Grantham

The town lies in the valley of the River Witham, its core at the Witham's confluence with the Mowbeck (or Mow Beck).[9] The Witham flows south–north through Grantham.[10] The Mowbeck, which rises from springs at Harlaxton about 3 miles (5 km) to the south-west of the town,[11] is culverted behind Westgate and Brook Street[9] until it joins the Witham at White Bridge.[12]

The floor of the Witham valley – 50–60 m above sea level in the town centre – is underlain by mudstone of the Charmouth formation of the Lower Jurassic period (199–183 million years ago). This formation is overlain by Belton sand and gravel laid down in estuaries and rivers in the Quaternary period up to 3 million years ago. The river courses are overlain by Quaternary alluvium and to the north by river terrace deposits.[13] The soil around the route of the Witham is wet, acidic, sandy and loamy; its fertility is poor.[14]

As the ground rises on the town's eastern and southern fringes, it is underlain by Jurassic Marlstone rocks of ferruginous sandstone and ironstone formed 190–174 million years ago, and then by Whitby Mudstone of 174–183 million years ago. The land rises sharply to form the Lincoln Cliff that marks the edge of the urban area and start of the Lincoln Heath and Kesteven Uplands, which are capped by Jurassic Oolitic Limestone,[13][15][16] mostly overlain by shallow, free-draining, lime-rich soils.[14]

To the west, the town is near the edge of the low-lying Vale of Belvoir[17] but fringed by an escarpment[18] rising in places to over 100 m to form the hills on which sit Barrowby, Great Gonerby, the Green Hill and Earlesfield suburban areas and the business parks off Trent Road. These hills are of siltstone and mudstone of the Jurassic Dyrham Formation, which line the edges of the Witham and Mowbeck valleys and the shallow valley of Barrowby Stream. At its highest the scarp is capped by Jurassic ferruginous sandstone and ironstone rocks of the Marlstone formation. There are some head deposits and pleistocene glaciofluvial deposits of sand and gravel east of Barrowby.[13] The soil in the lower areas is slowly permeable, seasonally wet and slightly acidic, though base-rich. On higher ground it tends to be slightly acidic and base-rich, but freely draining and highly fertile.[14]

Grantham Canal, which opened in 1797,[19] closely follows the route of the Mowbeck from Echo Farm into the town. West of there it cuts through a valley north of Harlaxton into the Vale of Belvoir, eventually reaching West Bridgford near Nottingham.[20]

Map of Grantham town centre. London Road, Wharf Road, Sankt Augustin Way and Barrowby Road form the A52. Harlaxton Road is the A607.

The historical core of Grantham is bounded by Westgate, Brook Street and Castlegate, and includes the High Street down to St Peter's Hill. This is the town's main retail and commercial area. It includes many historic buildings. Between Westgate and the A52 to the west are postwar retail buildings and blocks of flats. North of it is 18th, 19th and 20th-century suburban housing focused on North Parade, which include villas and terraced housing.[21] Further north, off Gonerby Road and Manthorpe Road (A607), these give way to large, low-density, suburban, privately owned housing on estates mostly built in the 1970s and 1980s. Those at the base of Gonerby Hill are known as Gonerby Hill Foot and lie west of the railway line, to the east of which developments are contiguous with the historical core of Manthorpe village.[22][n 2]

South of the town centre, suburban housing takes the form of late-Victorian and Edwardian brick, terraced and villa houses in grid-plan layouts, initially built for industrial workers and now largely owned or let privately.[24] Alongside some housing in Harlaxton Road (A607), most of these streets cluster round the railway station and nearby retail and industrial units in an area known as Spittlegate (also spelled Spitalgate or Spittalgate), the town cemetery – an area called New Somerby in older maps – and the Wharf Road, London Road and Bridge End Road stretches of the A52.[20][25][26] Further south-east, low-density, mostly privately owned, suburban housing estates of the 1970s and 1980s cluster round the A52, marking the edge of the town's urban area.[27] Further east, off the A52, are the Prince William of Gloucester Barracks.[20]

