ASSOCIATION FOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017

TOUR NOTES

SOUTH EAST

EDITED BY DAVID INGHAM CONTRIBUTORS: PETER PERKINS MARILYN PALMER AND NICK CRANK INTRODUCTION TO THE SOUTH

LOCATION OF AIA CONFERENCES FROM 1973 to 2017

English counties are shown Welcome to the South East Midlands, an a width of 400m, the , a branch of with Old county boundaries area not previously visited by an AIA annual the , the conference (see map on inside front cover). and the Railway now Our visits take in sites in , traverse this gap in parallel. Once past this, and , not an area you are either in the North or the South, 1973- renowned for its great industrial enterpris- as shown by the sign in the Gap 1984 es. It was dominated by the great estates Service Station – the first motorway service of prominent landowners, which hindered station in . Many of our talks and industrial development and left many of the visits take in this considerable transport SCOTLAND 1985- villages unaltered and as attractive as those heritage. 1994 of the Cotswolds. Nevertheless, there was In the 1960s, the South moved north as a plenty of manufacturing going on in the further generation of new towns were con- past – textiles, leather goods and lace, for structed to meet the need of overspill from example – and widespread extraction of 1995- a rapidly expanding . had 2004 ironstone in the 19th and 20th centuries begun to take both people and business- NO which has left considerable traces. es from bombed-out areas of London in There are no major hills in the area and so the 1950s, but the government eventually NI CU decided on a completely new town to the Co.D 2005- many small airfields were constructed here, 2016 as we shall see during the conference. north of this, designated in 1967 as Milton Nevertheless, one of England’s best known Keynes. YK transport corridors, the , is References in these notes to GIHN numbers LA not far from our base at Moulton College. for the Northamptonshire tours relate to This shallow depression between two low site numbers in ‘A Guide to the Industrial hills in Northamptonshire was first exploit- CH NG LC Heritage of Northamptonshire’, distribut- DY ed as a transport route by the Romans. In ed recently to all AIA members.

ST LE NF SH CA Coaches for all tours will depart from the car park at the Main Centre. Please be prompt, NP WO WW 2017 SF as many of the tours are on a tight schedule. Remember to bring appropriate clothing and HF BD BU footwear with you. Maps showing the coach routes that we will be taking can be found in HT ES GL OX the centre pages of this booklet.

WL BK The 2017 conference has been organised by David Ingham and Nick Crank of CBA South SR KT Midlands, Peter Perkins of the Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, and SO HA SX Marilyn Palmer. We hope that you find the tours enjoyable as well as educational. DO These notes were compiled by David Ingham, with contributions from all members of the CO DV conference organising team. We are grateful to John Stengelhofen for the layout, design and the maps. cover photograph: the North entrance to Tunnel; see page 26

