Local events

Ten little gems
Did you know that piped water for the town was provided by the Greyfriars monks in 1314?... More

Markets, fairs, carnivals
The town has had a market for more than 1,000 years, and from 1484 to 1634 it actually had two... More

Town's history

First footings
About 4,000 years ago farmers used bronze tools to clear woods between the Witham and Mowbeck... More

Royal charter
Grantham 'officially' became a town on March 8, 1463, under a Royal Charter granted by Edward IV... More

Wool and iron
Agriculture played a great role in the early centuries of Grantham. The fertile land produced crops... More

People and places

St Wulfram's Church
Built in the 1100s on the site of a Saxon church, St Wulfram's is known as the Glory of Grantham... More

Margaret Thatcher
Britain's first woman Prime Minister was born on October 13, 1925, above a shop at 1 North Parade... More

King's School
King's School, possibly once St Wulfram's Church song school, is one of the oldest in the country... More

Sir Isaac Newton
Newton's lifetime of discoveries started at King's School, Grantham where he was head boy... More

Grantham Journal

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Markets, fairs, carnivals

The town has had a market for over 1,000 years. For a long time it had two, one controlled by the lord of the manor. On March 3, 1484, Richard III gave the town permission to hold a weekly market on Wednesday “for ever”. It lasted until 1634 when the manor rights were leased to the town council and they opted to keep only the Saturday market.

Until 1330, the market was held just to the west of St Wulfram’s Church, but because of church extensions it shifted to the Market Place where it is still held. There was a cattle market, fish market and cloth market. On St Peter’s Hill, there was a horse market until the end of the 19th Century, and a pig market was held in Wide Westgate, outside the Blue Bull pub, until the 1950s. Today the district council leases the market from Buckminster Estate.

There have been fairs held in Grantham for hundreds of years. Richard III’s charter granted fairs to be held on the feast of St Nicholas, the Bishop in winter ... and on Passion Sunday in Lent. The latter was the forerunner of the pleasure fair still held in the centre of town in Mid-Lent. The lord of the manor had control of two other annual fairs on Holy Thursday and on October 26, St Wulfram’s Day.

Many fairs were linked to agriculture. By 1842, there were six annual fairs for horses, cattle and sheep. Pleasure fairs, with roundabouts driven by steam engines, became popular towards the end of the 19th Century. There was a Fairs Act in 1873 which allowed the town to continue with its Mid-Lent Fair.

Favourite rides were the ‘gallopers’, a fast roundabout of wooden horses that moved up and down, swingboats, helter-skelters, hoopla, skittles and ‘Test your Strength’ machines ... all a far cry from today’s hi-tech wonders.

There were freak shows, shooting galleries and photographic saloons. Although the main fair was in Market Place and Westgate, where it is still held today, bazaars were also set up on High Street, the old Great North Road.

The pleasure fair’s popularity waned inthe early years of the 19th Century, but began attracting huge crowds again after the Second World War.

On the down side, the fair has entered Grantham folklore as the bringer of bad weather, because it often rains.

Grantham’s annual two-day carnival in June attracts huge crowds. It has been run since 1985, but had a number of forerunners.

In 1875, someone had the bright idea that a carnival could raise cash for Grantham Hospital. A Grand Demonstration, Fete and Gala was held on London Road cricket field (now Safeway supermarket). It attracted 13,000 visitors. The Royal South Lincoln Militia band led a parade through the town. Entertainment included Euginne Rivalli, who was locked in an iron cage and set alight, and John Richings, a ventriloquist with life-size dummies.

Surprisingly, the carnival was held on a Monday. The towns shops closed at 3pm so staff could enjoy the fun. Fund-raising carnivals for the hospital continued in the 1930s when they were called Grantham Rag.

In 1973, dumper manufacturers Aveling Barford introduced a carnival. There was a huge parade of floats and stalls and sideshows at its social club grounds at Arnoldfield. The last Barford Gala was in 1982, when new bosses of the firm sold off much of the social club grounds for housing development.

Today’s two-day carnival is run by a committee supported by the Journal. There is a parade of floats and bands through the town and an arena in Wyndham Park featuring a variety of acts and displays. In nearby Queen Elizabeth II park a classic car show is held alongside the carnival.

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