This permeable geology presumably provided a narrow strip of open pasture, the oak ley, along the valley within a broad tract of woodland on the boulder clay either side.

The present lord of the manor is Alexander de Capell Brooke, who lives with his family in Great Oakley Hall, which was extensively renovated in the 1960s.

The earliest enclosure recorded in Oakley is in 1505-6 when the Abbot of Pipewell enclosed 26 acres called Oldfald field and expelled five people.

A notebook contains great detail of the items to consider and ‘errors to avoid’; it lists the number of yardlands and beast commons, describes fencing and other costs, discussed what the tenants required, took advice from nearby parishes that had been recently enclosed (e. g. Brixworth), as well as giving retrospective information about cropping in the old enclosures and noting that conditions of tenancy had been to supply coal to the Hall.

Inside the church there are several monuments to the Brooke family, and the oak choir stalls are said to have come from the Cistercian abbey at Pipewell.

Although in recent years extensive new housing has been built on land heading towards Corby, much of Great Oakley remains unchanged.

A preservation order exists on all trees and stone houses in the village, and this will help to ensure that the character of Great Oakley remains for future generations.

St Michael and All Saints Church Media related to Great Oakley, Northamptonshire at Wikimedia Commons