  We present a combined X-ray and optical analysis of the cold front cluster
Abell 1201 using archival Chandra, data and multi-object spectroscopy taken
with the 3.9m Anglo Australian and 6.5m Multiple Mirror Telescopes. This paper
represents the first in a series presenting a study of a sample of cold front
clusters selected from the Chandra, archives with the aim of relating cold
fronts to merger activity, understanding the dynamics of mergers and their
effect on the cluster constituents. The Chandra X-ray imagery of Abell 1201
reveals two conspicuous surface brightness discontinuities, which are shown to
be cold fronts, and a remnant core structure. Temperature maps reveal a complex
multi-phase temperature structure with regions of hot gas interspersed with
fingers of cold gas. Our optical analysis is based on a sample of 321 confirmed
members, whose mean redshift is z=0.1673 +/- 0.0002 and velocity dispersion is
778 +/- 36 km/s. We search for dynamical substructure and find clear evidence
for multiple localized velocity substructures coincident with over-densities in
the galaxy surface density. Most notably, we find structure coincident with the
remnant X-ray core. Despite the clear evidence for dynamical activity, we find
the peculiar velocity distribution does not deviate significantly from
Gaussian. We apply two-body dynamical analyses in order to assess which of the
substructures are bound, and thus dynamically important in terms of the cluster
merger history. We propose that the cold fronts in Abell 1201 are a consequence
of its merger with a smaller subunit, which has induced gas motions that gave
rise to `sloshing' cold fronts. Abell 1201 illustrates the value of combining
multi-wavelength data and multiple substructure detection techniques when
attempting to ascertain the dynamical state of a cluster.
