Editing Corby (section)

==History==

===Early history===
[[Mesolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] artefacts have been found in the area surrounding Corby and human remains dating to the [[Bronze Age]] were found in 1970 at [[Cowthick Quarry|Cowthick]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/eastmidsfw/pdfs/14nhneba.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220071749/http://www.le.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/eastmidsfw/pdfs/14nhneba.pdf|url-status=dead|title=|archivedate=20 February 2006|website=www.le.ac.uk}}</ref> The first evidence of permanent settlement comes from the 8th century when [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] invaders arrived and the settlement became known as "Kori's by"&nbsp;– Kori's settlement. The settlement was recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 as "Corbei". Corby's emblem, the [[raven]], derives from an alternative meaning of this word. These Danish roots were recognised in the naming of the most southern of the town's housing estates, Danesholme, around which one of the Danish settlements was located.

Corby was granted the right to hold two annual fairs and a market by [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] in 1226. In 1568 Corby was granted a charter by [[Elizabeth I of England|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)<ref>[http://www.corby.gov.uk/an/wc.exe/ao2/View/?Doc=12317&Site=1182 Corby Borough Council – The History of Corby] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012120739/http://www.corby.gov.uk/an/wc.exe/ao2/View/?Doc=12317&Site=1182 |date=12 October 2007 }}</ref> and gave all men the right to refuse to serve in the local militia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/asop/corby/pole_fair/pole_charter.shtml |title=Corby Pole Fair Charter |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=30 April 2002 |access-date=2 October 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121114073015/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshire/asop/corby/pole_fair/pole_charter.shtml |archive-date=14 November 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> A popular legend is that the Queen was hunting in [[Rockingham Forest]] when she (dependent on the legend) either fell from her horse or became trapped in a bog whilst riding. Upon being rescued by villagers from Corby she granted the charter in gratitude for her rescue. Another popular explanation is that it was granted as a favour to her alleged lover [[Christopher Hatton|Sir Christopher Hatton]].

====Corby Pole Fair====
The Corby Pole Fair is an event that has taken place every 20 years since 1862 in celebration of the charter. The 1942 fair was not held due to the Second World War; it took place five years later. According to a newspaper report dated 14 June 1862 which focuses on the extravagances of the fair, the fugitive slave [[John Anderson (escaped slave)|John Anderson]] was described as being educated in the Corby British School,<ref>[http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000317/18620614/040/0008 Corby Pole Fair. | Northampton Mercury | Saturday 14 June 1862]. [[British Newspaper Archive]]. Retrieved on 17 July 2013.</ref> giving the town an unusual link to [[slavery in the United States]].

The most recent pole fair was held on Friday, 3 June 2022, to coincide with [[Elizabeth II|The Queen]]'s [[Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II|Platinum Jubilee]] celebrations.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Bagley|first=Alison|date=7 January 2021|title=June date set for Corby Pole Fair as double celebration for Queen's Platinum Jubilee|url=https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/people/june-date-set-corby-pole-fair-double-celebration-queens-platinum-jubilee-3085762|access-date=20 January 2021|work=Northamptonshire Telegraph|language=en|archive-date=7 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107120423/https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/people/june-date-set-corby-pole-fair-double-celebration-queens-platinum-jubilee-3085762|url-status=live}}</ref>

===From rural village to industrial town===
The local area has been worked for [[iron ore]] since Roman times. An ironstone industry developed in the 19th century with the coming of the railways and the discovery of extensive ironstone beds. By 1910 an ironstone works had been established. In 1931 Corby was a small village with a population of around 1,500. It grew rapidly into a reasonably sized industrial town, when the owners of the ironstone works, the steel firm [[Stewarts & Lloyds]], decided to build a large integrated ironstone and steel works on the site. The start of construction in 1934 drew workers from all over the country including many workers from the depressed west of [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland|Irish]] labourers. The first steel was produced in October 1935 and for decades afterwards the steel works dominated the town. By 1939 the population had grown to around 12,000, at which time Corby was thought to be the largest "village" in the country, but it was at that point that Corby was re-designated an [[Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland)|urban district]] (see the Local Government section below).

===1940s and 1950s===

During the [[Second World War]] the Corby steelworks were expected to be a target for [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[Luftwaffe|bombers]] but in the event there were only a few bombs dropped by solitary planes and there were no casualties. This may be because the whole area was blanketed in huge dense black, low-lying clouds created artificially by the intentional burning of oil and [[latex]] to hide the glowing [[Bessemer process|Bessemer]] converter furnaces at the steelworks from German bomber crews.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A2792072 |title=Memories of the Second World War |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=17 August 2009 |access-date=2 October 2013}}</ref> The only known remaining scars from German attacks can be found in the form of bullet holes visible on the front fascia of the old [[post office]] in Corby village (now known as Decades bar and restaurant). The Corby steelworks made a notable contribution to the war effort by manufacturing the steel tubes used in [[Operation Pluto]] (Pipe Line Under the Ocean) to supply fuel to Allied forces on the [[Europe]]an continent.

In 1950, with a population of 18,000, Corby was designated a [[New towns in the United Kingdom|New Town]] with [[William Holford]] as its architect. By 1951, he prepared the development plan with a car oriented layout and many areas of open space and woodland. In 1952, Holford produced the town centre plan and in 1954 the layout for the first 500 houses.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31245 |title=Mervyn Miller, ''Holford, William Graham, Baron Holford (1907–1975)'', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press 2004; accessed 21 January 2012 |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31245 |access-date=2 October 2013|last1=Miller |first1=Mervyn }}</ref> The town now underwent its second wave of expansion, mainly from [[Scotland]]. Corby is famous for its Scottish heritage based on decades of incoming steel workers and was for a time known locally as "Little Scotland".

