Front of R.C. Cotton and Sons shoe manufactuers and retailers, Oundle
This large boot was used to advertise Cottons, a local shoe shop in the town of Oundle, where the same family have run the shoe and boot business since 1877. It is symbolic of the importance of the shoemaking and selling trade across the whole of Northamptonshire.
RC Cotton and Sons was one of the oldest family-owned shoe shops in the country, being run by the same family for over 130 years. The shop was established in 1877 by Robert Charles Cotton, the great-grandfather of Anne Cotton, who was the last family owner. Her great-great grandfather Reuben Cotton was born in 1834 and had 12 children, the eldest was Robert Charles who was born in Lavenden in 1854 and moved to the Oundle area in 1870. He was a practical boot and shoemaker and set up the business in a shop on North Street, Oundle.
The business moved to the Market Place in 1879 and then again in 1902 when the property, 7 Market Place, became the shoe shop we know today. Anne Cotton started work at the shop in 1987 and the shop became the oldest established business in Oundle by the early 2000s.
Number 70 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.
Oundle
Contributed by Carole Bancroft-Turner, Management Committee Chair, Oundle Museum
This shoemaker's bench is evidence of the shoemaking trade before mechanisation aand factory manufacture when solitary shoemakers mostly worked in small workshops in their home.
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© Oundle Museum
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NMAG