Coordinates: 52°55′05″N 0°38′17″W / 52.918°N 0.638°W / 52.918; -0.638
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the London to Edinburgh East Coast Main Line railway and the River Witham, and lies close to the A1 main north-south road.
Grantham is located approximately 26 miles (42 km) south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately 24 miles (39 km) east of the city of Nottingham. The resident population at the 2001 census was 34,592[1] in around 18,000 households, excluding the adjacent village of Great Gonerby. With the housing estates in Londonthorpe and Harrowby Without (around a population of 4,500), this figure would be around 42,000.[says who?]
The town is best known as the birthplace of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and the place where Isaac Newton went to school. It is close to an ancient Roman road, and was the scene of Oliver Cromwell's first advantage over Royalists during the English Civil War at Gonerby Moor.[citation needed] Grantham is also notable for having the first female police officers in the United Kingdom, in 1914, and producing the first running diesel engine in 1892, and the UK's first tractor in 1896.
The origin of "Grantham" is uncertain, although the name is said probably to be Old English "Granta+ham", meaning "Granta's homestead". It appeared as early as 1086 in the Domesday Book in its present form of Grantham,[2] but was also recorded variously as Grandham, Granham and Graham. The place name element grand could possibly mean "gravel", although it has also been suggested that the Roman name for the River Witham was "Granta".[citation needed]
The name is the origin of the given name Graham.[3]
Late neolithic vessels from a burial were found at Little Gonerby, in the north of the town, in 1875.[4] A number of flint blades that have been found, including from near Welham Street to the south-east of the town centre and from near Barrowby where a macehead has also been found. At Little Gonerby a neolithic settlement sites was discovered with finds of pottery and flints.
There have been a number of finds of flint and stone tools including palaeolithic hand-axes, from the Cherry Orchard Estate, to the west of the town centre, and from near North Lodge on the hill top south of Barrowby. Mesolithic flints have also been recovered from the Cherry Orchard Estate as well as from sites to the west of Great Gonerby
To the north-east of the town centre a Bronze Age bucket and urn cemetery, with cremation burials and ploughed-out barrows, has been recorded. Bronze Age flint scatters have also been found in several places, particularly on the higher ground near Barrowby. At Saltersford a Bronze Age ingot and a rapier were found. There are also several ring ditches on the higher ground above Saltersford.[5]
The Domesday account notes Queen Edith having 12 carucates to the geld, with no arable land outside the village. She had a hall, and two carucates and land for threeploughs without geld, and 111 burgesses. Ivo had one church and four mills rendering 12s and eight acres of meadow without geld. The lands of Bishop Osmond[clarification needed] were described as "In Londonthorpe ... is land for two ploughs. This land belongs to the church of Grantham. In Spittlegate St. Wulfram of Grantham has half a carucate of land to the geld. In Great Gonerby, St. Wulfram of Grantham has 1 carucate of land. There is land for twelve oxen."[6]
In 1363 Grantham Castle was granted to Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and fifth son of Edward III of England, It was north-east of St Wulfram's, and has its legacy in the naming of Castlegate.[citation needed]
Grantham received its Charter of Incorporation in 1463.[citation needed]
The town developed when the railway came to the town. The Nottingham Line (LNER) arrived first in 1850, then the London line (GNR) - the Towns Line from Peterborough to Retford - arrived in 1852. The Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway arrived in 1857.[citation needed]
Until the 1970s the housing estates west of the town centre were green fields. Green Hill, on the A52, was literally a green hill.[citation needed]
Army training base on the side of the A52
During the Dambuster Raids Royal Air Force missions in May 1943, the RAF Bomber Command's No. 5 Group and the operation HQ was in St Vincents,[7] a building which later housed a district council planning department. It was built by Richard Hornsby in 1865, lived in by Richard Hornsby's son, and is now a private house. In 1944 (including D-Day), this was the headquarters for the USAAF's Ninth Air Force's IX Troop Carrier Command, being known as Grantham Lodge.[8] During the early part of the war Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet lived in the town.[citation needed]
RAF Spitalgate trained pilots during both world wars, initially as a Royal Flying Corps establishment, but has never been an operational fighter or bomber base; although it did see operational service during the 1943 invasion of Europe as a base for American and Polish gliders and parachutists. It officially closed in 1974. The WRAF had been there since 1960, and moved to RAF Hereford (now the home of the SAS).[citation needed]
RAF Spitalgate is now[when?] the Territorial Army Royal Logistic Corps Prince William of Gloucester Barracks. Grantham College used the site for football development.[9] The large mast on the base was part of the BT microwave network.[citation needed]