The north-east fringe of the urban area is marked by 20th-century development. An exception is a piece of land east of the Witham and north of Stonebridge Road that includes schools and colleges and portions of a 19th-century barracks complex south of greenspace, including Wyndham Park. Otherwise the area between the Witham, Belton Lane, Londonthorpe Lane and the Lincoln Cliff has suburban housing, mostly privately owned with some let by housing associations. It includes part of the Harrowby Estate, begun in 1928 as council housing). The part round Belton Lane and Harrowby Lane is a low-density mix of pre-First World War, interwar and postwar houses; the remainder of the large estate and the Cherry Orchard Estate appeared in the immediate postwar period in medium density, on a layout inspired by the Garden City movement. South of Londonthorpe Lane and north-east of the other estates are medium and high-density housing areas dating largely from the 1970s to the early 21st century;[28][29] The northernmost, known as The Spinney or Sunningdale,[8] adjoins the post-war Alma Park industrial estate off Londonthorpe Lane.[30]

The town's western fringe sits between the railway line, the A1 bypass and the Kesteven Uplands. North of the canal are large, varied developments mostly from the 20th century, including the Earlesfield estate, begun as a council estate in the 1920s and expanded in the postwar period, industrial estates, and a leisure centre complex, all south of Barrowby Stream, by the expansive 1980s estate on Green Hill, the Edwardian and Victorian villas lining Barrowby Road, and the large 1980s and 1990s estate to its north. Most of this is privately owned, but some is let by housing associations. The canal basin is lined with industrial, warehouse, retail and office buildings that continue up to Dysart Road. South of them are Harlaxton Road (A607) and Springfield Road, round which separate residential developments have been built, including inter-war homes in Huntingtower Road, a 21st-century estate centred on Hudson Way, post-war social housing at Walton Gardens, post-war housing Denton Avenue, and late-20th-century developments at Harris Way.[29][31]

The British Isles experience a temperate, maritime climate with warm summers and cool winters.[32] Data from the weather station nearest to Grantham, at Cranwell, 10 miles (16 km) away, shows an average daily mean temperature of 9.8 °C (49.6 °F) fluctuates from a peak of 16.9 °C (62.4 °F) in July to 3.9 °C (39.0 °F) in January. The average high temperature is 13.7 °C (56.7 °F), though monthly averages vary from 6.7 °C (44.1 °F) in January and December to 21.8 °C (71.2 °F) in July; the average low is 5.9 °C (42.6 °F), reaching lowest in February at 0.8 °C (33.4 °F) and highest in July and August at 12.0 °C (53.6 °F).[33]

The local historian Michael Honeybone has "no doubt that the town of Grantham was established during [Anglo-]Saxon times"; its name suggests it emerged in the earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement, probably by the 7th century.[35]

Yet the archaeological evidence for this is limited to finds indicating cemeteries at the sites of the Central School in Manthorpe and the junction of Bridge End Road and London Road in the town, and to small quantities of pottery sherds found on London Road, Belton Lane, Saltersford, New Somerby and Barrowby.[39]

By the time of the Domesday Book (1086, the earliest documentary evidence for Grantham), it was a town and royal manor; under its jurisdiction fell a large outlying soke including lands in 16 villages. Its church, St Wulfram's, served this extended parish area.[40] However, the town's Saxon-period history is obscure.[40] The medievalist Sir Frank Stenton argued that Grantham probably emerged as an "important estate centre" before the Viking invasions in the 9th century and then functioned as a "minor local capital" in the Danelaw.[41]

By contrast, historian David Roffe has argued that the town and its soke were established in the 1040s or 1050s by Queen Edith and Leofric, Earl of Mercia, to strengthen their hands in the county at the expense of Siward, Earl of Northumbria. They may have also created St Wulfram's either as a new church or as one revived from a possible earlier cell of Crowland Abbey. Roffe also argues that Siward's death in 1055 made Grantham's new role less important, while the full extent of its Domesday soke was probably not gained until after the Norman Conquest of England, when the king merged it with that of Great Ponton.[42]

