Northampton Audio Tour: Clicking and Closing

Explore Northampton at your own pace

Northampton's boots once walked the world, and behind every pair was a parlour, a workshop, a factory floor and a family. This self-guided audio tour traces a working day through England's shoemaking capital, from the open Market Square where shoemakers organised against the new machines, to St Crispin's altar at All Saints, through the cordwainer-chapel where Northampton's shoemakers learned to organise, to the very block where the first 'monster warehouse' broke the parlour trade and triggered the strike of 1858, and finally to a Victorian prison whose vaults now hold one of the world's great shoe collections. You will hear what a clicker actually clicked, why the closing rooms were full of women on rented Singer machines, and how a 1936 super-cinema, a leather-works in Pont Street Dutch brick and a 1940 youth club for the no-collar kids of the Boroughs all share the same streets. Walk slowly. The buildings still hold their shape, and the shoes still hold their stitches.

Tour details

• Duration: 1 hour 33 minutes, entirely at your own pace
• Distance: around 4.6 km (2.9 miles)
• Stops: 12 landmarks, including Market Square, The Deco, formerly the Savoy and the ABC Cinema, Abington Square, Lower Mounts, gateway to the Boot and Shoe Quarter
• Audio: up to 30 minutes of narration
• Starts at: Market Square

Map data by Mapbox and OpenStreetMap contributors

How it works

• Book here and a redemption code arrives by email within minutes.
• Download the free AudaTours app on your phone and enter the code.
• Download the tour once and the whole thing works offline.
• Walk to the first stop and press play. The audio for each landmark starts automatically as you approach it, so your phone can stay in your pocket.

There is no fixed date and no start time. The date you pick at checkout does not matter, and the tour stays on your phone permanently, so you can use it whenever you next visit and walk it again as often as you like.

What is included

• Professionally narrated audio that plays automatically at each stop
• An interactive map showing the walking route between landmarks
• Full offline access once downloaded, so you need no data or signal
• Freedom to start, pause and resume whenever you like
• Lifetime access - your code never expires

Where you will stop

• Market Square
• The Deco, formerly the Savoy and the ABC Cinema, Abington Square
• Lower Mounts, gateway to the Boot and Shoe Quarter
• GT Hawkins Factory, Overstone Road and St Michael's Road
• Tricker's Factory, 56-60 St Michael's Road
• Crockett and Jones Factory, Perry Street and Magee Street
• Campbell Square, Northampton
• Roadmender (nightclub)
• Castle Hill URC, Northampton
• All Saints' Church, Northampton
• Northampton Guildhall
• Northampton Museum and Art Gallery

Image: AudaTours

What is AudaTours?

AudaTours turns a walk through a city into a story. Our guides bring landmarks to life with the history, the scandals and the detail you would never get from a plaque.

• Immersive: real stories about the places in front of you, not a dry commentary
• Offline: download once and use it with no data, anywhere
• At your own pace: start, pause and resume whenever you want
• Accurate: every story is built from verified historical sources and checked before release

Good to know

• This is a self-guided audio tour on your own phone. There is no in-person guide.
• It does not include entry to any building or site along the route.
• The landmarks on the tour are not affiliated with AudaTours.
• You need a smartphone with Android 7.0 or later, or iOS 16 or later.
• Bring headphones and start with a charged phone.

Who it suits

Solo travellers, couples, families and small groups who would rather explore on their own schedule than follow a guide and a fixed departure time. It suits a first visit, and it suits anyone who has already seen the famous sights and wants to know what actually happened in them.

Image credits

Photos: Mickapedia (Wikimedia Commons, public domain).