of my mates his job was a clicker.

 

[b0swell]

Yeah though they were finally doing something with it.
There are better things in Northants tbh

Like what? looking everywhere cant find anything but the clocktower assylum

 

[The Young One]

Let me help you with a few friends of mine such as something called 28 days later search bar and maybe I don't know google maps but there's a couple other than St crispins 😉

 

[200milliondaylater]

Lovely photos! Just to confirm, the site is still there if anybody is interested.

 

[Luke1122]

wasnt sure if to post this or not as its a bit of a derp tbh, but dont think its been done since 14 & got a few reasonable pics.

Ok what do we know about this place... absolutely nothing!
I cant find much about this at all. Prev threads suggest a lot more history about owners etc but Im not convinced they are correct as the owner they mentioned had a factory on a different street.

Northants was & still is to a certain extent the shoe capital of the Uk, with dozens of manufactures in close proximity. Desborough (a very small town) itself had 7 different manufacturers in its heyday.
All but one have now gone from here.

The Explore
In keeping with my usual theme i had just an hour to sneak a visit here. I had been checking it out for a while as its only a few miles from me so had a plan of attach ready, access waser a bit trickier than I had anticipated.

As mentioned inside its a big empty victorian mess really but I managed to find a few minute details worth showing.

Loved the old lift control with room names on!

The only evidence I found of former use.

These blue steels were supplied by the company I manage by the looks of it!

Thanks as u can see there’s not much there but certainly worth a look if u have a chance. Part of the top floor is burnt out & the wooden lean to part is falling in on itself so I’m guessing Demi is the only way forward for this

Went today and managed to get onto the roof it’s a good view also their is 2 houses you can acces from the shoe factory that are also abandoned it’s pretty much empty but has some stuff leftover

 

[Bikin Glynn]

Went today and managed to get onto the roof it’s a good view also their is 2 houses you can acces from the shoe factory that are also abandoned it’s pretty much empty but has some stuff leftover

I'm.amazed if I'm honest thought they had sealed it up pretty good but there is lot of local kids always breaking it open.
Never really was anything in it tbh