Told Here

Northampton

Every factory
has a story.

Explore the shoe factories and the lives behind them.

Narrated tour · starts with sound

Answered by Meta's Muse Spark Open

Barratt’sFootshape Boot Works · Kingsthorpe Road Explore this factory →

How to use the map

• Ask the map a question about the shoe trade. Meta's Muse Spark Open finds the answer in the map's sources and takes you there.
• TapClick a name or a pin to see its story.
• Drag with one fingerDrag with the mouse to move the map.
• Pinch, or tap + and −,Scroll the mouse wheel, or click + and −, to zoom in and out.
• Twist with two fingersHold Ctrl and drag to turn the map.
• Open a factory, then Walk round it to go slowly round the building.
• Start the tour visits each factory as it rises.
• A+ makes all the writing bigger. A makes it smaller again.

What the pins mean

Real family memories are added only with full consent.

Sounds (trimmed, faded and made quieter for the map): 'Old time clock from the 1960s' and 'Steam whistle, old factory siren blowing' by YleArkisto; 'Thinning leather edges' by Work With Sounds / Museum of Municipal Engineering; 'Shoemaker's press' by Work With Sounds / Werstas; all CC BY 4.0. Factory hum: 'Factory_Ambiance' by neilraouf, CC0. Rumble, clicks, page sounds and chime: made with ElevenLabs by Claude for Told Here. Tour voice: Eleanor, an AI voice made with ElevenLabs, reading facts from the place cards. Tour music: 'Old Northampton' from the Built on Boots score by Steve Hodges, made with Suno.

Map in 1900: Ordnance Survey six-inch map, second edition (about 1900), reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland, CC BY 4.0. Grey buildings: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL; heights from OpenStreetMap where known, otherwise estimated.