===Decline of the steel industry===
[[File:Sundew dragline.jpg|350px|thumb|left|[[Sundew (dragline)|Sundew]] [[dragline excavator]] was a local landmark]]
In 1967 the British steel industry was [[Nationalization|nationalised]] and the [[Stewarts & Lloyds]] steel tube works at Corby became part of [[British Steel Corporation]]. The Government approved a ten-year development strategy with expenditure of £3,000 million from 1973 onwards, the objective of which was to convert BSC from a large number of small scale works, using largely obsolete equipment, to a far more compact organisation with highly competitive plant.
Steelmaking was to be concentrated in five main areas: South Wales, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland, most of which are coastal sites with access to economic supplies of iron rich imported ores.

It was not until 1975 that a closure programme was agreed after a 14-month review by Lord Beswick, the then Minister of State for Industry.<ref>{{cite web | title= Steel Industry (Closure Review) HC Deb 04 February 1975 vol 885 cc1150-68115 | url= https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1975/feb/04/steel-industry-closure-review | date= 1975 | website= api.parliament.uk | access-date= 12 January 2021 | archive-date= 26 February 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210226051649/https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1975/feb/04/steel-industry-closure-review | url-status= live }}</ref> Corby was not one of the Beswick Plants that were to close in the review. By this time BSC was plunging into loss and important parts of the investment programme was held back. The European Union, Davignon Plan, had also asked for Steel Capacity in Europe to be significantly reduced.

In May 1979, the new Conservative government minister, [[Keith Joseph|Sir Keith Joseph]] announced the closure of Corby Steelworks. By the end of 1981 more than 5,000 jobs had been lost from British Steel in Corby, and further cuts took the total loss to 11,000, leading to an unemployment rate of over 30%.<ref>{{cite web |author=The Committee Office, House of Commons |url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmtlgr/603/603ap33.htm |title=Memorandum by Corby Borough Council (NT 50) |publisher=Parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk |date=23 August 2002 |access-date=2 October 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004212607/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200102/cmselect/cmtlgr/603/603ap33.htm |archive-date=4 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>[http://www.lgiu.gov.uk/admin/images/uploaded/Stateofregions.pdf The State of the Regions]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, Local Government Information Unit</ref> Steel tube making continued, however, initially being supplied with steel by rail from Teesside and later from South Wales.

The title track of ''[[Steeltown]]'' by [[Big Country]] is about the loss of jobs in Corby.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Big Country|url = https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/big-country-19850228|magazine = Rolling Stone|date = 28 February 1985|access-date = 7 February 2016|url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160225070004/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/big-country-19850228|archive-date = 25 February 2016|df = dmy-all}}</ref>

Downside of the ensuing redevelopment of the location of the former steel works was the [[Corby toxic waste case]].

===Redevelopment===
[[File:Corby power station - geograph.org.uk - 362459.jpg|thumb|Corby's CCGT power station]]

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seatons.co.uk/about-us/history-of-corby/|title=A History of Corby|access-date=31 July 2018|archive-date=3 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803164942/https://www.seatons.co.uk/about-us/history-of-corby/|url-status=live}}</ref> New industry was subsequently attracted to the town when the Thatcher government designated it as an Enterprise Zone. By 1991 unemployment had returned to the national average.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_rate_page.jsp?u_id=10189020&c_id=10001043&data_theme=T_WK&id=0|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120919041805/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_rate_page.jsp?u_id=10189020&c_id=10001043&data_theme=T_WK&id=0|url-status=dead|title=Corby through time – Historical Statistics on Work & Poverty for the …|date=19 September 2012|archive-date=19 September 2012|website=visionofbritain.org.uk|access-date=1 May 2018}}</ref> The recovery of Corby was explained in 1990 by [[John Redwood]], then a junior minister in the [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Department of Trade and Industry]], as being a result of the establishment of the Enterprise Zone, the promotion of Corby by the Thatcher government, the work of private investors and the skills of the work force. Others believe the town's recovery was significantly assisted by its central location and substantial grants from the EU.<ref name="NNDC1">{{cite web |url=http://www.nndev.co.uk/business-strengths |title=Business Strengths |author=Northampton North Development Company |publisher=NNDC |access-date=14 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023032349/http://www.nndev.co.uk/business-strengths |archive-date=23 October 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref><ref name="NNDC2">{{cite web |url=http://www.nndev.co.uk/business-strengths/company-profiles |title=Company Profiles |author=Northampton North Development Company |publisher=NNDC |access-date=14 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621052118/http://www.nndev.co.uk/business-strengths/company-profiles |archive-date=21 June 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref> The enterprise zone was promoted by the Corby Industrial Development Centre through a prospectus that parodied ''[[The Economist]]'', titled ''The Ecorbyist'';<ref>Mark Page and Matthew Bristow, ''A History of the County of Northampton: Corby and Great Oakley'' (Victoria County History, 2013), p. 200 n. 3.</ref><ref>Peter B. Meyer, ''Comparative studies in local economic development: problems in policy implementation'' (Greenwood Press, 1993), p. 155.</ref> publication continued at least as late as 1994.<ref>Terry F. Buss and Robert Bartok, 'Corby, England, leads economic development in Europe', ''Economic Development Review'', 12.3 (Summer 1994), 83–87 (p. 84).</ref>

To the north of Corby, on the [[industrial estate]]s, is a 350MW [[Corby Power Station|power station]] built in 1994; and the [[Rockingham Motor Speedway]] built in 2001.