Grantham

Grantham (pronounced ) 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 mi south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately 24 mi east of the city of Nottingham. The resident population at the 2001 census was 34,592 in around 18,000 households, excluding the adjacent village of Great Gonerby.

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. Grantham is also notable for having the first female police officers in the United Kingdom, notably Edith Smith (police officer) in 1914, and producing the first running diesel engine in 1892, and the UK's first tractor in 1896.

Toponymy
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, but was also recorded variously as Grandham, Granham and Graham. The place name element grand could possibly mean "gravel".

The name is the origin of the given name Graham.

Prehistory
Late neolithic vessels from a burial were found at Little Gonerby, in the north of the town, in 1875. 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.

Gorbonianus, ancient King of the Britons built Grantham in between 292 and 282 BC.



Middle ages
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 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."

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.

Grantham received its Charter of Incorporation in 1463.

19th and 20th century
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.

The town received gas lighting in 1833. The corporation became a borough council in 1835. Little Gonerby and Spittlegate were added to the borough in 1879. The town had been in the wapentake of Loveden, and the town included three townships of Manthorpe with Little Gonerby, Harrowby, and Spittlegate with Houghton and Walton. Thomas James Smith, the founder of Smith & Nephew, trained as a pharmacist in Grantham.

Until the 1970s the housing estates west of the town centre were green fields. Green Hill, on the A52, was literally a green hill. In July 1975 the National Association of Ratepayers' Action Groups (NARAG) was formed in Grantham by John Wilks, its Chairman, being a forerunner of the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Dambusters
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, a building which was later owned by Aveling-Barford and 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. During the early part of the war Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet lived in the town.

RAF Spitalgate
RAF Spitalgate trained pilots during both world wars, initially as a Royal Flying Corps establishment, being the first military airfield in Lincolnshire. It 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 (as RAF Wilmslow was closing due to the imminent ending of National Service), and moved to RAF Hereford (now the home of the SAS).

RAF Spitalgate is now the Territorial Army Royal Logistic Corps Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, named after Prince William of Gloucester. Grantham College used the site's two football pitches for their South Lincolnshire Football Development Centre (from September 2004). The large mast on the base was part of the BT microwave network.

The Queen's Royal Lancers (part of the Royal Armoured Corps) have their RHQ on the base.

RAF Regiment
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. The Alma Park and Belton Park estates had jointly been the training centre for the Machine Gun Corps from November 1915. In total Harrowby Camp, as it was then known, housed 18,000 men during the First World War.

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. The RAF Regiment stayed until August 1946, when it left for RAF Catterick.

Women's police force
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.

Richard Hornsby & Sons
In 1905 Richard Hornsby (1790–1864) & Sons of Grantham (founded 1815) invented a caterpillar track for a machine using 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. 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.

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. 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.

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.

Barford's
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.

During the 1970s it was the town's largest employer with around 2,000 employees. It initially prospered, but with the sinking market for large dumper trucks and road rollers, it declined. Their agricultural division, Barfords of Belton, in 1947 developed the world's smallest tractor, the Barford Atom, weighing 177 lbs.

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. 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.

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.

BMARC
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.

Former developments
In 1968 Reads of Liverpool built a canning factory on Springfield Road. It made cans for Melton Mowbray, becoming American Can, then Pechiney (French) in 1988, then as Impress (Dutch) it was closed in 2006, demolished in 2007 and is now a housing estate. Ransome & Marles Bearing had a ball bearing factory in the town until 1957, when production was moved to Newark.

Mowbray and Co Ltd, a brewery, was bought by JW Green of Luton. It was founded in September 1828 and became a public company in 1880. It closed in 1967.

Government
Grantham once lay within the ancient Winnibriggs and Threo wapentake in the Soke of Grantham in the Parts of Kesteven.

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.

Two of Grantham's MPs in recent years (Joe Godber and Douglas Hogg) have been Secretary of State for Agriculture.

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. 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.

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.

Geography
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 Hall 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.

According to Super Output Area data from the ONS, the least socially deprived area in Lincolnshire is the ward of Stamford St John's; Grantham's least deprived ward (SKDC) is in the north-east of the town near the former Central School.

Religion


The main local landmark is the parish church of St Wulfram's, which has the sixth highest spire (282.5 ft 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.

Today the Deanery of Grantham still includes the churches of St Anne and St John the Evangelist amongst its 18 churches. The Bishop of Grantham is currently Tim Ellis; his official residence is in Long Bennington.

St Mary's Catholic Church is located on North Parade. Grantham Baptist Church is located on Wharf Road. Grantham Christchurch LEP Church (United Reformed) is located on Finkin Street. Harrowby Lane Methodist Church dates from the late 1920s.

Economy
The food-processing industry, with Grantham Hospital, is currently the largest Grantham employer. 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. 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. In the same area is Sharmans Agricultural at College Farm. Brake Bros Ltd have a depot near the Gonerby Moor service station, off the B1174.

