Corby Castle is an ancestral home of the Howard family situated on the southern edge of the village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 of Great Corby

Great Corby

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...

 in northern Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

It was originally built in the 13th century as a red sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 tower house by the Salkeld Family, who also owned the nearby Salkeld Hall

Salkeld Hall

Salkeld Hall is a Red Sandstone Grade II* Listed country house in the village of Little Salkeld, Cumbria. It is the original residence of the Salkeld family.-History:...

 of similar age.

It was sold in 1611 to Lord William Howard, the third son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...

, who added a 2 storied L-shaped house onto the peel tower

Peel tower

Peel towers are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, intended as watch towers where signal fires could be lit by the garrison to warn of approaching danger...

.

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 5 part BBC Miniseries. The dramatisation of Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White, starred Diana Quick as Marian Halcombe.

Corby Castle was sold by Sir John Howard-Lawson

Lawson Baronets

There have been six Baronetcies created for persons with the surname of Lawson, two in the Baronetage of England and four in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...

 Bt. and Lady Howard-Lawson in 1994 to Northern Irish

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 businessman Edward Haughey

Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond

Edward Enda Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, OBE is an entrepreneur and politician. With an estimated personal wealth of £500m, he is the richest person in Northern Ireland, 9th richest in Ireland 250 member list and is joint 132nd richest person in the United Kingdom.-Biography:Edward Haughey was...

. The principal contents of the Castle were sold in 1994 through Phillips of Scotland. Dr Edward Haughey, now Baron Ballyedmond (a life peer, representing the Ulster Unionist party in the House of Lords) has carried out a total refurbishment of Corby Castle, and uses it for both family and corporate entertainment.