Looking Back : How shoe factories put the sole into Northampton

Northampton has been synonymous with the manufacture of boots and shoes for nearly nine centuries
The Queen visits Churchs shoe factory, St James Northampton on a whistle-stop county visit in 1965The Queen visits Churchs shoe factory, St James Northampton on a whistle-stop county visit in 1965
The Queen visits Churchs shoe factory, St James Northampton on a whistle-stop county visit in 1965

With its plentiful supply of oak bark and water for tanning, a top quality supply of leather from locally-reared cattle and its location in the centre of the country for trade, Northamptonshire has proved the ideal place to allow shoemaking to flourish