J.P.S 2017 1 © Association for Industrial Archaeology and contributing photographers, 2017 TOUR SUNDAY, 27th AUGUST A short coach ride from the museum to A a drop-off point will enable us to walk to the sites of the three missile launch CARPETBAGGER SECRET WARFARE MUSEUM, HARRINGTON pads. The concrete infrastructure is Site conditions clearly identifiable – a concrete base on which the missile was stored horizontal- The museum is primarily housed in one single-storey building, accessed from ly, the rail seating bolts which allowed the coach along a rough track and across grass. Toilet facilities are available. The the protective housing to be rolled blast walls of the Thor missile launch pads are accessed by walking c.0.5 miles away, and a series of bolts which held along a concrete road and across a ploughed field, on level ground. The coach the base on which the missile could be will leave Moulton at 1:30pm, returning about 6:00pm. raised to a vertical position. The base was flanked by concrete-lined pits The museum buildings are some of the all, 208 crew and 18 aircraft were lost Inside the museum at Harrington which held the propellant tanks, oxy- few remainders of Harrington Airfield, in action. missiles were 65 feet long and 8 feet gen on one side and fuel on the other, which was the first WWII airfield to be in diameter, with a range of 1,700 as well as pumping gear. There are also In September 1944, 60 Liberators were built by US Army engineers for the RAF, miles. Three were placed on above- massive L-shaped blast walls which handed over on 6 November 1943. It stripped down and flew 800,000 -gal ground launching pads and could be protected ancillary vehicles and various had three runways (one of 6,000 feet lons of fuel to airfields in France and deployed by crews that manned the other conduits, trenches and pits. Belgium to aid the advancing allied ar- and two of 4,200 feet), and was used site constantly – they were raised ready The tour will return through as an operational training unit for near- mies. In the closing months of the war, for firing during the Cuban missile crisis on the way back, driving past some of by Desborough airfield who were flying Mosquitos flew from Harrington at high of 1962. In August 1963, the missiles the town’s industrial buildings (cf. pp 28- Wellington bombers. altitude, picking up weak radio signals were removed and the airfield returned 29 of A Guide to the Industrial Heritage from agents inside Germany. In addi- to farmland. Most of the runways had The airfield was handed back to the of Northamptonshire). These include tion, adapted A-26 Invaders dropped already been removed. In September two shoe factories (GIHN 98 is dere- Americans in early 1944. By 27 May, agents into Germany. All USAAF aircraft 1987, 50 US ex-servicemen returned lict, but Cheaney’s (GIHN 99) is still in four squadrons of USAAF black-paint- and personnel left Harrington within two for dedication of a memorial to those of use), a former corset factory (GIHN 100) ed B-24 Liberators were based at months of the end of WWII, and the air- their colleagues who had died during and the former Desborough & Rothwell Harrington, all drastically modified to field was used by the RAF for storing the war. Station (GIHN 102) drop agents into occupied Europe at vehicles. night, as well as supplies to resistance groups. 1,744 successful sorties were Harrington airfield was re-activated undertaken during 1944, dropping 415 in 1959, becoming a joint USAAF/ agents and more than 31,000 packag- RAF firing site for Thor intercontinental es of supplies behind enemy lines. In ballistic missiles. These liquid-fuelled

2 3 The museum buildings Concrete blast walls at at Harrington Thor missile launch site B TOUR SUNDAY, 27th AUGUST

