Grantham Guildhall is a municipal building on St Peter's Hill,

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England. It is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The building was commissioned to replace the aging guildhall and jail on the corner of Guildhall Street and High Street. The site selected for the new building had previously been occupied by a large mansion that had been converted into a school known as "The Firs". A statue of

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the great ...

by the sculptor,

William Theed William Theed, also known as William Theed the younger (1804 – 9 September 1891), was a British sculptor, the son of the sculptor and painter William Theed the elder (1764–1817). Although versatile and eclectic in his works, he specialised ...

, was erected in front of the school in 1858 and therefore pre-dates the guildhall. The new building, which was designed by William Watkins in the

Renaissance Revival style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

and built by William Wartnaby of

Little Gonerby Manthorpe is a village in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the town of Grantham and on the Grantham to Lincoln A607 road, between the East Coast Main Line and the River Witham. The village is pa ...

, was completed in 1869. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nine bays facing onto St Peter's Hill; the central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured three arched openings separated by

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns on the ground floor, a prominent

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

on the first floor and a large

lantern A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to carry and h ...

with a clock above. The main building accommodated a ballroom and a sessions hall; a prison building was erected at the same time as was a separate governor's residence. After the prison building was no longer required, it was leased to Robinson and Barnsdale, cigar makers, in 1882 and then leased to Grantham Technical Institute in 1897. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

parts of Grantham were badly damaged by bombing and the guildhall was protected by sandbags and blastwalls. The guildhall was the meeting place of Grantham Borough Council until 1974 when the enlarged South Kesteven District Council was formed and the guildhall ceased to be the local seat of government; after a period of disuse it was converted into an arts centre, to a design by Tim Benton, in 1991. The mayor's parlour in the guildhall remains the meeting place for the

charter trustees In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a parish council is established. Duties are ...

who continue to appoint the mayor of Grantham each year. A blue plaque was unveiled on the wall of the old prison building in 2014 to commemorate the life of Edith Smith, the first woman police officer in the United Kingdom with full

power of arrest The power of arrest is a mandate given by a central authority that allows an individual to remove a criminal's (or suspected criminal's) liberty. The power of arrest can also be used to protect a person, or persons from harm or to protect damage t ...

. In 2015, a modern relief stone plaque commemorating

Eleanor of Castile Eleanor of Castile (1241 – 28 November 1290) was Queen of England as the first wife of Edward I, whom she married as part of a political deal to affirm English sovereignty over Gascony. The marriage was known to be particularly close, and ...

was installed at the guildhall close to the site where an original

Eleanor cross The Eleanor crosses were a series of twelve tall and lavishly decorated stone monuments topped with crosses erected in a line down part of the east of England. King Edward I had them built between 1291 and about 1295 in memory of his beloved wi ...

was erected by

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal ...

in around 1294. The original Eleanor Cross had been destroyed in 1645 during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. The arts centre continues to provide support for

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

s such as "Peter Pan" in December 2017, "Dick Whittington" in December 2018, "Cinderella" in December 2019 and "Jack and The Beanstalk" in December 2021.

References

{{reflist City and town halls in Lincolnshire Grade II listed buildings in Lincolnshire Government buildings completed in 1869 Buildings and structures in Grantham