The RAF Regiment was formed just north-east of the town in parts of Londonthorpe and Harrowby Without during December 1941 with its headquarters at RAF Alma Park which is recognised as the birthplace of the Corps.[10] The Alma Park and Belton Park estates had jointly been the training centre for the Machine Gun Corps from November 1915.[11] In total Harrowby Camp, as it was then known, housed 18,000 men during the First World War.[citation needed]
The RAF Regiment grew to in excess of 66,000 personnel, and during training were housed at RAF Belton Park, which was the Regiment's first depot, RAF Folkingham and RAF North Witham.[clarification needed] The RAF Regiment stayed until August 1946, when it left for RAF Catterick.[citation needed]
Grantham is notable as being the first place in the world after London to recruit and train women police officers. Grantham was the first provincial force to ask the newly formed Corps of Women’s Police Volunteers to supply them with occasional policewomen, recognising them as particularly useful for dealing with women and juveniles. In December 1914 Miss Damer Dawson, the Chief of the Corps, came to Grantham to supervise the preliminary work of the women police. The officers stationed at Grantham were Miss Allen and Miss Harburn. (Grantham Journal, 19.12.1914) In 1915, Grantham magistrates swore in Mrs Edith Smith, making her the first proper policewoman in Britain with full powers of arrest.[citation needed]
In 1905 Richard Hornsby (1790-1864) & Sons of Grantham (founded 1815) invented the revolutionary caterpillar track, for use with Hornsby's oil engines; these engines were developed by Yorkshireman Herbert Akroyd Stuart, from which compression-ignition principle the diesel engine evolved, being manufactured in Grantham from 8 July 1892.[12] Although these engines were not wholly compression-ignition derived, later in 1892 a prototype high-pressure version was built at Hornsby's, developed by Thomas Henry Barton OBE - later to be the founder of Nottingham's Barton Transport, whereby ignition was achieved solely (100%) through compression; it ran continuously for six hours, being the first known diesel engine. In the town, Hornsby's built Elsham House (the grounds became Grantham College) and the Shirley Croft. Their site on Houghton Road was bought from Lord Dysart.[citation needed]
In 1909 Hornsby's showed the British Army their invention, who were bemused, but took the idea no further than that, although they subsequently bought four caterpillar tractors in 1910 to tow artillery. A short time later, Hornsbys sold the patent for the caterpillar track in 1914 to The Holt Manufacturing Company of California, USA for $8,000, having only sold one caterpillar tractor commercially.[13] Hornsby's design was far ahead of anything else around at the time. Through ownership of the patent, this company became the successful Caterpillar Inc. Tractor Company. Benjamin Holt even claimed to be the real inventor. In December 1914 the British Army's Colonel Ernest Swinton saw one of Holt's caterpillar tractors towing a piece of artillery, and realised its potential as an attack vehicle. One year later the tank was born (using Hornsby's initial designs), being made in nearby Lincoln by William Foster. It first saw action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on 15 September 1916.[citation needed]
In 1918 Hornsby's amalgamated with Rustons and the company became Ruston & Hornsby. In the 1920s the company had their own orchestra in the town; the site was a diesel engine plant. During the Second World War, the company made tanks such as the Matilda at the Grantham factory. Ruston and Hornsby left in 1963 and most of the factory was taken over by a subsidiary, Alfred Wiseman Gears, who left in 1968.[citation needed]
Aveling & Porter of Rochester, Kent, merged with Barford & Perkins of Peterborough to become Aveling-Barford Ltd in 1934, largely due to financial help from Ruston & Hornsby, when both companies had entered into administration. The new company took a former site of Hornsbys, naming it the 'Invicta' works, from the motto on the coat of arms of Kent, and translates as 'unconquered'; all Aveling & Porter machinery was brought from Kent by rail.[citation needed]
During the 1970s it was the town's largest employer with around 2,000 employees.[14][15] It initially prospered, but with the sinking market for large dumper trucks and road rollers, it declined. Their agricultural division was based at Belton, which in 1947 developed the world's smallest tractor, the Barford Atom, weighing 177 lbs.[citation needed]
Now as Barford Construction Equipment, it makes dumpers for construction sites, being owned by Wordsworth Holdings PLC, owned in turn by the entrepreneur Duncan Wordsworth until it went into administration.[16][17] In March 2010 Wordsworth Holdings went into administration. A restructuring package resulted in ownership transferring to Bowdon Investment Group in May 2010, and is known as Invictas Engineering.[18]
A trailer company, Crane-Fruehauf, moved into part of the factory, from its former home at Dereham, when it went into receivership in early 2005.[19]
British Manufacture and Research Company (British Marc Ltd or BMARC), on Springfield Road, made munitions, notably the Hispano cannon for the Spitfire and Hurricane from 1937 onwards. It was owned by the Swiss company Oerlikon from 1971 until 1988, becoming part of Astra Holdings plc. The company was bought by British Aerospace in 1992, who afterwards closed the site which has now been developed as a housing estate. The site's former offices are now business units for the Springfield Business Centre. Grantham's register office was moved there in 2007.[citation needed]
