 The population of the Great Oakley Ward of Corby Borough Council at the 2011 Census was 2,248.Great (and Little) Oakley lie in the upper reaches of the Harpers Brook on a narrow strip of limestone, sandstone and clay where the valley has cut down through the extensive boulder clay capped plateau.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.