Whatever its origins, Grantham's Domesday entries show it as an estate centre, where Queen Edith had a hall before 1066. Twenty years later, the king had the manor; there were four mills and eight acres of meadow, but no arable land. (The demesne appears to have been land now known as Earlesfield in Great Gonerby.) There were 111 burgesses and 72 bordars, possibly labourers or craftsmen, indicating that Grantham was both a manor and a borough where the lord retained exclusive rights.[43][n 3] It was a valuable asset, used by the king to reward loyal followers.[45] By 1129, the manor and soke had been granted to Rabel de Tancarville, the king's chamberlain in Normandy. He sided against King Stephen during The Anarchy (1135–1154) and his lands were probably forfeited on his death in 1140, although restored to his son William and confirmed in the early 1180s.[46] The king retook the manor after William's heir Ralph de Tancarville failed to support him in Normandy.[45]

In 1205, the king granted it to his ally William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey. It was held as a life interest and reverted to the Crown on his widow's death in 1249, but regranted to his son the 6th earl in 1266. On his death in 1304 it reverted to the crown and was soon granted to Aymer de Valence, but had been regranted to Warenne's grandson, the 7th earl, by 1312. Four years later it was resettled on the 7th earl for life with reversion to the crown. William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton was granted the reversion in 1337 and took seisin ten years later. After his death, it reverted again to the Crown and in 1363 Edward II granted it to his son Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, through whose heirs it passed to Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York,[47] a major figure in the Wars of the Roses and rival of Henry VI. After Richard's death in 1460, Henry's Queen Margaret of Anjou attacked Grantham in 1461, but later that year was defeated by Richard's son Edward, who took the throne as Edward IV. Two years later, Grantham was rewarded for loyalty to the Yorkist cause when the king granted the borough a charter of incorporation, as a self-governing council – the Corporation of Grantham headed by an Alderman – with various freedoms.[48][n 4]

Watercolour and graphite painting of Grantham Church by J. M. W. Turner (1797)

Its lords encouraged Grantham to expand as a commercial centre.[55] By the late 11th century it was an "important market town".[56] The wool trade prospered, benefiting from its proximity to grazing lands on the Lincoln Heath. This wealth contributed towards the building of St Wulfram's Church.[57] Wool shops were in Grantham in 1218[57] and Walkergate (now Watergate) was recorded in 1257, indicating the presence of fullers (walkers), who played a role in processing wool. Cloth manufacture declined around this time, but wool continued to be produced for trading, primarily for export from Boston. Wool merchants are recorded from the town in the late 13th century (foremost being was Roger de Belvoir, who contributed over £296 to the Wool Prize of 1297). By this time merchants from Italy,[58] Saint-Omer and Amiens were active in the town.[59]

In 1269, the earl granted the town free tronage – the right to weigh wool without paying a toll). Less than 30 years later, its merchants were asked to send a representative to counsel the king.[55] The wool trade boomed in the early 14th century; the town's merchants traded at least 980 sacks of wool at Boston during Edward II's reign, half from the de Chesterton family.[60] In 1312, the earl granted the burgesses various freedoms and the right to elect a leader (the Alderman), codifying a longstanding informal arrangement.[61] Later in the century the king sought to raise revenues by taxing the wool trade; some Grantham merchants, including the wealthy Roger de Wollesthorpe, acted as creditors to the king.[62]

England's falling population, continued taxation of wool exports and the growth of cloth exports and monopolisation led to the wool trade declining by the mid-15th century.[63] Cloth exports became more important nationally. Grantham had a small cloth industry, but it could not compete with new fulling mills, which required fast-flowing water.[64] Its merchants continued to trade in wool and it remained a dominant aspect of the town's economy.[62] Other industries also existed during the Middle Ages; there is evidence of wine trading, brewing, parchment making, weaving and other trades and crafts.[64]

The bridging of the River Trent at Newark by the late 12th century realigned the Great North Road so that it passed through Grantham,[65] bringing traffic to the town as an important stopping place and leading to the development of inns such as The George and The Angel.[66] By the 16th century, the economy was diverse. The largest sector was the leather trade, employing a quarter of the known workforce; distribution, food, drink and agricultural trades were also important. By that time, clothing and textiles each accounted for less than 10 per cent of the town's workers.[67]

