The town of Corby is located in the north of the county. The town has 8th century origins. The Danes formed a settlement called Koris By (Koris' settlement), by the time of the Domesday Book the name had changed to Corbei. Corby was granted a charter to hold annual fairs and have a market by King Henry III in 1226.
Iron ore mines have been in the area since Roman times. An ironstone industry developed in the 19th century which helped Corby grow rapidly from a village to an industrial town. The steel making industry began in Corby in the mid-1930s with workers from elsewhere coming to Corby to further increase it in size. The population grew from 1,500 in 1931 to around 12,000 by the end of the decade! Corby was designated a New Town in 1950. Corby continued to grow as the steel industry flourished.
However, as with many industrial towns in Britain big changes and decline came in the 1970s and 1980s with the closure of Corby steelworks. New industries have come to the town in recent years helping the economy to recover. Corby's railway station (which opened in 1879) closed in 1967, re-opened in 1987 then closed again in 1990! Corby was one of the largest towns in Europe without a railway station but it re-opened again in 2009 and the line has now been electrified with regular trains to London so hopefully this time it should remain open!
