(Redirected from Grantham, England)
'Grantham' is a
market town within the
South Kesteven district of
Lincolnshire,
England. Located along the course of the
River Witham, twenty-four miles (39 km) to the south-southwest of the city of
Lincoln, it has a total resident population of 34,592.
The town is best known as the place where
Isaac Newton went to school. It is also the birthplace and childhood home of former prime minister
Margaret Thatcher. The town is situated within short walking distance of an ancient
Roman road, and was the scene of
Oliver Cromwell's first advantage over
Royalists during the
English Civil War. Grantham is also notable for having the first female
police officers in the
United Kingdom, who began their role together on
November 27 1914, during the
First World War. Miss
Mary Allen and Miss E. F. Harburn reported for duty on the ''beat''. 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 had the first powers of arrest from August 1915.
Geography and administration
Grantham once lay within the ancient
Loveden Wapentake in the Soke of Grantham in the Parts of
Kesteven.
Political representation
Politically the town is part of the
Grantham and Stamford constituency and is represented in Parliament by
Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP)
Quentin Davies. Davies had been elected to the seat as a member of the
Conservative Party before
crossing the floor to join
Labour; the constituency has a long history of electing
Conservative members of Parliament.
The local authority - South Kesteven District Council - is currently
Conservative led, with the current political spread as 35 Conservative, 15 Independent, 2 Labour and 6 Liberal Democrat councillors.
History
Etymology
The origin of the name "Grantham" is uncertain, though is said to probably be
Old English language "Granta+ham", meaning "
Granta's village", and appeared as early as 1086 in the
Domesday Book in its present form of Grantham.
[1]
Prehistory
Late neolithic vessels from a burial were found at Little Gonerby, in the north of the town, in 1875.
[2]
Military history
During the famous
Dambusters Royal Air Force (RAF) mission in May 1943, the
RAF Bomber Command's
No. 5 Group and the operation HQ, as
Barnes Wallis nervously learnt the grim news, was in ''
St Vincents'', a building which later housed a district council planning department. It was built by Richard Hornsby & Sons 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 [1], being known as Grantham Lodge.
RAF Spitalgate trained pilots in the war, and was not an operational base.
Industrial history
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 invented by
Herbert Akroyd Stuart, from which
compression-ignition principle the
diesel engine also evolved, being manufactured in Grantham from July 8th 1892. In 1909, Hornsbys 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. Thanks to the ownership of the patent, this company would become the world-dominating
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 literally ground-breaking role as an attack vehicle. One year later the tank was born (utilising Hornsby's initial designs), being made in nearby
Lincoln by
William Foster. It first saw action at the
Battle of Flers-Courcelette on September 15, 1916.In 1918 Hornsbys amalgamated with Rustons and the company became Ruston and Hornsby.
Aveling & Porter of
Rochester, Kent, would join with Barford & Perkins of
Peterborough to become
Aveling-Barford Ltd in 1934, largely due to financial help from
Ruston & Hornsby. The new company took a former site of Hornsbys, naming it the '
Invicta' works, which is from the motto on the coat of arms of
Kent, and translates as 'unconquered'. It did not fare well with the sinking market for large dumper trucks and road rollers, and now as
Barford Construction Equipment, it makes
dumpers for construction sites, being owned by
Wordsworth Holdings PLC, owned by the entrepreneur Duncan Wordsworth. A trailer company,
Crane-Fruehauf, has moved into part of the factory, from its former home of
Dereham, when it went into receivership in early 2005.
British Manufacturing and Research Company (or
BMARC), on ''Springfield Road'', made munitions for many years. It was owned by the Swiss company,
Oerlikon, until 1988 then became part of Astra Holdings PLC, and was bought by
British Aerospace in 1992 who then closed the site.
The food processing industry now employs the largest contingent of Grantham's citizens, including Fenland Foods (part of
Northern Foods) on the Earlesfield Industrial Estate,
Moypark (formerly Padley) in Gonerby Hill Foot, and a large
frozen vegetable factory (PAS) near
Easton. The
Woodland Trust is based on ''Dysart Road''. There is a small FM transmitter near the town's bypass on ''Gorse Lane'' from which
Radio Lincolnshire can be heard on 104.7 and
Lincs FM on 96.7.
