Grantham Tour

Grantham is the nearest city to Harlaxton, about four miles away from the manor. I walked there yesterday along the canal towpath and went to the market (see post from Sept 1), did some shopping, and bought myself a little cellphone, a "throwaway" as they say just for making calls here in the UK. Despite my technical backwardness, happy to say that I have figured out how to set the clock and calendar, add contacts, and call myself, all in less than 24 hours. Not bad.

Today, Sunday, it was off to St. Mary and Peter for services in the morning, a lovely walk through the village with a group of students. A number of faculty also attended. Then, after lunch into Grantham for a tour with a local historical society guide. Grantham goes back at least to Anglo-Saxon times. You can tell by the "ham" at the end of the town's name--"by" denotes Viking, "chester" denotes Roman times--and grand or grant means gravel. There is a small river nearby that had thrown up a bar of gravel and sand, and the Saxons decided it was a good place for a village.

In the main square on St. Peter Hill, there is a statue of Grantham's most famous son (well he was born about 10 miles away) Isaac Newton.

 

It is sometimes referred to as Isaac Newtonski because the bronze for the statue as donated by the Army from Russian cannons captured during the Crimean War. More on Isaac in a bit.

 

Our tour guide was named Malcolm, 81 years young and a native of Grantham. Did an excellent job. Riveted the students with his account of being bombed during WWII when he was 10. Shepherded us through the back streets of the town past a church that had been "made redundant" as they say, i.e. so few parishioners left that it has been closed and the people combined with another parish. It is the same as "laid off" in America. Next a memorial to Queen Victoria on the occasion of her death in 1901 after 64 years on the throne. Another statue?

 

  

Wrong. They built a small hospital for the poor which continues to operate as a medical facility to this day, although now in private hands.

 

Then on to the church, and by church I mean something that would be a cathedral in most places.

 

 

 

 



The curvilinear windows int he nave are among the best in England. However, they are having a problem with the spire. At 283 feet, it is one of the tallest in the UK. The top 15 feet were repaired in the 1960s, but now the next 24 feet below it are in trouble. Worked on in the 18th century, the iron bands used to strengthen the stone are now rusting and expanding. You can see the scaffolding about 40 feet from the top

Going to cost about $1 million, not far off what it cost Bethany to repair the clock tower about 12 years ago. We didn't go into the church, so I will save the rest of it for another post. But, right across the street is the school where little Isaac Newton learned his Latin and Greek, what was then called simply the Grammar School.

It is now called King's School and this building is just the library. Our guide Malcolm attended there in his youth.

Finally a stop at the Angel and Royal on High Street. High Street was literally the High Road from London to Edinburgh going back many centuries and the Angel and Royal entertained many important guests including (evil) King John, (wicked) King Richard III, and (delightfully disreputable) King Edward VII.

Most of the rooms are named for former members of the royal family and The King's Room fronts the building on the second floor

That's the fireplace there.

All in all a lovely afternoon. Next big event, a trip to Lincoln on Wednesday. Sure to be a winner.