NORTHAMPTON: BOOTS & BEER Site conditions The walking tour of the Boot & Shoe Quarter will be entirely on paved surfaces, covering slight inclines. The guided visit to Phipps Brewery will involve going up and down stairs to get around the building. Toilet facilities are available at the brewery; it will also be possible to sample the beers. The coach will leave Moulton at 1:30pm, returning about 6:00pm; the coach will also take you from Former Grove Works, Clare Street. Former Waukerz factory, Overstone Road the Boot & Shoe Quarter to Phipps Brewery. © Peter Perkins ©Peter Perkins areas outside the town centre were de- factory buildings that were once used The Industrial Heritage of workers in their own homes or work- veloped, and the Boot & Shoe Quarter by the shoe and leather industries still ’s Boot & Shoe shops, before being sent back to the was one of the main areas for expansion remain, converted into other industrial warehouse for packing and distribu- Quarter: c.1:45 – 3:45pm between the late 1860s and the 1890s. use or apartments. The tour will look at We travel into the area just north of tion. The first stitching machines were This gave rise to the typical streets- a range of former shoe and leather fac- Northampton’s town centre, now a introduced in 1857, signalling the start cape of boot & shoe factories, usually tories, identifying the features relevant to Conservation Area called the Boot & of mechanisation, and manufacturing three storeys high, often on street cor- their use and the companies that used Shoe Quarter, where a guided walk will increasingly took place in factories over ners, interspersed amongst the terraced them. Details of the buildings can also look at some of the numerous former the next 30 years. housing. In addition, there were leather be found in your copy of A Guide to the boot, shoe and leather factories. In 1851, some 5,400 people were factories where skins were processed industrial Heritage of Northampton’s and finished (tanning was usually- car Boot & Shoe Quarter (GIHB&SQ). Boots and shoes were originally man- employed in shoe manufacturing in ried out adjacent to the ) as Depending on speed of progress, we will ufactured in Northampton by hand: Northampton. By 1901 this had in- well as factories producing shoe com- look at buildings in the Central, Western creased to more than 16,000. As more cut leather pieces were issued from ponents, wooden lasts, shoe machinery and Northern areas of the Boot & Shoe warehouses located in what is now the people moved into Northampton to and cardboard shoe boxes. Quarter as indicated on pp24-25 of town centre to be made into shoes by work in the expanding industry, so GIHB&SQ. Most of the shoe industry has now dis- appeared from the Boot & Shoe Quarter, If you become separated from your des- although the tour will include one facto- ignated party, make sure you make your ry that is still making shoes. Unlike the way to the meeting point at the junc- town centre, however, where the ear- tion of Overstone Road and St Michaels ly shoe factories/warehouses have al- Road by 3:45pm, whence we shall pro- most completely disappeared, over 100 ceed by coach to Phipps Brewery. Phipps Brewery, Northampton (GIHN 247): c. 4:00 – 5:45pm We’ll move on to visit the premises of of the 19th century, subsequently taking Phipps-NBC, a name which was syn- over a number of local breweries includ- onymous with brewing in Northampton ing Ratliffe & Jeffery of Northampton in from 1817 until the 1970s. Pickering 1899, Hipwell and Co. of Olney in 1920, Phipps began brewing in , Mannings of Northampton in 1926, and Northamptonshire in 1801, and in 1817 opened a second brewery in Bridge Campbell Praed of in Street, Northampton. The company 1953. In 1957, Phipps merged with the Former Cowper Works, Northampton Brewery Company to be- 4 Shakespeare Road. P Phipps & Co grew to become the larg- 5 © Peter Perkins est brewery in the Midlands by the end come Phipps-NBC. Phipps-NBC was taken over in 1960 by and launched ‘Phipps IPA’ in 2006 from SUNDAY 27TH AUGUST TOUR Watney Mann (of ‘Watneys Red Barrel’ a brewery in Oakham, but wanted to C infamy), and by the 1970s the Phipps brew it themselves, and found the ideal and NBC names had all but disap- premises in the old Ratliffe and Jeffery TO IRCHESTER: TRANSPORT AND IRONSTONE QUARRYING peared. In the early 1970s, both the brewery – a building which Phipps Site conditions Phipps and the NBC breweries in Bridge themselves had closed down 100 years Rushden Transport Museum is housed within the former railway station. There Street were demolished, to be replaced ago! are several rooms to explore, plus various rolling stock on the tracks outside. by the modern Carlsberg Brewery. Today, what was the four-storey Access to the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Irchester Country Park is along The present building was originally brewhouse remains, together with a surfaced path on level ground, roughly 0.5miles from the parking area. The Ratliffe & Jeffery’s Albion Steam single-storey and three-storey ranges country park also has several miles of surfaced and unsurfaced paths through Brewery, built in 1883 to replace smaller fronting Kingswell Street which were the former quarry workings; a map will be provided on the day and we will follow premises where Thomas Ratliffe started originally used for beer storage, part of the newly opened Ironstone Heritage Trail which finishes at a spectac- brewing in 1862. Brewing ceased here cooperage and a loading bay. The old ular viewpoint over the face which was worked by a dragline. so that you can choose your own route, although at the start of the visit we will be given access a few years after Phipps & Co took brewery loading bay has been turned to the base of the quarry face as a group. Surfaced paths have gradients of no over Ratliffe & Jeffery in 1899. The into a new brewing hall, and the cellars more than 1:12, but some unsurfaced paths through the hill-and-dale landscape buildings were in other industrial use hold brick arched conditioning tunnels, are steeper, and include some uneven wooden steps. The ground is likely to be throughout most of the 20th century, in addition to the ‘Kings Well’, an muddy in places on the unsurfaced paths, certainly in wet weather. notably by James Bros who produced underground aquifer which supplied lemonade here after WWI. In recent the old brewery with water for brewing. Toilet facilities are available at both venues; there is also a bar at the Transport years, Teasdale Leathers occupied the The building fronting Kingswell Street is Museum, and refreshment facilities at the Country Park. The coach will leave buildings facing Kingswell Street, until now the Albion Brewery Bar, open most Moulton at 1:30pm, returning about 6pm. they were returned to brewing in 2014 days, while a casino stands on the site Rushden Transport Museum and Rushden had no connection with by brothers Alaric and Quentin Neville. of the former brewery warehouse which (GIHN 350): c. 4.15 – 5.15pm the railway, the nearest stations be- The brothers had acquired the name faced south onto Commercial Street, The Midland Railway (MR) opened ing at and Irchester. As Phipps NBC from Scottish & Newcastle immediately west of the old brewhouse. its Leicester to Hitchin line through the boot & shoe industry expanded in , Wellingborough and both towns during the latter half of the left: Phipps brewery, in 1857 (the Bedford to St Pancras 19th century, so the need for a railway Kingswell Street route was not completed until 1868). link became pressing. In 1890, a line However, the towns of was authorised from the MR at Irchester

