Midlander – There Can Be Only One…English Town with such a Scottish Culture

Corby is a small town in Northamptonshire that, along with neighbouring villages; Gretton, Stanion, Little Stanion, Weldon, Cottingham, Rockingham (home of the new Speedway Racetrack), East Carlton and Cottingham, makes up the Borough of Corby, otherwise known as ‘Little Scotland’.

How did a relatively unheard of town in England’s East Midlands acquire such a name? Read on and find out. Or for more interested readers, book into a Corby hotel and find out for yourself.

In the 1930s, Stewarts and Lloyds, the company that owned the iron mines in Corby built a steel works factory. This was a time of extreme depression in the Western regions of Scotland and as a result, many Scots moved South in search of labouring work. Large numbers found work Corby, and the village grew into a town.

It continued to grow through then ‘40s and ‘50s, with the steel industry economy booming. Then, in the post war era, Corby experienced a second influx from Scotland, as well as the boom births of many second generation Scots.

Nowadays, there is nowhere in England with so much Scottish cultural influence. The local accent, ‘Corbyite’ sounds very similar to the Glaswegian dialect and around 20 per cent of the current population were born in Scotland, with a further massive percentage being of Scottish ancestry. The town has more Scottish football fans than anywhere on the planet other than Northern Ireland and Scotland itself. The culture is widely celebrated, with Scottish food shops selling haggis and at one time dual – Gaelic signage in the city. Plus, if you check into one of the Corby hotels, you can catch the yearly ‘Highland Gathering’ with Scottish music and games.

The Corby Highland Gathering and Fun-day takes place in July with stalls, funfair, children’s activities, competitions, pipe bands, traditional dancing, appearances from Corby Town F.C, and more. The gathering has been going since 1968 when it was sponsored by the steel works. Nowadays it is council funded and attracts all the locals, and brings down even more Scots.