Heritage leather collection goes on show again
13/04/2012
Emphasising the city’s long-standing connections to the production of leather and footwear, the collection at the Northampton museum and art gallery contains 12,000 pairs of shoes, dating from 1620 to the present day. Highlights include the shoes Queen Victoria wore on her wedding day in 185 and the stilts in the shape of a pair of Doc Marten boots made for Elton John to wear in the Pinball Wizard sequence in the film of ‘Tommy, A Rock Opera’.
The refurbishment project involved an investment of more than £300,000 and had the support of inward investment body Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership. On the day the collection reopened for public viewing, the executive director of that organisation, Rob Purdie, said: “Northamptonshire’s educational, scientific and technical expertise is recognised worldwide and our leather merchants work internationally supplying just the right kind of leather for some of the most demanding global brands. The industry flourishes today.”
He added that the area is still home to some of the world’s most respected, high-end, handmade shoe brands including Church’s, Cheaney, Barker, John Lobb, Jones and Jeffery West.
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