Corby Glen, formerly just Corby, is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

South Kesteven South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. Its council is based in Grantham. The district also includes the towns of Bourne, ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is approximately south-east of

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

and north west of Bourne. In 2011 it had a population of 1,017.

History

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

dedicated to

Saint John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on h ...

dates in part from the 12th century and has a notable collection of 14th- and 15th-century

mural A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' ...

s. Following the purchase of Irnham Hall by a Protestant family in the mid-19th century the Catholic Chapel of the hall was taken down and re-erected in Corby Glen as the Roman

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Our Lady of Mount Carmel, or Virgin of Carmel, is a Roman Catholic Titles of Mary, title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated as patron saint, patroness of the Carmelites, Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits living on M ...

to the designs of architects Weightman, Hadfield & Goldie. A thousand wagonloads of material were carried between the two sites. The new church opened in 1856. The church closed in 2012. The church and the attached presbytery are Grade II

Listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. The village's first

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

chapel was built in 1846, and replaced in 1902 by the present building which is still in use. The original chapel is now a private house. To the north of the parish church is a substantial castle mound or

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

. Historian David Roffe refers to it as "an early defended manor house". In 1238 King Henry III chartered a weekly market and an annual sheep fair. The sheep fair is still held and is claimed to be the longest-established such event in Britain. Th
Willoughby Memorial Library and Art Gallery
is housed in a 17th-century building that was originally Reads Grammar School. The school was founded in 1669 by the bequest of Charles Read (1604–1669), who was born at Darlton in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

and became a wealthy shipper in Hull. Read also founded Read School at Drax in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

and a grammar school at Tuxford in Notts. Reads Grammar School in Corby closed in 1909. The building was restored and reopened for its current uses in 1965 by the Willoughby Memorial Trust which was founded by Lord Ancaster in memory of his son Timothy, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, who died in 1963. The gallery holds a series of exhibitions from Easter to November and an annual Open Art Competition. In 1852 the Great Northern Railway opened the

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

near Corby Glen. In 1853 the GNR opened Corby Glen railway station on the main line about 1 mile (1½ km) from the village. Corby Glen was served by local trains between

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

and

. On 3 July 1938 the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...

locomotive ''Mallard'' passed at high speed through Corby Glen shortly before achieving its world speed record for a steam locomotive seven miles further south near Carlby.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways closed Corby Glen station in 1959 and its yard is now occupied by a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

Geography

The village of Corby Glen is in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. It lies mainly to the north of the A151, a former

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

, and to the east of the West Glen River, near where the Glen flows through a small

graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

in the

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

limestone. Until the 1950s the name of the village was simply Corby. However, in the nearby county of Northamptonshire another

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

had been greatly enlarged by the addition of a steel works and housing to match. Some confusion arose between the two Corbys, so

ways consulted the villagers to choose an additional name to distinguish the two. The villagers chose "Glen" in reference to the western branch of the River Glen which flows through the village. In 1956 the civil parish was renamed from "Corby" to "Corby Glen".

Community

The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Corby Glen is part of the Corby Glen Group of the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

of Beltisloe. The Roman Catholic church closed in 2012. The Methodist congregation is still active in its own chapel, which is part of the Grantham and Vale of Belvoir circuit. The village has two active public houses, the Fighting Cocks (in the market place) and the Woodhouse Arms (at the crossroads). There is a small Co-op supermarket and an independent shop in a wooden hut next to the Fighting Cocks pub car park, and The Pantry, also in the market square. Other businesses include a Garage, the Sawmill, and the Hey Wine company. The Pantry, formerly a doctor's surgery in the market place, is a tea room and delicatessen and the post office branch is now maintained there. Community meeting rooms are available at the Church Rooms in Church Street, the Methodist Church, and the Ron Dawson Memorial Hall. The Ron Dawson Hall is part of the sports complex in Swinstead Road. There is an active bowls club with a crown green behind the Willoughby arts gallery. There is a small lending library at the art gallery, and a monthly visit by the mobile library. The Sheep Fair is still the biggest social event of the year. The 2013 event was the 775th, and attracted a very large crowd. The traditional auction of sheep was held on the Monday. The village is served by bus routes 303 to Bourne, and Route 4 to Stamford or Grantham.

Education

A new secondary school opened in Corby Glen in 1963. The school became a comprehensive, and it was renamed the Charles Read High School in 1999. It converted to an academy in January 2011; in 2013, the David Ross Foundation took responsibility for maintaining the school. Corby Glen also has a community

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

Notable residents

* Beverley Allitt, nurse and serial child killer, grew up in the village. * John Hedley Lewis (1908 – 1976), chairman of Kesteven County Council and Lincolnshire County Council."Mr J. H. Lewis", ''The Times'' (London), 30 December 1976, p. 12

Gallery

File:Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Corby Glen - geograph.org.uk - 102824.jpg, The former Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, built in 1856 File:Charles Read Grammar School - geograph.org.uk - 90732.jpg, The Willoughby Memorial Library and Art Gallery in the Charles Read Grammar School File:The Charles Read Academy (geograph 3713734).jpg, The Charles Read Academy, built in 1963 File:The old Chapel (geograph 3713795).jpg, The Old Chapel, built in 1846 File:Methodist Church, Corby Glen - geograph.org.uk - 102856.jpg, The Methodist church, built in 1902 File:Motte, Corby Glen - geograph.org.uk - 102878.jpg, The Motte

References

External links

*
About the village
* {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire South Kesteven District