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;. Close to the new police station is Brewsters Brewing. On Ellesmere Business park is Väderstad-Verken UK (Vaderstad Ltd), its parent company based in Väderstad in Sweden. Also on Ellesmere Business Park is Tecknit Europe (makers of electromagnetic shielding equipment), owned from 2006 by Parker Hannifin based in Cranford, New Jersey.

At Easton, 7 mi 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. 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 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 who closed the facility in December 2008.

Bell & Webster are a nationally-known company, part of Eleco plc based in Ware, that makes precast concrete. Stanborough Press, the UK division of the Adventist Book Centre, is based nearby. Vale Garden Houses make conservatories on Londonthorpe Road. 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. Nearby RC Setchfield supply agricultural equipment and there is the headquarters of Chandlers Oil & Gas. Holscot Group make fluoroplastics, and Farm Electronics 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. Amberjac Projects is the only European company that provides plug-in conversion for conventional hybrid vehicles. Oldershaw Brewery is at Harrowby Hall Today Interiors make wallcoverings on Orchard Park, and supply the John Lewis Partnership.

Escritt Barrell Golding a local Chartered Surveyors and Estate Agents still operate in Grantham, having been founded in 1860. Jourdan plc (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), the maker of the Corby Trouser Press. Belvoir Lettings is a national estate agent based in the town on London Road. The Wood Panel Industries Federation is based in the Market Place.

BGB Innovation is on Dysart Road next to the A1 bridge; off Trent Road opposite the leisure centre is Grantham Book Services (GBS). 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. Random House was formed in 1987 from a combination of book companies, and in 1990 the site became known as Grantham Book Services. It now supplies for Barrington Stoke, Osprey Group, Nosy Crow, Portfolio Books, Marco Polo Travel Publishing, Perseus Books, Quiller Publishing, and Publishers Group. The company won an award in 1992 from the British Book Awards. Next door to GBS and a Gala Bingo is Cathodic Protection, who with BGB Innovation both won The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) in 2009.

Grantham Engineering is on Harlaxton Road. 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 Genie UK (owned by Terex, and supply aerial work platforms) is based at The Maltings on the corner of Wharf Road and Westgate, in the former local offices of Natural England. William Hare Painting of Grantham painted the steelwork on the Olympic Stadium.

Hotels
The conference and hospitality industry are well represented in the Grantham area, with the Olde Barn Hotel in Marston, the De Vere Belton Woods Hotel, the Ramada hotel (former Marriott) and various golf clubs. Stoke Rochford Hall staged a Lib Dem education conference in 2001, and won the Les Routiers Wedding Venue of the Year in 2011. The Griffin Inn at Irnham won the 2012 Les Routiers B&B of the Year Award.

Business meetings are held at the Ramada hotel on Swingbridge Road (near the A1/A607 junction), the Olde Barn at Marston, and also at the EM Learning Centre on Londonthorpe Road.

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 Road 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 1800s 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 1920s 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.

Closures
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. Haldanes, a chain of around 20 supermarkets, based as far north as Scotland and based on Ruston Road, went into administration. The former HMRC office at Crown House on Castlegate closed in early 2010, relocating to two sites in Lincoln.

Traditions
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 too dangerous; this tradition dated back to 1755, when pig farmers from the area moved pigs to greener pastures. Previously, the annual Kesteven Schools' Speech and Drama Festival was held in the town.

The Grantham Festival of Music began in 1963.

Nature


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.

Grantham is surrounded by rolling countryside and woodland, such as nearby Ponton Park Wood, which has walks and views of woods and farmland.

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.

The Woodland Trust is based on Dysart Road, and has been in Grantham since 1978; its new £6 million building, on the opposite side of the road, opened in November 2010. The building, designed by Atelier One and Max Fordham, has won several architectural awards. Natural England had one of their two Lincolnshire offices on Wharf Road until early 2009, previously known as English Nature before 2006.

Amenities for children
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. There is also a Fun Farm on Dysart Road.

Organisations for young people include Army cadets (both QRL Queen's Royal Lancers and RLC) Brownies, Guides and Air Cadets.

Belton House is a popular National Trust site with events for children, a play area, train rides, picnic area and woodland walk.



Radio
There is a small FM radio transmitter near the town's bypass on Gorse Lane from which BBC Lincolnshire and Lincs FM broadcast. 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. Grantham now has a full-time community radio station, Gravity FM, which broadcasts over the air and online, from the western end of Grantham College.

Gingerbread biscuits
The town is known for Gingerbread biscuits, first known as Grantham Whetstones. 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.

The National Trust included Grantham Gingerbread in its Afternoon Tea. When BR's InterCity re-introduced Afternoon Tea in 1993, at £6.95, it copied the National Trust's menu, including Grantham Gingerbread.

The Grantham Journal
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. 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.

David Wood CBE (1914–90), former political editor of The Times (working under Sir William Haley), started out at the Grantham Journal.

