Did You Know?

Early settlement in Corby dates back to the 8th century when a group of Danish invaders, with their leader, Kori, settled there. It thus became known as 'Kori's by' - Kori's settlement. Most of East Anglia in the 6th – 7th centuries was part of Denmark and Corby was named in the Doomsday Book in 1086AD as Corbei.

Corby was granted the right to hold two annual fairs and a market by Henry III in 1226. In 1568 Corby was granted a charter by Elizabeth I that exempted local landowners from tolls (the fee paid by travellers to use the long distance public roads), dues (an early form of income tax) and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia.

The Corby Pole Fair is an event that has taken place every 20 years since 1862 in celebration of the charter. According to a newspaper report dated 14 June 1862 which focuses on the extravagances of the fair, the fugitive slave John Anderson was described as being educated in the Corby British School, giving the town an unusual link to slavery in the United States.

Corby has always been known as an iron-working region, even before the arrival of the Romans and their ironworks and the Doomsday Book names the 'Manor of Corbei' as an iron-producing centre.

With the arrival of rail in the 19th century iron working really took off. It was in the 1930's that construction of what was to become one of the largest steelworks in Britain commenced. Corby had its own ironstone works in 1910, the plant being taken over by Stewarts and Lloyds in 1920.

Corby became a centre of frantic activity and people flooded from all over Britain to the town for employment. The first of the Scots arriving around 1934 to form a large proportion of the new population and who still have a considerable influence on the culture of the Borough today.

During World War II, the skills of Corby workers made a significant contribution to the invasion of Europe, by developing the pipeline under the ocean (PLUTO), a cross-channel link, carrying essential fuel to the Allied forces to support the Allied forces after the D Day invasion.

Corby was designated as a new town in 1950. Most of the housing in the town has been built since this date. The first new street completed was Bessemer Grove, about the same time that the re-built blast furnace was lit. New industry was subsequently attracted to the town when the Thatcher government designated it as an Enterprise Zone.

A crater on Mars discovered in the late 1970s was named after Corby, in reference to a famous transcript of a conversation in June 1969 between the crew of the Apollo 11 mission and mission control, whereby world news was relayed to the crew, amongst it was the news that "in Corby, an Irishman named John Coyle won the World's Porridge Eating Championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in 10 minutes". The reply from Apollo 11: "I'd like to enter Aldrin in the porridge eating contest next time; he's on the 19th bowl. Roger."