6 right: Rushden heritage 7 railway Irchester Country Park Peterborough line at Little Irchester, to (GIHN 157): c. 2.00 – 4.15pm quarries near Wollaston. Independent operator James Pain obtained lime- Unrestored ironstone quarry stone from here in 1905/6 and iron- Iron ore was smelted in Northamptonshire stone from 1911, laying standard gauge in Roman, Saxon and medieval times, tramway and using steam shovels to but the practice died out in the 15th remove the overburden. The company century. Ironstone was only ‘rediscov- became known as Irchester Ironstone ered’ in the middle of the 19th centu- Co from 1922. In 1924, coinciding with ry when railway construction started. the opening of the Wembley exhibition, Many of the early ironstone quarries be- the company, now a subsidiary of Cargo gan adjacent to the LNWR’s Blisworth Fleet Iron Co (later the South Durham to Peterborough line which was opened Steel & Iron Co), began quarrying what in 1845, using the railway to trans- became known as Wembley Pit on land port iron ore to blast furnaces either sandwiched between the railway and in Northamptonshire or further afield. Gypsy Lane, working eastwards to- Ironstone quarrying became a signifi- wards the village of Irchester. They had Rushden Station platform and rolling stock cant industry in the county, particularly to remove overburden up to 30m deep, in the northern half, through until 1980 using a large Ruston steam stripping Junction, south of Wellingborough, to acquired by the RHTS although it is when the large integrated iron and steel shovel to get at the 10m thick ironstone Rushden, Higham Ferrers and on to now separated from the station by a works at was closed. bed. This overburden was tipped onto to join up with the MR’s Kettering road which was built through the goods worked-out areas, leaving the ‘hill-and- Irchester Country Park is a largely un- to line. However, only the yard in 2005. The heritage railway is dale’ landscape that was typical of iron- restored ironstone quarry, immediately first 3½ miles of single track line was operated by The Rushden, Higham and stone quarries countywide. The iron ore south of the route of the former Blisworth constructed, with stations at Rushden Wellingborough Railway (RHWR) and was loaded into standard gauge wag- to Peterborough railway. Although most and at Higham Ferrers. The line opened presently has ½ mile of track. It uses ons and taken down to the railway at of what is visible dates from the 1930s, in September 1893 to goods traffic and Little Irchester for transshipment to blast both steam and diesel locomotives, there is evidence that the land was to passenger traffic in May 1894. The furnaces on Teesside. operating passenger trains at some worked for iron ore in this area as early line was never a commercial success, events throughout the year; the first one but regular services were in place until as 1884, when a narrow gauge tram- Iron ore extraction ceased at Wembley ran from Rushden Station on 13th June way ran south from the Blisworth to Pit in 1941, as the quarry was getting 1959, with holiday trains to Blackpool 2009, 50 years to the day from when the and Great Yarmouth continuing until last regular passenger service ceased. 1964. Goods services ceased in 1969, Plans for the future will see the total when the track was lifted and the sta- length of railway extended to a mile, tion and goods shed at Higham Ferrers establishing a halt in Higham Ferrers were demolished, though Rushden sta- and linking the towns again for the first tion and goods shed remained in British Railways ownership until it was sold to time since the railway was closed. The the local council in 1976. Transport Museum covers the growth of Rushden within the development Rushden Historical Transport Society of the road and rail networks, and the obtained a lease on Rushden station impact of this on the local population. building in 1984 and eventually (The Transport Museum is closed for purchased it in 1996. Today it operates emergency repairs at the time of writing, as a museum and a clubhouse, as but it is expected to be open by the end well as being a centre for real ales. of August.) Hill-and-dale 9 8 The goods shed has recently been landscape Ironstone quarry face

