Corby Castle
| Corby Castle | |
| Cumberland | |
|---|---|
 Corby Castle, above the River Eden | |
| Type: | Tower House |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NY47085420 |
| Location: | 54°52’47"N, 2°49’35"W |
| Village: | Great Corby |
| History | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to a country house |
Corby Castle is a country house in Cumberland, which is the ancestral home of a cadet branch of the prominent Howard family. It stands on the southern edge of the village of Great Corby, by the River Eden to the east of Carlisle.
The house is a Grade I listed building.[1]
History
It was originally built in the 13th century,[1] as a red sandstone tower house by the Salkeld Family, who also owned the nearby Salkeld Hall of similar age.[2] It was sold in 1611 to Lord William Howard (1563–1640), the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, who added a two-storied L-shaped house onto the peel tower.[3] Henry Howard (1757–1842) inherited the estate from Sir Francis Howard, Lord William Howard's second son.
The present façade was built for Henry by Peter Nicholson between April 1812 and September 1817.[1]
Corby Castle was sold by Sir John Howard-Lawson Bt. and Lady Howard-Lawson in 1994 to Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, a businessman and Ulster Unionist Party life peer. The principal contents of the castle were sold in 1994 through Phillips of Scotland.[4] Lord Ballyedmond carried out a total refurbishment of the castle, using it for both family and corporate entertainment. After his death in a helicopter crash in 2014 the castle was put up for sale by his estate in 2024, with an asking price of £15 million.
On film
In 1981 the castle was used as a location for the filming of a five-part BBC dramatisation of the Wilkie Collins novel The Woman in White.[5] Robert Martin and Ian Yeates started a glassworks in the grounds of Corby Castle in 1986.[6]
Historic listing designations
Corby Castle is a Grade I listed building.[1] The estate has a number of other Grade I listed structures including:
- The eastern gate lodge and its walls and gate piers;[7][8]
- The cascade which descends to the River Eden,[9]
- A dovecote;[10]
- A walled kitchen garden;[11]
- A set of salmon coops;[12]
- A small garden temple known as The Tempietto.[13]
- A set of caves, known as St Constantine's Cells, believed to have been excavated in the Middle Ages by the monks of Wetheral Priory.[14]
A statue of St Constantine was added to the grounds to commemorate the cells by Philip Howard in 1843. It is a Grade II listed structure.[15] A statue of Polyphemus is listed at Grade II*.[16]
The estate itself is listed at Grade I on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.[17]
Pictures
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Corby Castle) |
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The castle, circa 1904 -
The castle gates, with the lodge visible to the right -
The cascade
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 National Heritage List 1087717: Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ Britannia (1607) - William Camden
- ↑ Charlie Emett "Discovering The Eden Valley" p109 ISBN 0-7509-4184-7
- ↑ Phillips of Scotland Catalogue - The Principal Contents of Corby Castle. Sale Number 3256. Auction on the premises Wednesday 18 May 1994.
- ↑ "The Woman in White (1982)". https://www.imdb.com.
- ↑ "Glassworks in a Castle (1986)". BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-344000-552000/page/9.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1335534: Gate Lodge to the east of Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1087674: Walls and gate piers to the east of Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1335535: Cascade to the west of Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1335536: Dovecote to the south-east of Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1122629: Walled kitchen garden to south-east (actually the north) of Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1087677: Salmon coops to the south of Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1335537: Tempietto at Corby Castle (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1087654: St Constantine's Cells (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1087678: Statue of St Constantine south of Corby Castle (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1087675: Statue of Polyphemus at Corby Castle (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1000662: Corby Castle Gardens (Register of Historic Parks and Gardens)