Grantham - Landmarks

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.

Further information: public houses and inns in Grantham