The Lincoln Theatre Company of actors took a 21 year lease on the theatre in 1800.[68]

The town developed when the railway came. 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.[69][70][71][72]

Gas lighting appeared 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 included three townships of Manthorpe with Little Gonerby, Harrowby and Spittlegate with Houghton and Walton.[72][73][74]

Grantham Golf Club, now defunct, was founded in 1894 and continued until the onset of the Second World War.[75]

Until the 1970s, the housing estates west of the town centre were green fields. Green Hill, on the A52, was literally a green hill.[72][74] In July 1975 the National Association of Ratepayers' Action Groups (NARAG) was formed in Grantham by John Wilks, its chairman, as a forerunner of the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Army barracks, next to the A52, east of the town

The town has a long military history since the completion of the Old Barracks in 1858.[76]

During the Dambuster Raids Royal Air Force missions in May 1943, the RAF Bomber Command's No. 5 Group and operation HQ were in St Vincents,[77] a building later owned by Aveling-Barford and housing a district council planning department. It was built by Richard Hornsby in 1865 and lived in by his son. It is now a private house. In 1944 (including D-Day), it was the headquarters for the USAAF's Ninth Air Force's IX Troop Carrier Command, known as Grantham Lodge.[78]

RAF Spitalgate trained pilots during both world wars, initially as a Royal Flying Corps establishment. It was 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 Women's Royal Air Force had been there from 1960 until closure.[79] (as RAF Wilmslow was closing due to the imminent ending of National Service), and moved to RAF Hereford (now the home of SAS).

After closure, RAF Spitalgate became the Royal Corps of Transport, later Royal Logistic Corps barracks: Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, named after Prince William of Gloucester.[79][80] Grantham College used the site's two football pitches for their South Lincolnshire Football Development Centre (from September 2004).[81] After closure in 1975 a vehicle test centre was built on the outfield; this closed in 2011.[82][83] The large mast on the base was part of the BT microwave network.[84]

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

The RAF Regiment was formed north-east of the town in parts of Londonthorpe and Harrowby Without during December 1941 with its headquarters at RAF Belton Park, which is recognised as its birthplace.[85] The Belton Park estate had been a training centre for the Machine Gun Corps from November 1915.[86]

The RAF Regiment reached in excess of 66,000 personnel and during training was housed at RAF Belton Park, the Regiment's first depot, RAF Folkingham and RAF North Witham.

Grantham was first after London to recruit and train women police officers. It 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 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. Officers stationed there were Miss Allen and Miss Harburn.[87] In 1915, Grantham magistrates swore in Edith Smith, making her the first policewoman in Britain with full powers of arrest.[88]

Richard Hornsby and Richard Seaman founded Seaman & Hornsby, Iron Founders and Millwrights, at Spittlegate in Grantham in 1810. The company was renamed Richard Hornsby & Sons when Seaman retired in 1828.[89] Products included ploughs and seed drills.

From 1840 until 1906 the company built steam engines. Thereafter production shifted to oil, petrol and gas engines. It employed 378 men in 1878 and 3,500 in 1914.[90]

In 1905 Richard Hornsby & Sons 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.[91] Although such engines were not wholly compression-ignition derived, in 1892 a prototype high-pressure version was built at Hornsby's, developed by Thomas Henry Barton OBE – later to found Nottingham's Barton Transport – whereby ignition was achieved solely through compression; it ran continuously for six hours as the first known diesel engine. In the town, Hornsby's built Elsham House, whose grounds became Grantham College) and the Shirley Croft. Its site in Houghton Road was bought from Lord Dysart.