Grantham once lay within the ancient Winnibriggs and Threo wapentake in the Soke of Grantham in the Parts of Kesteven.[20]
Politically the town is part of the Grantham and Stamford constituency and is represented in Parliament by Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP) Nicholas Boles who was elected in May 2010 after the resignation of Quentin Davies. Davies had been elected to the seat as a Conservative before crossing the floor to join the Labour Party; the constituency has a long history of electing Conservative members of Parliament, and Davies holding the seat for Labour was the subject of much local resentment.[citation needed]
The local authority - South Kesteven District Council - is currently Conservative controlled, with the current political makeup being 38 Conservative, 12 Independent, 7 Labour and 1 Liberal Democrat councillors.[21] Before SKDC in 1974, the local area was represented by Grantham Borough Council, based on St Peters Hill, and West Kesteven Rural District, based on Sandon Close; this became the planning department of SKDC. In November 1973 it was decided to make Grantham the headquarters of SKDC, first based in the former offices of Grantham Corporation.[citation needed]
The Grantham Charter Trustees have responsibility for the ceremonial functions remaining from the former Grantham Borough Council. These include civic ceremonies, annual commemorative events, hosting official visits and maintaining the town's regalia. The Charter Trustees consist of the Grantham District Councillors on South Kesteven District Council and two members of the Charter Trustees are elected annually to become the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Grantham. The Charter Trustees hold meetings in the Guildhall, in the Mayor's Parlour. Currently, Grantham does not have a Town Council, the only town in South Kesteven without one. This unresolved situation has been a subject of local debate and controversy.[citation needed]
The town boundary crosses the A1 to the west at the Dysart Road bridge. North of there it lies to the east of the A1. It crosses the B1174 at Gonerby Hill. All of the Manthorpe estate is a part of the town, but the (smaller) Manthorpe village and the church are part of Belton and Manthorpe civil parish. The boundary then follows Green Lane, bordering the civil parish of Harrowby. It passes to the west of Harrowby Hal and over Hall's Hill. It then crosses the A52 at the start of Somerby Hill, borders Little Ponton, and crosses the B1174 at the southern end of the Spittlegate Level Industrial Estate.
The main local landmark is the parish church of St Wulfram's, which has the sixth highest spire (282.5 feet (86.1 m) high) among English churches. It is the second tallest church in Lincolnshire, after St James Church in Louth. It is also home to England's first public library, dating from 1598, when Francis Trigge, rector of Welbourn, gave £100 for a small chained library of books for the clergy and literate laity of Grantham. Two hundred and fifty of the original volumes remain and are kept in a small room above the South Porch. From October 1974 the church was permanently floodlit at night.
The Anglican church in the New Somerby district, dedicated to St Anne and seating about 350, was erected as a mission church in 1884 and built from iron. A mission church, dedicated to St Saviour and seating about 150, was built from brick in the Little Gonerby district in 1884. The Church of St John the Evangelist was built from stone in the Spittlegate district in 1840-41. It seated about 1,100.[22]
Today the Deanery of Grantham still includes the churches of St Anne and St John the Evangelist amongst its 18 churches.[23] The Bishop of Grantham is currently Tim Ellis; his official residence is in Long Bennington.[24]
St Mary's Catholic Church is located on North Parade.[25] Grantham Baptist Church is located on Wharf Road.[26] Grantham Christchurch LEP Church (United Reformed) is located on Finkin Street.[27] Harrowby Lane Methodist Church dates from the late 1920s.[28]
The food-processing industry, with Grantham Hospital, is currently the largest Grantham employer.[citation needed] Moy Park (formerly Padleys, now owned by MPP Holdings) is at Gonerby Hill Foot; GW Padley bought the site in 1977 from Wolsey, a former garment manufacturer, and the site is a poultry hatchery.[citation needed] Moy Park are owned by Marfrig of São Paulo, with Marfrig Europe based at Preston Deanery in Hackleton, Northamptonshire. Aviagen Turkeys also have a poultry hatchery at farther along the B1174 at Gonerby Moor.[29] In the same area is Sharmans Agricultural at College Farm.[30] Brake Bros Ltd have a depot near the Gonerby Moor service station, off the B1174.[citation needed]
Fenland Foods (part of Northern Foods) on the Earlesfield Industrial Estate, was mothballed in September 2008 following loss of business with Marks and Spencer, their sole customer;[31]. Close to the new police station is Brewsters Brewing. On Ellesmere Business park is Väderstad-Verken UK (Vaderstad Ltd)[32], its parent company based in Väderstad in Sweden.[citation needed] Also on Ellesmere Business park is Tecknit Europe (makers of electromagnetic shielding equipment), owned from 2006 by Parker Hannifin based in Cranford, New Jersey.[citation needed]
