East Carlton - East Carlton Hall and Grounds

East Carlton Hall and Grounds

In 1776/1778 Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet, commissioned John Johnson, a Leicester architect to design a new hall. It was built on the foundations of the previous hall and was enlarged by Sir John Henry Palmer, 7th Baronet, in 1817, after which it was leased to a variety of notable tenants. It was further rebuilt in 1870 by the architect Edmund Francis Law, with red brick and ironstone in the style of a French château and replaced a Palladian house of 1778. It is said that the stone wall which surrounds the south and east of the parkland was the re-used stone of the old Hall.The hall is now referred to as East Carlton Hall, and is a Grade II listed building with extensive grounds overlooking the Welland Valley.

In the early 20th century large deposits of iron ore were found in the area. Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd, a steel manufacturers from Glasgow set up a steel works in Corby, at the time just a small village, and purchased the Hall and the park of 102 acres (41 ha) from Sir Geoffrey Palmer for £5,000. By 1936 the hall was converted into a hostel for unmarried bachelor staff. As the steele works expanded the directors a house building programme to accommodate future employees. Part of the grounds of the hall were used to build housing for senior staff and built 59 houses during 1934 and 1935, making up a large part of East Carlton as it is known today. The original village is situated west of the hall grounds.

Stewarts and Lloyds, together with other steel manufacturers were nationalised in the 1960s becoming British Steel. The steel industry was later rationalised leading to the end of steel manufacturing in Corby in 1979. The house and grounds were later acquired by Corby Borough Council. The house is now let as private accommodation and is not open to the public. The grounds have now become a country park open to the public.