Hornsby oil engine at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life

In 1910 Hornsby presented its chain-track vehicle to the British Army, which then bought four caterpillar tractors to tow artillery. At the demonstration, a British transport officer suggested putting armour plating and a gun on a Hornsby tractor, so creating some sort of self-propelled gun. David Roberts, Managing Director of Hornsby, did not pursue the idea, but later expressed regret at not having done so. Four years later, Hornsby sold the patent for its caterpillar track to the Holt Manufacturing Company of California, USA, for $8,000, having itself sold only one caterpillar tractor commercially.[92] The Holt system was superior to Hornsby's, but the Hornsby transmission was what Holt really wanted. Thanks in part to this acquisition, Holt eventually became the successful Caterpillar Inc. Tractor Company. In 1918, Hornsby's amalgamated with Rustons as Ruston & Hornsby. In the 1920s the company had its 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, which itself left in 1968.

Scale model of Hornsby 1910 steam caterpillar tractor

The agricultural engine and steamroller manufacturer Aveling and Porter of Rochester, Kent, merged with Barford & Perkins of Peterborough as Aveling-Barford Ltd in 1934, largely with financial help from Ruston & Hornsby, as both firms 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, which translates as "unconquered"; all Aveling & Porter machinery was brought from Kent by rail.

During the 1970s Barford's was the town's largest employer, with around 2,000 employees.[93] It initially prospered, but declined with the sinking market for large dumper trucks and road rollers. In 1947, its agricultural division, Barfords of Belton, developed the world's smallest tractor, the Barford Atom, weighing 177 pounds (80 kilograms).

Now 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. A restructuring package resulted in ownership transferring to Bowdon Investment Group in May 2010. It is now 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.

British Manufacture and Research Company (British Marc Ltd or BMARC), in Springfield Road, made munitions, notably the Hispano cannon for the Spitfire and Hurricane from 1937 onwards. It was owned by the Swiss Oerlikon from 1971 until 1988, becoming part of Astra Holdings plc. The firm was bought by British Aerospace in 1992, which then closed the site. It 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 moved there in 2007.

In 1968 Reads of Liverpool built a canning factory in Springfield Road to serve Melton Mowbray, becoming American Can, then Pechiney (French) in 1988, then Impress (Dutch). It closed in 2006 and was demolished in 2007 to make way for 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 J. W. Green of Luton. It was founded in September 1828 and became a public company in 1880. It closed in 1967.

Conference and hospitality facilities in the Grantham area include the Olde Barn Hotel in Marston, the Q-Hotel group Belton Woods Hotel, the Urban Leisure Hotel and various golf clubs. Stoke Rochford Hall won the Les Routiers Wedding Venue of the Year in 2011.[119] The Griffin Inn at Irnham won the 2012 Les Routiers B&B of the Year Award.[120][121] The Eden House Hotel is a historic building built as a mansion in about 1850.

The sign of the Angel and Royal

The Angel and Royal in 1836

The Angel and Royal in the High Street is widely regarded as the oldest surviving English inn. The façade of the main building as it appears today was built about 600 years ago, but the site had already held an inn for 200 years. It was originally 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 Wulfram's 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 prosperity declined markedly with the coming of the railways.

By the middle of the 19th century, 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 the Second World War, 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 then there has been a succession of owners, including several brewery companies. In May 2002, the Angel and Royal was purchased by a consortium of local business professionals.

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, due to low sales, although a Marks and Spencer Food Hall re-opened in 2014. The closure met with local protests.[122] Discount department store chain Boyes took over the property in 2012.[123] Haldanes, a chain of about 20 supermarkets based in Ruston Road, went into administration. The former HMRC office at Crown House in Castlegate closed in early 2010, moving to two sites in Lincoln.[124]

Class 91 Electric locomotive 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 Peterborough and Newark Northgate). It is joined by 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 some commuters. 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 branch lines were closed. Before October 1970 the connection from King's Cross to Lincoln Central was through Grantham and followed the A607 via Leadenham. After that date, London-Lincoln trains still passed through Grantham, but then continued up the main line 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.

On 3 July 1938 Mallard broke the world speed record for steam locomotives, at 126 mph (203 km/h), on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line.

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. The A52 linking Nottingham and the East Coast was diverted from High Street onto the Inner Relief Road, Sankt Augustin Way, in 1998. 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.[132]

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 a 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. (The company went on to build 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 to 1975).[133] He was married to the (only) daughter of Nancy Astor.