At Easton, 7 miles (11.3 km) south from Grantham, are two large facilities. The first is Norbert Dentressangle who bought Christian Salvesen plc in November 2007 and have maintained the frozen storage and distribution operation which has been at the site since the late 1960s.[citation needed] The second is McCain Foods who purchased Potato and Allied Services (PAS) in 1991, who had run a potato processing factory on this site since the early 1970s; this has since been extended to include a dedicated Fries-To-Go[clarification needed] factory. There was a third large frozen vegetable processing factory owned and operated by Christian Salvesen. However this was sold to Pinguin Foods in August 2007[33] who closed the facility in December 2008.[34]
Spittlegate Level (B1174) - the former A1 south of the town, home of many local companies and the former Corus Service Centre
Bell & Webster[35] are a nationally-known company, part of Eleco plc[36] based in Ware, that makes precast concrete. Stanborough Press, the UK division of the Adventist Book Centre, is based nearby.[37] Vale Garden Houses make conservatories on Londonthorpe Road.[38] On the Withambrook Park Ind Estate, at the southern end of Belton Park, are Stanhay Webb (formerly owned by Wordsworth Holdings, and now independent) who make seed drills.[39] Nearby RC Setchfield supply agricultural equipment.[40] Holscot Group make fluoroplastics, and Farm Electronics[41] make drying equipment for grain stores, and for storing potatoes and onions on farms. Rapstrap, founded in Grantham in 2002, moved to Hertfordshire after being sued for patent infringement.[citation needed] Amberjac Projects is the only European company that provides plug-in conversion for conventional hybrid vehicles.[42][43]
Escritt Barrell Golding[44] a local Chartered Surveyors and Estate Agents still operate in Grantham, having been founded in 1860. Jourdan plc[45] (former Thomas Jourdan) is based in the town which from 1973 until 2009 owned John Corby Ltd. (now owned by Huddersfield-based Fired-Up Group),[46] the maker of the Corby Trouser Press. Belvoir Lettings is a national estate agent based in the town on London Road.[citation needed]
BGB Innovation is on Dysart Road[47] next to the A1 bridge; off Trent Road opposite the leisure centre is Grantham Book Services (GBS)[48]. GBS has been based in Grantham since May 1975, when known as Chatto, Bodley Head & Cape Services. Chatto & Windus had merged with Jonathan Cape in 1969. The former site was officially opened on 23 September 1975 by Michael Foot MP.[citation needed] Random House was formed in 1987 from a combination of book companies, and in 1990 the site became known as Grantham Book Services.[citation needed] It now supplies for Barrington Stoke, Osprey Group, Nosy Crow, Portfolio Books, Marco Polo Travel Publishing, Perseus Books, Quiller Publishing, and Publishers Group.[citation needed] The company won an award in 1992 from the British Book Awards.[citation needed]
Grantham Engineering is on Harlaxton Road.[49] The town has one of the only three branches of the Melton Mowbray Building Society. Lenco International are located on the site of a former cinema in George Street[50]
The conference and hospitality industry are well represented in the Grantham area,[says who?] with the Olde Barn Hotel in Marston, the De Vere Belton Woods Hotel, the Ramada hotel and various golf clubs. Stoke Rochford Hall staged a Lib Dem education conference in 2001,[citation needed] and won the Les Routiers Wedding Venue of the Year in 2011.[citation needed] The Griffin Inn at Irnham won the 2012 Les Routiers B&B of the Year Award.[citation needed]
Business meetings are held at the Ramada hotel on Swingbridge Road (near the A1/A607 junction),[citation needed] the Olde Barn at Marston,[citation needed] and also at the EM Learning Centre on Londonthorpe Road.[51]
The sign of the Angel and Royal
The Angel and Royal, situated on the High Sreet, is widely regarded as "the oldest surviving English Inn". The main building façade as it appears today was built about 600 years ago, but the site had already been an inn for 200 years. It was originally built as a hostel for the Knights Templar. King John is reputed to have visited with his Royal Court in 1213. The inn was extended in the mid 14th Century and again in the 15th Century.
A visit by Richard III was the origin of the gold emblem angel holding the King’s crown over the original archway. In 1483 Richard held court and it was from the "Chambre de’ Roi", that he dispatched a letter bidding for the Great Seal to proclaim the treachery of his cousin, the Duke of Buckingham, leading to the signature of Buckingham's death warrant. Copies of the letter, the original of which is kept by the British Museum, are displayed adjacent to the Richard III lounge and the King’s Room Restaurant.
King Charles I made use of the King’s Room during his visit in 1633 and Oliver Cromwell also stayed at the Angel after his successful battle near Grantham in 1643. The cellars and foundations of the inn are reputed to date from the 9th Century, and are rumoured to be linked by tunnels to both St Wulframs Church and the Town’s Market Square. In 1707 the then landlord Michael Solomon died, but left a legacy of 40 shillings a year to pay for the preaching of a sermon, against the evils of drunkenness, for every Mayor.
The prime position of the inn on the Great North Way led to its long history as a coaching inn, which accounts for its characteristic layout, with long courtyard, old stables and entrances to front and rear. In 1800, six inns were listed in Grantham together with 21 alehouses. The Angel's great prosperity declined markedly with the coming of the railways.
By the middle of the 1800’s the Angel had also enjoyed the patronage of King George IV. In 1866 the then Prince of Wales visited Grantham, directly leading to the second part of the inn's name. In the early 1920’s the word Inn was dropped and the building became a hotel.
