Grantham

Grantham is a small market town in Lincolnshire, England with about 40,000 inhabitants. Situated on the River Witham, it has the East Coast Main Line (between the stops for Peterborough and Newark Northgate) and 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. There is a motorway-style service station at the north end of the bypass, on the roundabout. The main local landmark is the impressive parish church of St Wulframs, which has the third highest spire among English churches, and is also home to the country's first public library.

Related Topics:
Lincolnshire - England - River Witham - East Coast Main Line - Peterborough - Newark Northgate - A1 - A52 - Nottingham - St Wulframs

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Two world-famous people are associated with the town are Sir Isaac Newton, who was educated at the still existing King's School, Grantham, and Margaret Thatcher, who attended Kesteven and Grantham Girls Grammar School (K.G.G.S). Thatcher, born in Grantham, is still remembered personally by many inhabitants of the town.

Related Topics:
Isaac Newton - King's School, Grantham - Margaret Thatcher

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Politically the town is part of the Grantham and Stamford constituency (recently altered), is represented in Parliament by Conservative Party MP Quentin Davies and has a long history of electing Conservative members of Parliament. The local town council is staunchly Labour, but many affluent villages of South Kesteven keep the Conservative proportion of the vote beyond reach.

Related Topics:
Conservative Party - MP - Quentin Davies - South Kesteven

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Grantham is home to the world's only 'living' pub sign: A bee hive perched in a tree. The town is also notable for the first female police officer: on November 27th 1914, during the First World War, Miss Mary Allen and Miss E F Harburn reported for duty on the beat.

Related Topics:
Police - First World War

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During the 1980s the town was twice voted 'The Most Boring Town In Britain' in a national poll. This was partially a backlash to Thatcherism although some locals took a perverse pride in the award and it proved to be a spur for development in the town (for instance a cinema opened soon after)

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In 1905, Richard Hornsby (1790-1864) & Sons of Grantham, founded 1815, invented the revolutionary caterpillar track, for use with Hornsby's oil engines, invented by Herbert Akroyd Stuart, from which principle the diesel engine evolved. In 1909, they showed the British Army their invention, who were bemused, but took it no further than that. A short time later, Hornsby sold the patent for the caterpillar track to Holt Tractors of California, USA. 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 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, being made in nearby Lincoln by William Foster. It first saw action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette on September 15th 1916.

Related Topics:
Herbert Akroyd Stuart - Diesel engine - Caterpillar track - California - Caterpillar Inc. - Benjamin Holt - British Army - Tank - Lincoln - William Foster - Battle of Flers-Courcelette

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During the famous Dambusters 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 a building which later housed a county council education department, and was built by Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1865, and is now a private house. In 1944 (including D-Day), this was the headquarters for the USA's 9th (IX) Troop Carrier Command, being known as Grantham Lodge.

Related Topics:
Dambusters - RAF - RAF Bomber Command - No. 5 Group - Barnes Wallis - D-Day - 9th

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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(USA). A trailer company, Crane-Fruehauf, may be moving into part of the factory.

Related Topics:
Aveling & Porter - Ruston & Hornsby - Invicta - Kent - Crane-Fruehauf

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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 and is now part of Astra Holdings PLC.

Related Topics:
BMARC - Oerlikon

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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, GW Padley, and a large frozen vegetable factory (PAS) near Easton.

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