too close to the village of Irchester and conifer-covered hill-and-dale formations the iron ore bed was getting too deep. behind it. In many places it is possible Lodge Pit had already been opened to make out the route of the tramways south of Gypsy Lane in 1938, and that linked Lodge Quarry to a head- iron ore was transported from here by shunt where trains reversed down to tramway which passed beneath Gypsy the calcine clamps, then down to the Lane and through into Wembley Pit, railway line at Little Irchester. There are where it was calcined in large clamps even the remains of calcine clamps former goods shed at Irchester station, Inside the narrow gauge museum, with the (mixed with coal and burnt to remove where samples of calcined ore can still locomotive ‘Cambrai’ they moved into Irchester Country volatile components) before being taken be found. outside Stephenson valve gear built by down to the railway at Little Irchester. By Park in 1987, building a museum and Heritage Lottery Funding has recently Corpet Louvet in France, and a number 1969, quarrying ceased at Lodge Pit and a length of demonstration track. Rolling been obtained to restore the quarry of diesel locos. The museum also domestic refuse was tipped here until stock includes three 0-6-0 metre face, removing undergrowth that has contains displays relating to ironstone 1985, after which the land was restored gauge saddle-tank Pecket locos from built up over the past 40 years, and to quarrying, including a life-size diorama to agricultural use. Since Wembley Wellingborough ironstone quarries, install interpretation panels at key sites in of a quarry. Pit had been quarried prior to 1951, Cambrai, an 0-6-0 pannier tank with the park. An Ironstone Heritage Trail has however, there was no compulsion to been created to inform visitors about fill or restore it. In common with other quarrying at the park and the uses to early 20th-century ironstones quarries, which the ironstone was put. It opened the hill-and-dale landscape had been in July 2017, with information panels at planted with conifers. British Steel, who key points then owned the site, handed it over to Northamptonshire County Council In Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway 1971, who opened it up as Irchester Museum Country Park. Some years ago, a small group of Although some changes have been enthusiasts created the Irchester made to install new roads, and there are Narrow Gauge Railway Trust and began additional buildings and facilities, most to restore a number of metre-gauge of the old quarry remains undisturbed. industrial locomotives that had been The final working face remains on the used in the ironstone quarries in the 10 Exhibits outside the 11 eastern edge of the quarry, with the Wellingborough area. Beginning in the museum TOUR MONDAY 28TH AUGUST R101 airship, and the No. 2 Shed was steel, concrete and wooden buildings D transported here in 1928 from its former constructed and destructively tested BEDFORDSHIRE: TRANSPORT AND MILLING home at RNAS Pulham in Norfolk. within Shed 2. Site conditions The site became a storage station af- Both sheds have been used as film stu- ter work stopped on airships following dios, with Shed 2 currently leased to There are six hangars to view at the Shuttleworth Collection, which are accessed the R101’s crash in 1930, before be- Warner Bros. Shed 1 has recently un- through the visitor reception. There is also an adjacent Engineering Workshop, ing used from 1936 to construct bar- dergone an extensive programme of and historic vehicles and planes may be in operation at the time outside. The rage balloons. The sheds have had a restoration at the insistence of English whole site is on level ground, with most of the displays indoors. The toilet facil- wide range of uses since they ceased Heritage, completed in 2015, and is ities are available. to be part of RAF Cardington in the late once again being used for the con- Jordans Mill is a compac