After World War II, the hotel was purchased by Trust House Hotels, later to become Trust House Forte. It remained with Trust House until a few years ago. Since when there has been a succession of owners, including several brewery companies, including Best Western GB. In May 2002, the Angela and Royal was purchased by a local consortium of business professionals. [52]
Brook Street and Hill Avenue sub post offices were closed in Grantham in 2008 as part of the Post Office Network Change programme. In August 2010 it was confirmed that the Grantham branch of Marks and Spencer would close, with two other Lincolnshire branches in Skegness and Scunthorpe, because of low sales. The closure had been met with protests from the local community.[53] Haldanes, a chain of around 20 supermarkets, based as far north as Scotland and based on Ruston Road, went into administration.[citation needed] The former HMRC office at Crown House on Castlegate closed in early 2010, relocating to two sites in Lincoln.[54]
The Grantham Parade and the Grantham Festival take place every year. There was an annual pig drive through the centre of the town until 1962, when it was deemed[by whom?] too dangerous; this tradition dated back to 1755, when pig farmers from the area moved pigs to greener pastures.[citation needed] Previously, the annual Kesteven Schools' Speech and Drama Festival was held in the town.[citation needed]
Grantham and its surrounding area is home to the Peregrine Falcons, which roost in the bell tower of St Wulframs Church, and the "Grantham Gobbler", a Heron. Both of these birds are voracious predators, which has upset pigeon fanciers and fish lovers.[says who?]
Grantham is surrounded by rolling countryside and woodland, such as nearby Ponton Park Wood, which has walks and views of woods and farmland.[citation needed]
To the south of the town, between Little Ponton and Saltersford, the River Witham flows through marshes and water meadows. These support support a variety of plant species including vetches, cowslip, Primula veris, Lady's bedstraw {Galium verum}, and orchids, including the Southern Marsh Orchid, and wildlife, including herons, ducks, geese, water vole, and the now critically endangered white clawed crayfish. This area has notable populations of dragonflies, especially Aeshna grandis, Anax imperator, Libellula quadrimaculata and Calopteryx splendens, that are also found on Grantham Canal, which runs through The Vale of Belvoir to the west of the town. Wildlife can also be found in the town's Wyndham and Dysart Parks.[citation needed]
The Woodland Trust is based on Dysart Road, and has been in Grantham since 1978. Natural England had one of their two Lincolnshire offices on Wharf Road until early 2009.[citation needed]
Wyndham Park has two children's play areas. There is an open air paddling pool, football pitch, skateboard park and cafe. Dysart Park has a paddling pool and safe play area for children under six, a green for football and a bandstand. Indoor amenities for children include a swimming pool at the Meres Leisure Centre. The public library is located in the Sir Isaac Newton Centre, which includes Grantham Museum and the Guildhall Theatre.[55] There is also a Fun Farm on Dysart Road.[citation needed]
Organisations for young people include Army cadets (both QRL Queen's Royal Lancers and RLC) Brownies, Guides and Air Cadets.[citation needed]
Belton House is a popular National Trust site with events for for children, a play area, train rides, picnic area and woodland walk.[citation needed]
There is a small FM radio transmitter near the town's bypass on Gorse Lane from which BBC Lincolnshire and Lincs FM braodcast. Most television programmes are broadcast from Waltham, between Grantham and Melton, due to the line of sight to Belmont being blocked by hills to the east of the town.[citation needed] Grantham now has a full time community radio station, Gravity FM, which broadcasts over the air and online.[56]
The town is known for Gingerbread biscuits, first known as Grantham Whetstones.[citation needed] In 1740 a local tradesman, baker William Egglestone, mistook one ingredient for another while preparing cakes. After baking the cakes he offered them for sale in his shop under the name of Grantham Gingerbreads. The cakes became popular and profitable for Egglestone, who passed his recipe to his successors, the present day Catlins, whose premises still occupy the original shop erected on High Street in 1560.[citation needed]
Grantham's local newspaper, The Grantham Journal, first went on sale in 1854 under the name The Grantham Journal of Useful, Instructive and Entertaining Knowledge and Monthly Advertiser, which was shortened to its current name a few years later.[citation needed] The 'Journal' is owned by Johnston Press, and has a sister newspaper in Melton Mowbray, the Melton Times. In the 1960s and earlier it produced the Melton Journal and Rutland Journal, both versions of the main paper. It today produces a separate Bingham edition.[citation needed]
Class 91 Electric train at the station in May 2004, looking south
Bridge 66 on the Grantham Canal at Harlaxton
Spittlegate Millhouse, Grantham
Grantham railway station is served by the London-Edinburgh East Coast Main Line (between the stops for Peterborough and Newark Northgate), and the Nottingham to Skegness Line (Poacher Line). Liverpool-Norwich trains also call at Grantham. Electric trains began running in October 1988. Transport links to Nottingham and Peterborough attract people to live in Grantham yet work in a larger city.[citation needed] The town's grammar schools also attract pupils from Radcliffe on Trent, Bingham, Newark and even Retford via the train.[citation needed] Grantham is the best-served station in Lincolnshire,[citation needed] although after October 1970, Lincolnshire's railways were mostly closed. Prior to October 1970 the connection from King's Cross to Lincoln St. Marks was through Grantham and followed the A607 via Leadenham.