Various attempts at one-way systems in Grantham have been introduced, but traffic delays are still commonplace. Low railway bridges also add to traffic difficulties, with lorries becoming stuck under them. Many promises have been made by the local council for a Grantham bypass road. The latest, the Grantham Southern Relief Road, has been in planning since 2007. Phase one of the project was completed in 2016. Phase Two, started in October 2019, involves a new junction on the A1 and is due to be completed by Autumn 2021. Phase three for the main stretch of road is due to start in 2021 and be completed by 2023[134]

Grantham was once linked to Nottingham by the Grantham Canal. It is possible to walk and cycle along the canal starting from Grantham near the A1/A607 intersection (opposite The Farrier).

The River Witham runs through Grantham. It has a riverside walk linking Dysart Park and Wyndham Park, on which is a view of Spittlegate Mill. The walk passes Inner Street 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 footbridges with views of the river and its weirs. Swans, ducks and trout are among the wildlife that can be seen along the river.

Grantham Town Football Club, the local football team, currently plays in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League. It was founded in 1874 and now uses the 7,500-capacity (covered 1,950, seats 750) South Kesteven Sports Stadium (although average attendances are well below that).[146] 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.[147]

Harrowby United F.C. in Dickens Road, near the Church of the Ascension, is in the UCL (United Countries League) Division One league.

Kesteven RFC pitch in April 2006

Kesteven Rugby Football Club was founded in 1947 and plays at Woodnook, off the B6403. It fields two men's teams, a ladies XV and many junior sides.

Grantham Hockey Club, which fielded men's and women's team in league hockey, played at the Meres Leisure Centre, on an astro-turf pitch directly behind the football stadium.[148] 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). Their story is documented in 1,309 Days Later, the title a reference to a no-win spell between 2006 and 2009.[149]

Grantham bowls players have represented the indoor and outdoor clubs in county and national competitions. Indoor club players Martin Pulling, Dion Auckland, Ian Johnson, and former England U25 player Mathew Orrey, have played for the England squad.[150][151]

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.[152]

• Philip Knights, Baron Knights (1920–2014), police officer
• Walter Richard Parker VC (1881–1936), Royal Marine awarded the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli[155]
• Edith Smith (1876–1924), first woman police officer with full arrest powers

• Antonio Berardi (born 1968), fashion designer
• Judy Campbell (1916–2004), actor and playwright
• Syd Cain (1918–2011), film production designer
• Eric Chappell (born 1933), comedy writer
• Colley Cibber (1671–1757), actor, playwright and poet laureate, attended The King's School, Grantham.
• Dorothy Cowlin (1911–2010), novelist born in Grantham
• Johnny Haddon Downes (1920–2004), television producer
• Vince Eager (born 1940), singer
• Graham Fellows (born 1959), actor and musician[156]
• Michael Garner (born 1954), actor
• Holly Humberstone (born 1999), singer and songwriter
• Henry Johnson (1806–1910), circus equestrian gymnast and acrobat
• Jessie Lipscomb (1861–1962), sculptor
• Nicholas Maw (1935–2009), composer
• Richard Nauyokas (born 1962), soldier and actor
• Nicholas Parsons (1923–2020), television and radio presenter
• Roy Petley (born 1951), Grantham-born plein air painter
• William Stukeley (1687–1765), antiquarian[157][158]
• Richard Todd (1919–2009) actor
• Clare Tomlinson (born 1968), news presenter

• Beverley Allitt (born 1968), serial killer[159][160][161]