Landmarks
St Wulfram's church
The main local landmark is the
impressive parish church of
St Wulfram's, which has the
sixth highest spire (282 ft) among English churches, and is also home to the country's first public library. In 1598,
Francis Trigge, the rector of
Welbourn gave £100 for a small library of books for the clergy and ''literate laity'' of Grantham. Two hundred and fifty of the original volumes remain and are kept in the parish church.
Grantham is home to the world's only
'living' pub sign: a
beehive of South African
bees perched in a tree since 1830.
''Edith Smith Way'' is the name of the road outside the
Guildhall Arts Centre, parallel to ''St Peter's Hill''. The
Angel & Royal Hotel is one of Britain's oldest inns.
King John held court there in
1213, when the site used to be a hostel for the
Knights Templar. The
George Hotel nearby (known as St Peter's Place in 1992, then became the George Shopping Centre) was mentioned in
Charles Dickens’ novel
Nicholas Nickleby. Also in the town is the
Blue Pig. Much of the town's property is owned by
Buckminster Estate, since the days of the
Earl of Dysart.
Nearby are many historic houses including
Belton House,
Harlaxton Manor,
Stoke Rochford Hall (training centre of the
NUT), and
Belvoir Castle (in
Leicestershire).
Transport
Grantham railway station is served by the
East Coast Main Line (between the stops for
Peterborough and
Newark Northgate),
Nottingham to Skegness Line, and
Liverpool to Norwich Line. The town has the
A1 main road from
London to
Edinburgh running past it (the town was bypassed in 1962). The main shopping High Street, until recently, was part of the busy
A52 (which runs to nearby
Nottingham), and ''Wharf Road'' and ''London Road'' (next to
Sainsbury's) still are. There is a motorway-style
service station at the north end of the bypass, on the roundabout. This roundabout is in the process of being circumvented by a
new junction.
Sport
Grantham Town Football Club is the local football team, currently playing the Unibond Premier Division. The major claim to fame of
Grantham Town Football Club (nicknamed 'The Gingerbreads') is that
Martin O'Neill started his management path from there. The club was founded in 1874 and they currently play 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''.
Notable people
★ In the
Domesday Book of
William the Conqueror, Grantham is mentioned as "Graeg Ham". In the opinion of some historians, this might point to its being the home of the ancestors of
Clan Graham in
Scotland, including several of the most well-known people in Scottish history.
★ Two world-famous people associated with the town are:
★
★ mathematician and physicist Sir
Isaac Newton, who was educated at the still existing
The King's School, Grantham
★
★ Conservative MP and prime minister (1979-1990)
Margaret Thatcher, who attended the
Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School (K.G.G.S). Born in Grantham, Mrs Thatcher is still remembered personally by many inhabitants of the town.
★
William Stukeley (1687-1765), archeologist, was a doctor in Grantham 1726-30.
★
Eric Chappell, writer of many 1970s and 80s television
sitcoms, including ''
Rising Damp'', ''
Only When I Laugh'' and ''
Duty Free'' comes from Grantham and still lives in village two miles outside of the town.
★
Graham Fellows of ''
The Shuttleworths'' lives nearby, having previously lived near
Louth.
★
Des Lynam lived there with his mistress, Harriet Hopkins, from 2005 until 2006.
★
Johnny Downes DFC (1920-2004) - BBC producer who created the first live childrens TV programme, ''
Crackerjack'', in 1955 and also ''
The Basil Brush Show'' in 1968.
;Others:
★
Graham Lewis - musician.
★
Jessie Lipscomb - sculptress.
★
Nicholas Maw - composer.
★
Richard ''Nooky'' Nauyokas - from
ITV's ''
Lads Army''.
★
Nicholas Parsons - TV and radio presenter.
References
1. Mills, A.D. (1991) ''"A Dictionary of English Place-Names,"'' Oxford University Press.
2. MAY Jeffrey (1976) ''Prehistoric Lincolnshire'' page 84, published by History of Lincolnshire Committee
External links
★
Priory FM - Grantham's local radio station
★
Description of the town & street photographs.
★
History of Ruston & Hornsby.
★
Grantham Town Football Club.
★
Grantham Town Youth Football Club.
★
South West Lincolnshire
★
Grantham Archery Club
★
Grantham College
Video clips
★
Proposal for new bypass
★
Kelvin MacKenzie tours Grantham Museum
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