In 1906 a rail accident killed 14 people.[citation needed]
The A1 main road from London to Edinburgh runs past the town, which was bypassed in 1962. High Street, until recently,[when?] was part of the A52, which runs to Nottingham. Wharf Road and London Road junction is still a busy junction on the A607 for Lincoln. Motorway-style Grantham North Services, at the north end of Grantham bypass, is on a new junction which replaced a roundabout in May 2008.[57] East to west traffic on the A52 causes Grantham the most problems, not least to two of its frequently-hit railway bridges.[citation needed] The east-west bypass will cross Spittlegate Level and join the A52 next to the former RAF Spitalgate.[citation needed]
Grantham, with Stamford, had been earmarked for a bypass before the war in 1939. There were 60 serious accidents a year, with three to four deaths. After the war, on 21 November 1945, there was a meeting at the Guildhall about the proposed bypass of the London-Edinburgh-Thurso trunk road for Grantham and Great Gonerby. This was the first enquiry into a trunk road scheme in the country after the war. The proposed route followed the current line, from Little Ponton to College Farm, except it was to be a single carriageway road.[citation needed]
On 8 February 1960, it was announced that bypass would be built, including the route south to Colsterworth. Robert McGregor and Sons Ltd of Manchester would build the road for £1,856,009 (who then built the Newark Bypass in 1964). The bridges were built by Simon Carves of Cheadle Hulme. It was formally opened on 10 October 1962 by James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster, then the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire (from 1950–75).[58] He was married to the (only) daughter of Nancy Astor.
Grantham was once linked to Nottingham by the Grantham Canal. Currently the canal is in a state of disrepair, but some sections are undergoing restoration.[citation needed] It is possible to walk along the canal at Harlaxton village.
The River Witham runs through Grantham. It has a riverside walk linking Dysart Park and Wyndham Park, on which is a view of Spittlegate Millhouse. The walk passes an allotment and the rear of Sainsbury's car park, access to which is by a pedestrian bridge at the end of College Street. There are other foot bridges with views of the river and its weirs. Swans, ducks and trout are among the wildlife that can be seen along the river.
Grantham College, a further education college for the district, opened in 1948, for those not attending school sixth forms. It has a satellite site at Sleaford, Sleaford College.[citation needed] Since September 2008 the Walton Girls High School on Kitty Briggs Lane near Harlaxton Road has run post-16 courses as Grantham's only sixth form college.[citation needed]
Mannequin of Isaac Newton at Grantham Museum
Two notable schools in the district are Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and The King's Grammar School. Both have large sixth forms and eminent past students. Britain's first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, attended Kesteven and Grantham, and Isaac Newton famously attended The King's. Both schools achieve high examination results and hold high places in the county's league tables.[citation needed] Both have remained single-sex up to the age of 16.
In 1970, Kesteven County Council (based in Sleaford) announced plans to turn the grammar schools into co-educational comprehensives for ages of 11–16 and leave Grantham College the only sixth form for the town. Later it was proposed to create two sixth-form colleges from one of the grammar schools. Other parts of Kesteven became comprehensive but responsibility for education passed to Lincolnshire under the local government reorganization of 1974, and both schools stayed as grammar schools.[citation needed] Ex-pupil Margaret Thatcher was education secretary at the time. The governors of the King's School delayed the process in July 1973, and in January 1975 a plan to make Grantham comprehensive was voted against by the county council, having been approved by the council's own education committee.[citation needed]
All four secondary modern schools are on the outskirts of Grantham. Only three of the six secondary schools are co-educational. In recent years,[when?] in the Grantham area of South Kesteven, around 60% of those at 16 years of age achieved five GCSEs at grades A*-C. This compares to 45% for those in Melton and under 30% for those in Newark.[citation needed]
Central Technology & Sports College, a co-educational school, is sited near Manthorpe. It became the Priory Ruskin Academy in September 2010.[citation needed]
On Gorse Lane is Grantham Preparatory School, an independent school preparing entrants for the 11-plus examination.[citation needed] Another private primary school is Dudley House School.[59] Near to St Wulfram's on Castlegate is the National Church of England Junior School,[60] built in 1859, and a feeder school for the town's grammar schools.[citation needed]
The Blessed Hugh More School, a Catholic secondary school, closed in 1989.[61]
The living pub sign of The Beehive, at 10 Castlegate
Grantham House is to the east of the church, and a National Trust property.
Grantham has the country's only 'living' public house sign: a beehive of South African bees situated outside since 1830.