• Mary Sophia Allen (1878–1964), suffragist, women's rights activist, and Nazi sympathizer
• Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet (1659–1697), politician and landowner
• William Bury (c. 1605–1669), Commonwealth politician and army officer
• William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520–1598), statesman and Secretary of State, attended the King's School.
• Sir Clement Cotterell (died 1631), courtier and MP for Grantham
• Sir John Cust (1718–1770), MP for Grantham (1743–1770) and Speaker of the House of Commons
• Joseph Godber, Lord Godber (1914–1980), was Conservative MP for Grantham in 1951–1979 and held several government posts.
• Douglas Hogg, Lord Hailsham (born 1945), was a Conservative politician and minister, and MP for Grantham (1979–1997).
• Denis Kendall, MP for Grantham 1942–1950
• John Mordaunt (died c. 1505), MP for Grantham in 1491 and Speaker of the House of Commons
• Henry More (1614–1687), rationalist philosopher, attended The King's School.
• Thomas Paine (1737–1809), political writer and revolutionary
• Margot Parker (born 1943), UKIP MEP (2014–2019)
• Sir Arthur Priestley (1865–1933), Liberal MP for Grantham (1900–1918)
• Alderman Alfred Roberts (1892–1970), local politician
• Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby (1735–1803), politician
• Norman Shrapnel (1912–2004), political correspondent and author
• Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), Conservative Prime Minister, daughter of Alfred Roberts
• Thomas Witham (c. 1420–1489), Chancellor of the Exchequer to Henry VI and Edward IV

Bishop John Still, effigy in Wells Cathedral

• Frederic Barker (1808–1882), Anglican Bishop of Sydney, attended The King's School.
• Tim Ellis (born 1953), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (2006–2013)
• Arthur Greaves (1873–1960), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham and later Grimsby
• Gregory Hascard (died 1708), Anglican Dean of Windsor and religious writer
• Dennis Hawker (1921–2003), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1972–1987)
• John Hine (1857–1934), Anglican bishop, successively of Nyasaland, Zanzibar, Northern Rhodesia and Grantham (1920–1930)
• Welbore MacCarthy (1840–1925), Anglican Archdeacon of Calcutta, and later inaugural suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1905–1920)
• Algernon Markham (1869–1949), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1937–1949)
• James McCann (1897–1983), Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
• Anthony Otter (1896–1986), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1949–1965)
• John Still (1593–1608), Bishop of Bath and Wells, once thought to have written an early farce, Gammer Gurton's Needle
• Doris Stokes (1920–1987), spiritualist and psychic medium
• William Wand (1885–1977), Anglican prelate, successively Archbishop of Brisbane, Bishop of Bath and Wells and Bishop of London

Rivercourt Methodist Church, Hammersmith, London, designed by Charles Bell

• Charles Bell (1846–1899), architect
• William Clarke (1609–1682), apothecary and tutor to Isaac Newton
• Maxwell Hutchinson (born 1948), architect
• Isaac Newton, (1642–1726/27), physicist and mathematician
• Mark A. O'Neill (born 1959), biologist and computer scientist
• Thomas James Smith (1827–1896), pharmacist and founder of the medical equipment firm Smith & Nephew

• Shaun Balfe (born 1972), racing driver
• Patrick Bamford (born 1993), professional footballer with Leeds United and the England national football team[162]
• Terry Bly (1935–2009), professional footballer, died in Grantham
• Ian Bowyer (born 1951), professional footballer
• Roderick Bradley (born 1983), American footballer
• John Broughton (1873–1952), first-class cricketer

Olympic gold medal winning tennis player Charles P. Dixon

• Charles P. Dixon (1873–1939), Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal-winning tennis player
• Mathew Dowman (born 1974), first-class cricketer
• Dave Gilbert (born 1963), professional footballer
• Arthur Green (1885 – post-1912), professional footballer
• Timothy Grubb (1954–2010), Olympic show jumper
• Cyril Hatton (1918–1987), professional footballer[163]
• Richard Holmes (born 1980), professional footballer
• Richard Howitt (born 1977), first-class cricketer
• Vikki Hubbard (born 1989), international high jumper
• Dickie Joynes (1877–1949), professional footballer
• Alastair McCorquodale (1925–2009), Scottish athlete and first-class cricketer, died in Grantham.
• Harry Pringle (1900–1965), professional footballer, died in Grantham.
• Arnold Rylott (1839–1914), first-class cricketer
• David Storer (born 1968), former cricketer
• Simon Terry (1974–2021), Olympic Bronze medal-winning archer
• Tom Wells (born 1993), first-class cricketer
• William Woof (1858–1937), first-class cricketer
• Ashley Wright (born 1980), first-class cricketer
• Luke Wright (born 1985), first-class cricketer

