The factory of the Ringstead Unity Co-operative Society, boot manufacturers, High-street, Ringstead, was destroyed by fire on Tuesday morning.
At 3.15 a.m. Mr Bernard C Kemp, manager of the society, hastened to the Thrapston Police Station and informed Inspector Baxter that the factory was on fire, and enquired where he could call up the fire brigade.
The inspector directed him to the captain of the Thrapston Brigade, and in a very few minutes Mr. Kemp returned and informed the inspector that no horses were available for the engine, and that therefore the brigade could not turn out.
Mr. Kemp then returned to Ringstead, and Inspector Baxter followed on his bicycle, arriving at ten minutes to four. There he found Sergt. Ellingham and P.C. Parker, the constable having to be sent to Raunds for their fire brigade, when it was found that they had no fire engine.
The Kettering Brigade were telephoned for, but, Ringstead not being in their district, they could not answer the call.
A strong wind was blowing, and the fire as a result burnt fiercely, the place quickly being gutted. Beyond keeping onlookers far enough away to be out of danger, nothing could be done. Even had a brigade arrived no water supply was available.
The origin of the outbreak is not known, but it is believed to have started in the upper storey. Shortly after 2 a.m. Mrs. M. Mayes, a widow living immediately opposite, noticed the upper storey of the factory on fire, and at once opened her bedroom window and shouted “Fire.”
This was heard by Mr. Henry Giddings, who lives close by. He immediately got up, and on going into the street saw the whole of the top part of the factory on fire, but at that time there appeared to him to be no fire downstairs.
When P.C. Parker arrived on the scene a few minutes later the fire had attacked the lower parts. The upper part of the building was used as the clicking and closing departments and the office. There appears to have been a considerable amount of stock in each department.
It is said that owing to the weather conditions of late, and the somewhat varied assortment of stock, and the unusual quantity of it, the upper part has been very hot to work in, and the only theory that is at present put forward is that of spontaneous combustion. The buildings and contents are totally destroyed, and the damage is roughly estimated at about £20,000, which is, we understand covered by insurance.
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