Grantham (/ˈɡrænθəm/) is a market town and civil parish 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.

[11] The Mowbeck, which rises from springs at Harlaxton about 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south-west of the town,[12] is culverted behind Westgate and Brook Street[10] until it joins the Witham at White Bridge.

[13] The floor of the Witham valley – 50–60 m above sea level in the town centre – is underlain by mudstone of the Charmouth formation of the Lower Jurassic period (199–183 million years ago).

[34] Data from the weather station nearest to Grantham, at Cranwell, 10 miles (16 km) away, shows an average daily mean temperature of 9.8 °C (49.6 °F) fluctuates from a peak of 16.9 °C (62.4 °F) in July to 3.9 °C (39.0 °F) in January.

Scattered Stone Age tools have been found, the earliest being a Palaeolithic axe on the Cherry Orchard Estate, dating between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago.

The next earliest material consist of Mesolithic flints crafted 4,000 to 8,000 years ago and found round Gonerby Hill and the riverside in the south of the town.

Neolithic people probably settled in the Grantham area for its proximity to the rivers and its fertile soils; material suggesting settlement in this period has been found at Great Ponton.

There were probably Romano-British farmsteads on the site of the modern town,[40] but the wet soils round the Mowbeck and flooding by the Witham probably made it hard for a larger settlement to grow there.

Extensive finds and evidence of a significant Romano-British occupation have emerged in the vicinity since the 19th century; it has been tentatively identified by some scholars as Causennae, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, and sat at the place where River Witham was crossed by the Salter's Way, a trade route connecting the salt-producing coastal and marshland regions with the Midlands.

[41][42] The local historian Michael Honeybone has "no doubt that the town of Grantham was established during [Anglo-]Saxon times"; its name suggests it emerged in the earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement, probably by the 7th century.

[44] The medievalist Sir Frank Stenton argued that Grantham probably emerged as an "important estate centre" before the Viking invasions in the 9th century and then functioned as a "minor local capital" in the Danelaw.

[46] Whatever its origins, by the time of the Domesday Book (1086, the earliest documentary evidence for the settlement), Grantham was a town and royal manor; under its jurisdiction fell soke comprising lands in 16 villages.

[68] The bridging of the River Trent at Newark by the late 12th century realigned the Great North Road so that it passed through Grantham,[69] bringing traffic to the town as an important stopping place and leading to the development of inns such as The George and The Angel.

[77][79] In July 1975 the National Association of Ratepayers' Action Groups (NARAG) was formed in Grantham by John Wilks, its chairman, as a forerunner of the TaxPayers' Alliance.

[citation needed] The agricultural engine and steamroller manufacturer Aveling and Porter of Rochester, Kent, merged with Barford & Perkins of Peterborough as Aveling-Barford Ltd in 1934, largely with financial help from Ruston & Hornsby, as both firms had entered into administration.

[citation needed] In 1968 Reads of Liverpool built a canning factory in Springfield Road to serve Melton Mowbray, becoming American Can, then Pechiney (French) in 1988, then Impress (Dutch).

One is Norbert Dentressangle, which bought Christian Salvesen plc in November 2007 and maintains the frozen storage and distribution operation which has been at the site since the late 1960s.

[citation needed] There was a third large frozen vegetable processing factory owned and operated by Christian Salvesen; it was sold to Pinguin Foods in August 2007,[104] which closed the facility in December 2008.

[106] Next door to GBS and a Gala Bingo is Cathodic Protection, which with BGB Innovation won The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) in 2009.

After the war, on 21 November 1945, there was a meeting at the Guildhall about the proposed bypass of the London-Edinburgh-Thurso trunk road for Grantham and Great Gonerby.

[citation needed] In 1970, Kesteven County Council (based in Sleaford) announced plans to turn the grammar schools into co-educational comprehensives for ages of 11–16 and leave Grantham College the only sixth form for the town.

[citation needed] On 1 August 2011 The King's School ended its long relationship with the local elected authorities and the town of Grantham, by converting to a selective academy.

[153] Grantham and its surrounding area host peregrine falcons, which have in recent years roosted in the bell tower of St Wulfram's Church.

The area has notable populations of dragonflies, especially Aeshna grandis, Anax imperator, Libellula quadrimaculata and Calopteryx splendens, which are also found on Grantham Canal as it runs through The Vale of Belvoir to the west of the town.

Whetstones were a rusk-like dry biscuit enjoyed locally and by coach drivers who would stop in Grantham to change horses while travelling along the Great North Road.

According to folk belief, Egglestone was baking whetstones in his dimly lit kitchen one morning when he mistook one ingredient for another, resulting in a ginger-like biscuit to emerge from the oven.

[160] The ground also doubles as the town's athletics stadium (one of only three in Lincolnshire), next to the Grantham Meres Leisure Centre on Trent Road.

[citation needed] Grantham is also the birthplace of Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford Kesteven Rugby Football Club was founded in 1947 and plays at Woodnook, off the B6403.

[164][165] In 1993 and 1994 international team matches were held in Grantham, at the South Kesteven Table Tennis Centre, which was opened in January 1992 by Johnny Leach.

On 15 May 2022 a 10-foot-6-inch (3.2 m) high bronze statue of Margaret Thatcher, dressed in the full ceremonial robes of the House of Lords, by sculptor Douglas Jennings and costing £300,000, was installed.