• Dixon, Philip; Taylor, Gary (2011). "The Angel and Royal and Its Architectural Context". In Start, David; Stocker, David (eds.). The Making of Grantham: The Medieval Town. Heckington: Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire. pp. 237–252. ISBN 9780948639593.
• Drummond, Mary M. (1964). "Manners, John (1730–92), of Grantham Grange, Lincs.". In Namier, Sir Lewis; Brooke, John (eds.). The House of Commons 1754–1790. The History of Parliament. Vol. 3. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office for the History of Parliament Trust. OCLC 26658760.
• Haigh, Christopher (1990), The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521395526
• Honeybone, Michael (1988), The Book of Grantham: The History of a Market and Manufacturing Town (2nd ed.), Buckingham: Barracuda Books, ISBN 9780860234258
• Jenkins, Terry (2009). "Tollemache, Lionel William John (1794–1878), of 1 Hyde Park Place, Mdx.". In Fisher, D. R. (ed.). The House of Commons 1820–1832. The History of Parliament. Vol. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the History of Parliament Trust. ISBN 9780521193146.
• Lane, Tom (2011). "Grantham Before the Town: The Archaeological Evidence". In Start, David; Stocker, David (eds.). The Making of Grantham: The Medieval Town. Heckington: Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire. pp. 9–20. ISBN 9780948639593.
• Manterfield, John (2011). "Grantham in the Later Medieval Period". In Start, David; Stocker, David (eds.). The Making of Grantham: The Medieval Town. Heckington: Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire. pp. 39–50. ISBN 9780948639593.
• Measom, George (1861), The Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Northern Railway, London: Griffin, Bohn and Co.
• Mills, A. D. (2011). "Grantham". In Mills, A. D. (ed.). A Dictionary of British Place Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 242. ISBN 9780191739446.
• Nicklin, T. (1920), The Sounds of Standard English, with Some Notes on Accidence and Syntax, Oxford: Clarendon Press, OCLC 1085211975
• Pinchbeck, John (2018), Secret Grantham, Stroud: Amberley Publishing, ISBN 9781445676517
• Port, M. H.; Thorne, R. G. (1986). "Manners, Sir William, 1st Bt. (1766–1833), of Buckminster Park, Leics.". In Thorne, R. G. (ed.). The House of Commons 1790–1820. The History of Parliament. Vol. 4. London: Secker and Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust. ISBN 9780436521010.
• Robinson, David N. (2001). "Natural Regions". In Bennett, Stewart; Bennett, Nicholas (eds.). An Historical Atlas of Lincolnshire (2nd ed.). Chichester: Phillimore and Co. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9781860771668.
• Roffe, David (2011). "The Early History of Grantham". In Start, David; Stocker, David (eds.). The Making of Grantham: The Medieval Town. Heckington: Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire. pp. 21–38. ISBN 9780948639593.
• South Kesteven District Council (2007), South Kesteven Landscape Character Assessment, Grantham: South Kesteven District Council
• South Kesteven District Council (2011), Grantham Townscape Assessment, Grantham: South Kesteven District Council, archived from the original on 12 February 2021
• Stenton, Frank M. (1971), Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford History of England (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780192801395
• Turnor, Edmund (1806), Collections for the History of the Town and Soke of Grantham, London: William Miller, OCLC 1089905381
• White, Andrew (1979), Lincolnshire Museums Information Sheet: Antiquities from the River Witham. Part I: Prehistoric and Roman (PDF), Archaeology Series, vol. 12, Lincoln: Lincolnshire Museums, OCLC 819665966
• White, Graeme (1976). "King Stephen, Duke Henry and Ranulf de Gernons, Earl of Chester". The English Historical Review. 91 (360): 555–565. doi:10.1093/ehr/XCI.CCCLX.555. JSTOR 566626.
• Youngs, Frederic A. (1991), Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, vol. 2, London: Royal Historical Society, ISBN 9780861931279