Essential Hotels > England > Lincolnshire > Grantham

Grantham is a market town that is found in the county of Lincolnshire on the eastern side of England. It is, perhaps most famously, known as the birthplace of Margaret Thatcher who later went on to be Prime Minister of the country, some 54 years after her birth in 1925. Another famous name associated with Grantham is Isaac Newton who went to school in the town having been born at nearby Woolsthorpe Manor almost 300 years prior to Thatcher.

Set on the banks of the River Witham Grantham is found amid agricultural surroundings in the Kestevan Uplands. It is approximately 25 miles from Nottingham and Lincoln and around 120 miles to the north of capital city London. Good transport links ensure visitors can easily reach the town by road and rail while the 35,000 inhabitants are able to travel in and out of Grantham too should they wish. Indeed, it is due to the settlement’s position between London and the north that Grantham developed as it did in the first place.

The town is associated with a number of firsts as well as a series of slightly obscure facts. For example, Grantham once produced particularly thick and gingery gingerbread biscuits while it also had a ‘living’ pub sign in the form of South African bees in a beehive. Interestingly, peregrine falcons roost in the bell tower of the impressive St Wulfram’s Church and an annual pig drive occurred here between 1755 and 1962 until it was deemed too dangerous. Meanwhile, in 1598 the UK’s first public library opened in Grantham while towards the end of the 19th century the town was responsible for the country’s first diesel engine and its first tractor. Then, in 1914, Grantham produced the nation’s first female police officer.

It is thought that Grantham is named as such after a man named Granta who owned the village (ham). It was, though, recognised under its current label back in 1086 in the Domesday Book. Documenting much of the town’s history is the Grantham Museum while there are a number of other historic features surrounding the area. The Belvoir Castle, the Boothby Pagnell Manor, Woolsthorpe Manor, Fulbeck Hall and the National Trust protected Grantham House are all found in the vicinity. Finally, Wyndham Park, Dysat Park and Belton Woods offer something a little different for various kinds of visitor.