Summary
Public house and shop, constructed during the C16 with later phases of the C18 and C19.
History
Grantham was a settlement of considerable size by the time of the Norman invasion, with the Domesday book (1086) recording a population of over a thousand. The town’s name is listed under its current spelling in Domesday, and is believed to be of Old English origin, combining ‘Granta’ and ‘ham’ (Granta’s manor). The town lies on the Roman Great North Road (Ermine Street) from London to York, which has brought commerce and travellers seeking accommodation throughout the town’s history. The north-south road (London Road-High Street-Watergate-North Street) remains the central spine of the town’s urban plan. Notwithstanding the importance of the town’s positioning on this ancient highway, its medieval and early-modern prosperity was due in large part to wool and agriculture. The town’s historic wealth is illustrated through its principal church, St Wulfram, with its 86m-high spire, and the C15 stone frontage of the Angel and Royal Hotel. The town’s building stock was historically built of stone or timber, but much was rebuilt during the C18 and C19 in local red brick. The opening of the canal to Nottingham in 1797 and the arrival of the railways in 1850 and 1852 increased opportunities for trade, while an industrial economy developed with the opening of Richard Seaman and Richard Hornsby’s Spitalgate ironworks in 1810. Hornsby and Sons later became known for producing the UK’s first diesel engine in 1892, and were early pioneers of tractors and caterpillar tracks.
8 and 9 Vine Street comprise a shop and public house, probably constructed during the C16. The inn at number 9 is first recorded as the ‘Blue Pig public house’ in a local newspaper article of 1812 (Stamford Mercury, 25 September 1812, 3). Around this time, the local landowning Manners family acquired a number of pubs, inns and hotels within Grantham and added the epithet ‘Blue’ to their names in reference to their allegiance to the Whig party. The stone and timber-framed element appears to have been constructed in two phases: the four easternmost bays (the Blue Pig Inn) were likely constructed first, with the two westernmost bays (8 Vine Street) being added later in a matching style.
Details
Public house and shop, constructed during the C16 with later phases of the C18 and C19.
MATERIALS: the building is of squared and coursed limestone rubble to the ground floor and exposed timber framing with rendered infill to the first floor, with a brick western gable end wall to number 8, a brick extension fronting Swinegate, a brick screening wall to the west of number 9, and C20 brick chimney stacks. The roof covering is clay pantiles.
PLAN: the building is arranged on a C-shaped plan, with the principal, earlier range facing Vine Street to the south and two additional ranges running north along the west and east boundaries of the plot, the easternmost fronting Swinegate.
EXTERIOR: all three ranges are of two storeys under gabled roofs. The principal range is six bays wide onto Vine Street to the south, with a gable end wall facing onto Swinegate to the east. The public house is contained within the four easternmost bays while the two westernmost bays are a separate property, in use as a hairdresser. The four easternmost bays contain three, C20 timber mullion windows with leaded casements, and a plain doorway with a timber lintel. The two western bays contain a C19 shopfront comprising two large, fixed windows with timber glazing bars and reeded surrounds, and an off-centre, recessed doorway containing a half-glazed door with a rectangular fanlight above. To the west of the shopfront is a screening wall of red brick, containing a plain timber door and a fixed timber casement window on the first floor. On the ground floor of the Swinegate elevation is another plain doorway with a timber lintel and a late-C20 door. The first floor is of exposed, close-studded timber framing with braces including down braces, and is jettied out over the ground floor. The lower part of the roof projects over the first floor, forming a deep eaves along the southern elevation. At first-floor level, the four western bays (number 9, containing the public house) contain five window openings: the two westernmost windows are arranged as a pair of horizontal-sliding, six-pane sashes, while the three other windows are timber casements with leaded lights, probably of the C20 but re-using the original window openings. The two westernmost bays of the building (number 8, containing the shop) contain two timber sash windows with margin glazing bars, set within simply-moulded surrounds set forward of the timber framing. In the pitched roof over the shop are two pitched-roof dormers containing horizontal-sliding sashes. The first floor of the eastern gable wall contains a single, timber casement with leaded lights. A tall, brick chimney stack of the late-C19 or C20 rises through the pitched roof adjacent to the northern range
To the north of the stone and timber framed element is a two-storey, three-bay range fronting Swinegate. It is of painted brickwork under a pitched, pan-tiled roof, with a C19 red brick chimney stack rising off-centre through the ridge. On the ground floor, there is a single timber mullion window with leaded casements in the southernmost bay and a carriage entrance in the northernmost bay, containing a pair of large, plank doors with moulded timber jambs and lintel. The north-east corner of the building is curved, with a stone corbel unifying the curved lower and right-angled upper sections of the corner. On the first floor, there is a timber mullion window with leaded casements above the ground floor window, and a six-over-six sash window with a segmental-arched head placed centrally and set lower on the elevation, possibly lighting a staircase. Above the carriage entrance is a hatched hay loft with a timber lintel, and plank and batten shutters. Immediately below the hatch is a square iron wall tie plate.
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 10 October 2023 to upload the correct description and amendment date.
