Building record 1160/0/321 - Nos 2 & 4 Cotton End

Pair of three-storey stone buildings; formerly a van builder's premises. Locally listed building.

{1} Nos 2 & 4 Cotton End were formerly used to build and repair horse-drawn vans. Three-storey stone buildings. No 2 has double doors on the ground floor. By 1899 the room behind was used as a coach showroom. In and around the yard to the west are buildings associated with the van business at the end of the 19th century. On the north side were the body shop, wheelwrights shop and smithy. Other buildings are associated with the present-day business of JE Matthews & Sons, steel fabricators.

{3} Known as Matthews' Van Works in 1899. There are some useful survivals relating to road transport- the former wheelwright's shop (with tools and templates for the construction of wooden wheels), a tyring furace and tyring platform above its own cooling tank (usually only found at large-scale works) and the blacksmiths shop where the horses that pulled Co-op milk floats were reshod.

{4} Painted signs survive on the stonework of the building. The clearest signs are located on the north gable and read from top down: 'Norton's/ Corn, Hay and Chaff Stores/Sacks…..N Hire' comprising white writing painted directly onto the stonework and below 'Norton's/ Sack Depot/ Corn Sacks….' white painted square with black writing. On the front of the building are two further painted signs, both white painted backgrounds with black writing but both very faint. The sign on the upper right reads 'Norton's …..' and the sign on the lower left is illegible [on Google Street view]. Also present on the right of the building's frontage is an old sign for Cotton End.

<1> Perkins, P, Whittaker, R and Denton, A, 2022, A Guide to the Industrial Heritage of Northamptonshire, p. 68/Site 301 (Book). SNN113793.

<2> West Northamptonshire Council, 2024, Local Heritage List, November 2024, p. 26 (known as 2-20 Cotton End) (Report). SNN116732.

<3> Starmer G., 1996, Proposed Cotton End Conservation Area in Northampton (Article). SNN116896.

<4> Google, Google Street View, C Walker; Accessed 09/09/2025 (Website). SNN116900.

Record last edited

Sep 9 2025 3:53PM