Rail
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. The town's grammar schools also attract pupils from Radcliffe on Trent, Bingham, Newark and even Retford via the train. Grantham is the best-served station in Lincolnshire, although after October 1970, most of Lincolnshire's railways were closed. Prior to October 1970 the connection from King's Cross to Lincoln Central was through Grantham and followed the A607 via Leadenham. After this date London-Lincoln trains still passed through Grantham, but then continued up the ECML to Newark Northgate where the trains branched off to Lincoln St. Marks Railway Station via a new curve just north of Newark.

In 1906 a rail accident killed 14 people.

Road
The Great North Road was routed through the town in 1196. The turnpike to the north reached the town in 1725, that to Stamford in 1739, to Nottingham in 1758, and that to Melton in 1780.

The A1 main road from London to Edinburgh runs past the town, which was bypassed in 1962. High Street, until recently, 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. East to west traffic on the A52 causes Grantham the most problems, not least to two of its frequently-hit railway bridges. The east-west bypass will cross Spittlegate Level and join the A52 next to the former RAF Spitalgate.

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.

On 8 February 1960, it was announced that bypass would be built, including the route south to the B6403 at 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). He was married to the (only) daughter of Nancy Astor.

Waterways
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. 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.

Education
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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

All four secondary modern schools are on the outskirts of Grantham. Only three of the six secondary schools are co-educational. In recent years, 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.

Central Technology & Sports College, a co-educational school, is sited near Manthorpe. It became the Priory Ruskin Academy in September 2010.

On Gorse Lane is Grantham Preparatory School, an independent school preparing entrants for the 11-plus examination. Another private primary school is Dudley House School. Near to St Wulfram's on Castlegate is the National Church of England Junior School, built in 1859, and a feeder school for the town's grammar schools.

The Blessed Hugh More School, a Catholic secondary school, closed in 1989.

Landmarks
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.

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. 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.

The Angel & Royal Hotel is one of Britain's oldest inns, dating from about 1200. King John held court there in 1213, when the site was a hostel run by the Knights Templar. Richard III signed and sealed the death warrant of the Duke of Buckingham at the inn. It is one of only three Knights Templar hostels in England - another was at Glastonbury.

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.

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. 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).

The nearby George Hotel (known as St Peter's Place, now the George Shopping Centre) was mentioned in Charles Dickens's novel Nicholas Nickleby. Much of the town's property and industrial estates have been owned by Buckminster Trust Estates since the time of the Earl of Dysart.

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.

The JobCentre, when it was opened on 24 June 1975 by Joe Godber, was the first of its kind; it was the first of around five hundred new-style offices, run by the Employment Service Agency, with soft chairs and carpets. Previous to 1975 these offices were referred to as Labour Exchanges.

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.

Nearby are many historic houses including 17th-century Belton House (the Brownlows), early 19th-century Harlaxton Manor (the Gregorys), Stoke Rochford Hall (owned by the Turnors, and since 1978 is now the training centre of the NUT), and the 11th-century Belvoir Castle (the Manners), 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. Further to the south of Stoke Rochford are the Cholmeleys of Easton Hall.

Football
Grantham Town Football Club is the local football team, currently playing in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League. 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). 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.

The major claim to fame of Grantham Town (nicknamed 'The Gingerbreads') is that Martin O'Neill started his management path from there.



Rugby
Kesteven Rugby Club plays at Woodnook, off the B6403.

Hockey
Grantham Hockey Club, which fields men's and women's team in league hockey, play at the Meres Leisure Centre, the astro-turf pitch situated directly behind the football stadium. In 2011, the men ended a long spell in the Midlands League, moving to the East League, successfully earning promotion to Division 5 (North West) where they currently play. Their story is documented in 1,309 Days Later, the title a reference to a winless spell between 2006 and 2009.

Bowls
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.

Table Tennis
In 1993 and 1994 international team matches were held in Grantham, at the South Kesteven Table Tennis Centre, which was opened in January 1992 by Johnny Leach. Grantham College have a Table Tennis Academy.

Twinning

 * 🇩🇪 - Sankt Augustin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (near Bonn, 57,000 population), twinned since 1980. The A52 relief road is named Sankt Augustin Way. Sankt Augustin has its  Grantham-Allee and "Grantham-Bridge".

Notable people



 * Three world-famous people associated with the town are:
 * Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician
 * Thomas Paine, author and revolutionary;
 * Margaret Thatcher, politician, daughter of Alderman Alfred Roberts
 * 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;
 * 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;
 * Richard Todd, actor;
 * Clare Tomlinson, news presenter;
 * Ashley Wright, cricketer;
 * Luke Wright, cricketer;

Video clips

 * Pathe Newreel, 1927, of flying display at RAF Spitalgate
 * Newsreel, 1935. Inaugural run of "Silver Jubilee" Kings Cross-Grantham.
 * Proposal for new bypass
 * Kelvin MacKenzie tours Grantham Museum
 * Mrs Thatcher and Grantham in July 1970
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