Grantham was the site of an Eleanor Cross, erected by Edward I at each of the resting places of the body of his queen, following her death at Harby, as it was carried to London for burial in 1290. No trace of the cross remains, but is thought to be near St Peters Hill.[citation needed]
Edith Smith Way is a road next to the Guildhall Arts Centre, on St Peter's Hill; it is named after England's first policewoman. Mary Allen and Ellen F. Harburn reported for duty on 27 November 1914.[62] Mary Allen was a former suffragette and had been previously arrested outside the House of Commons and later went on to be the commandant of the UK's women's police force from the 1920s up to 1940. She helped to set up women's police forces in other countries, including Germany. Edith Smith became the first female with powers of arrest in August 1915.[63]
The Angel & Royal Hotel is one of Britain's oldest inns, dating from about 1200.[64] King John held court there in 1213, when the site was a hostel run by the Knights Templar.[citation needed] Richard III signed and sealed the death warrant of the Duke of Buckingham at the inn.[citation needed] It is one of only three Knights Templar hostels in England - another was at Glastonbury.[citation needed]
Sandon Road is named after Viscount Sandon, also the Earl of Harrowby. The first person with the title was Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby; a road is also named after him. He purchased Harrowby Hall in 1754. The current incumbent is Dudley Ryder, 8th Earl of Harrowby.[citation needed]
The Blue Pig, one of many Blue pubs, is situated on Vine Street, near the Church of St Wulfram. The building is one of probably only four remaining Tudor buildings in the town and is a survivor of the disastrous fires of the 1660s.[citation needed] It was first mentioned as an inn in a trade directory of 1846, when the landlord was one Richard Summersby. The property was then owned by the Manners family (giving the derivation of Blue in the name).[citation needed]
The nearby George Hotel (known as St Peter's Place, now the George Shopping Centre) was mentioned in Charles Dickens's novel Nicholas Nickleby.[citation needed] Much of the town's property and industrial estates have been owned by Buckminster Trust Estates since the time of the Earl of Dysart.[citation needed]
To the west of the town, near the A607, is Baird'smaltings, formerly owned by Moray Firth until 1999, and before that, R & W Paul. Other maltings in the town have been converted for residential use such as Riverview Maltings near the river and formerly owned by Lee & Grinling’s.[citation needed]
The JobCentre, when it opened in 1975, was the first of its kind.[citation needed]
Grantham and District Hospital is situated next to the Central School on the A607, at the north of the town. The maternity unit, which opened in August 1972, is now a midwife-staffed unit.[citation needed]
Nearby are many historic houses including 17th-century Belton House, early 19th-century Harlaxton Manor, Stoke Rochford Hall (the training centre of the NUT), and the 11th-century Belvoir Castle, in Leicestershire. Much of the property and land to the south-west of the area is owned by the two estates of Belvoir and Buckminster.[citation needed]
Grantham Town Football Club is the local football team, currently playing in the Evo-Stik League Division One South. The club was founded in 1874 and currently plays in the 7,500-capacity (covered 1,950, seats 750) South Kesteven Sports Stadium (although average attendances are well below capacity).[65] The ground also doubles as the town's athletics stadium (one of only three in Lincolnshire), next to the Grantham Meres Leisure Centre on Trent Road.[66]
The major claim to fame of Grantham Town (nicknamed 'The Gingerbreads') is that Martin O'Neill started his management path from there.[citation needed]
Kesteven Rugby Club plays at Woodnook, off the B6403 in Little Ponton.
Grantham Hockey Club, which fields two men's teams and one women's team in league hockey, play at the Meres Leisure Centre, the astro-turf pitch situated directly behind the football stadium.[67]
Grantham bowls players have represented the indoor and outdoor clubs within county and national competitions. Indoor club players Martin Pulling, Dion Auckland, Ian Johnson, and current England U25 player Mathew Orrey, have played for the England squad.[68][69]
Sir Isaac Newton by William Theed, 1858, bronze; St Peter's Hill, Grantham
- Three world-famous people associated with the town are:
- Beverley Allitt, serial killer;
- Antonio Berardi, fashion designer;
- Roderick Bradley, American footballer;
- Judy Campbell, actor and playwright;
- Geoff Capes, athlete;
- Eric Chappell, comedy writer
- Johnny Haddon Downes, television producer
- Vince Eager, singer;
- Graham Fellows, actor and musician;[72][73]
- Michael Garner, actor;
- Maxwell Hutchinson, architect;
- Philip Knights, Baron Knights, police officer;
- Graham Lewis, musician;
- Jessie Lipscomb, sculptor;
- Nicholas Maw, composer;
- Henry More, 17th century philosopher;
- Richard Nauyokas, soldier and actor;
- Mark A. O'Neill, biologist and computer scientist;
- Nicholas Parsons, television and radio presenter;
- Norman Shrapnel, political correspondent and author;
- John Still, bishop of Bath and Wells (1593–1608)
- Doris Stokes, spiritualist and psychic medium;
- William Stukeley, antiquarian;[74][75]
- Richard Todd, actor;
- Clare Tomlinson, news presenter;
- Ashley Wright, cricketer;
- Luke Wright, cricketer;
- The Royal Charters of Grantham 1463-1688 Edited by G.H. Martin - Limited to 400 copies and contains list of Charters and index.[76]
- ^ "KS01 Usual resident population: Census 2001, Key Statistics for urban areas". Office for National Statistics. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=8271&Pos=2&ColRank=1&Rank=144.
- ^ Mills, A.D. (1991) A Dictionary of English Place-Names; Oxford University Press.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1
- ^ MAY Jeffrey (1976) Prehistoric Lincolnshire p. 84, History of Lincolnshire Committee
- ^ "4.0 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND/BASELINE" in GRANTHAM TOWNSCAPE ASSESSMENT at southkesteven.gov.uk
- ^ Domesday. 1086. p. Folio 357v.
