gallery

M. L. P 19th Century
Corby Castle, Great Corby, Wetheral Cumbria, 1866 from the River Eden

inscribed and dated in the margin " Corby Castle Cumberland 1866"

pencil and watercolour
33 x 25.50 cm.
Notes

Corby Castle is an ancestral home of the Howard family situated on the southern edge of the village of Great Corby in northern Cumbria, England. It was originally built in the 13th century as a red sandstone tower house by the Salkeld Family, who also owned the nearby Salkeld Hall of similar age. It was sold in 1611 to Lord William Howard, the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who added a two-storied L-shaped house onto the peel tower.

The present façade was built for Henry Howard by Peter Nicholson between April 1812 and September 1817. Henry Howard had inherited the estate from Sir Francis Howard, Lord William Howard's second son.

In late 1981 Corby Castle was used as one of the main locations for the shooting of a five-part BBC mini-series. The dramatisation of Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White starred Diana Quick as Marian Halcombe. Robert Martin and Ian Yeates started a glassworks in the grounds of Corby Castle in 1986. They made a range of glass ornaments such as paperweights, perfume bottles and vases. Their work is signed "Martin Yeates".

Corby Castle was sold by Sir John Howard-Lawson Bt. and Lady Howard-Lawson in 1994 to Northern Irish businessman Edward Haughey. The principal contents of the Castle were sold in 1994 through Phillips of Scotland. Dr Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond (a life peer, represented the Ulster Unionist party in the House of Lords) and carried out a total refurbishment of Corby Castle, and used it for both family and corporate entertainment. The castle is reputedly haunted by a ghost known as 'the radiant boy'. Corby Bridge, a Grade I listed railway viaduct of 1834, is nearby.

Great Corby is a village in northern Cumbria, England, above the eastern bank of a wooded gorge on the River Eden. Directly across the river from Great Corby is the village of Wetheral. The two villages are linked by a railway viaduct (Corby Bridge, popularly known as 'Wetheral Viaduct'). This is on the Tyne Valley Line from Newcastle to Carlisle, which passes to the north of the village. The railway station at Wetheral is accessible to residents of Great Corby by a pedestrian footpath attached to the railway viaduct.

Administratively Great Corby lies within the civil parish and electoral ward of Great Corby and Geltsdale. It thus forms part of the district administered as the City of Carlisle. Women in the ward had the highest life expectancy at birth, 97.2 years, of any ward in England and Wales in 2016. The village pub/restaurant, the Queen Inn, is next to the upper village green in the heart of the village.

Early in 2015, the Corby Bridge Inn, beside the level crossing on the railway at the northern entrance to the village, closed after being sold to a property developer. The pub, a Grade II Listed Building, was built in the 1830s to serve the needs of travellers on the new railway, and was thought to be the oldest 'railway' pub in the world. Cumberland Breweries, a local microbrewery, operates from the Old Forge, opposite the Queen Inn.

There is also a primary school. There is no church, the village forming part of Wetheral parish. The village's Methodist chapel closed in the mid 80's, and the building is now a private house. Great Corby is notable for Corby Castle, a historic home of the Howard family on the south-western edge of the village overlooking the river. Corby Castle is now owned by the family of Northern Irish businessman Edward Haughey. In 1836 one of the very earliest railway accidents happened in Corby Bridge, close to the railway viaduct.

Within the village many sporting events occur largely due to the effort of the Great Corby Cricket Club. They recently merged forces with Scotby CC meaning the sides altogether now have two senior teams and two junior sides. There are around 50 junior and 40 senior members within the club which is run by enthusiastic members who are looking to improve facilities and opportunities for the local cricket side.