Corby - A Pictorial History

Fülszöveg

ABOUT THIS BOOK
CORBY has been a community for over a thousand years, but for most of that time it was just a sleepy and insignificant forest village. Its spectacular growth from a population of just 1,500 souls, some 60 years ago, to become the second largest town in the county, with some 55,000 inhabitants today, bringing national significance and Borough status, has been well within the life-span of many who can still remember the original village. This book sets out to provide an insight into the early community, before and during the years of expansion, through to the remarkable recovery of the town after the closure of the 'Works' in 1980.
The great explosion in Corby's growth was triggered as long ago as the 1870s, when the cutting of the railway from Kettering to Manton not only caused a boom in the village brickworks but revealed the existence of great beds of ironstone. Over the next 50 years' the population doubled as Samuel Lloyd from Birmingham developed the new... Tovább

Fülszöveg

ABOUT THIS BOOK
CORBY has been a community for over a thousand years, but for most of that time it was just a sleepy and insignificant forest village. Its spectacular growth from a population of just 1,500 souls, some 60 years ago, to become the second largest town in the county, with some 55,000 inhabitants today, bringing national significance and Borough status, has been well within the life-span of many who can still remember the original village. This book sets out to provide an insight into the early community, before and during the years of expansion, through to the remarkable recovery of the town after the closure of the 'Works' in 1980.
The great explosion in Corby's growth was triggered as long ago as the 1870s, when the cutting of the railway from Kettering to Manton not only caused a boom in the village brickworks but revealed the existence of great beds of ironstone. Over the next 50 years' the population doubled as Samuel Lloyd from Birmingham developed the new industry and built small blast furnaces. But it was not until 1932 that work began on a large, integrated iron, steel and tubemaking complex. By the mid-'30s, the prospects of work drew many hundreds of men from all over the country, especially Scotland, and the great expansion was under way; continuing after the Second World War with Corby's designation as a New Town.
When British Steel closed the great complex, upwards of 10,000 people lost their jobs, including many others in businesses dependent on the 'Works', and the early '80s seemed a time of economic disaster for Corby. Yet recovery was rapid and the former 'one industry' town now enjoys a broad base of diversified industries and a national reputation for resilience. In this book a superb selection of photographs is skilfully employed by the author to reveal the town's historical background. It will bring back memories to many and provide an invaluable record of the past for the schoolchildren of today and for Corby folk in the future. Vissza