- ^ Telegraph.co.uk, St Vincents
- ^ Raymond Harwood. "9th Troop Carrier Command". Publicenquiry.co.uk. http://www.publicenquiry.co.uk/commands/tc9th.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Grantham.ac.uk
- ^ Birthplace of the RAF Regiment
- ^ "Membership". Machineguncorps.co.uk. http://www.machineguncorps.co.uk/history.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "Richard Hornsby Vaporizing Oil Engine". Engines.rustyiron.com. 7 December 1910. http://engines.rustyiron.com/hornsby. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Google.com
- ^ Aveling Barford Graces Guide
- ^ Aveling Barford
- ^ "Barford". Barforddumpers.com. http://www.barforddumpers.com/HTML/02_about.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "Wordsworth Holdings plc". Whplc.co.uk. http://www.whplc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Invictas Engineering
- ^ "Fruehauf". Fruehauf. http://www.fruehauf.co.uk. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Vision of Britain site: Retrieved 16 March 2012.
- ^ Skdc.com
- ^ "Grantham" at genuik0.org.uk
- ^ "The Deanery of Grantham". Diocese of Lincoln website. Diocese of Lincoln. http://www.lincoln.anglican.org/deanery.php?id=19. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ "Who's Who - The Area Bishops". Diocese of Lincoln website. Diocese of Lincoln. http://www.lincoln.anglican.org/page.php?i_@CI_74#1a. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
- ^ "St Mary the Immaculate" at stmarysgrantham.org.uk
- ^ "Grantham Baptist Church" at granthambaptistchurch.co.uk
- ^ "ChristChurch LEP" at urc5.org.uk/
- ^ "History - Harrowby Lane" at harrowbylane.org.uk
- ^ Aviagen Turkeys
- ^ Sharmans Agricultural
- ^ Hart, Bob. "Updated: Fenland Foods workers to protest". Grantham Journal. http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/UPDATED-Fenland-Foods-workers-to.4075959.jp. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Vadestad Ltd
- ^ "Christian Salvesen Easton factory sold". Grantham Journal. http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/Christian-Salvesen-Easton-factory-sold.3132220.jp. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "All news from the East Midlands". Thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk. http://www.thisisbusiness-eastmidlands.co.uk/news/lincolnshire/jobs-facing-the-axe-at-food-firm.aspx. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Bellandwebster.co.uk
- ^ Eleco.com
- ^ Stanborough Press
- ^ Vale Garden Houses
- ^ Stanhay
- ^ RC Setchfield
- ^ Farm Electronics
- ^ Amberjaprojects.com
- ^ Calcars.org
- ^ ebgproperty.co.uk
- ^ Jourdanplc.co.uk
- ^ Corbypress.com
- ^ BGB Innovation
- ^ Grantham Book Services - GBS
- ^ Grantham Engineering
- ^ lenco.co.uk
- ^ EM Learning Centre
- ^ "History" at angelandroyal.co.uk
- ^ BBC New Lincolnshire 25 August 2010 "M&S confirms three store closures in Lincolnshire". Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- ^ Crown House
- ^ Guildhall Theatre
- ^ Gravityfm.net
- ^ "Highways Agency - Gonerby Moor Progress Photos". Highways.gov.uk. 1 April 2008. http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/17538.aspx. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Concrete Quarterly 55, page 32
- ^ "Dudley House School" Ofsted. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
- ^ National School
- ^ Schools etc. site: Retrieved 19 May 2011.
- ^ "Mary Allen". Spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wallen.htm. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "UK | England | Lincolnshire | Town remembers first policewoman". BBC News. 13 January 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/4610200.stm. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "Welcome to Ashdale Hotels". Angelandroyal.com. http://www.angelandroyal.com. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "South Kesteven Sports Stadium". Runtrackdir.com. http://www.runtrackdir.com/details.asp?track=grantham. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ "Meres Centre Tickets, Grantham". Ents24.com. http://www.ents24.com/web/venue/23583/Grantham/Grantham_Meres_Leisure_Centre.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Grantham Hockey Club
- ^ "Junior Men's International Trial", English Indoor Bowling Association Ltd. Retrieved 26 November 2011
- ^ Grantham and District Indoor Bowling Club.Retrieved 26 November 2011
- ^ Sankt-augustin.de (German)
- ^ "Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences - University - Addresses and how to find us - Sankt Augustin by train". Fh-brs.de. 3 March 2009. http://www.fh-brs.de/Sankt_Augustin_by_train-lang-en.html. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Graham Fellows: Coronation Street Wiki . Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ Graham Fellows: corrie.net . Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ William Stukeley at Grantham. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ William Stukeley: Grantham doctor. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ Detail taken from a copy of The Royal Charters of Grantham 1463-1688 published by Leicester University Press in 1963
- Thomas Allen (1834). "Grantham soke and town". The history of the county of Lincoln: from the earliest period to the present time. 2. London and Lincoln: John Saunders Jr. pp. 300–317. ISBN 1-142-34236-0.
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