Cobthorne is generally assumed to have been built around 1657 for Major William Butler, a Major-General in Oliver Cromwell’s army, who had attended Oundle Grammar School. The first recorded owner was John Creed, who may have moved in when he married the niece of the Earl of Sandwich in 1668. Their descendants owned it until the late 18th century. For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Oundle’s brewing family, the Smiths, lived there. In 1945, Cobthorne became the permanent home of the Head of Oundle School.
