Summary
Inn, constructed during the early C17, extended during the C18 and early C19, now in use partly as a wine bar and restaurant, and partly as a nursery.
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 1,000. 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 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 & Sons later became known for producing the UK’s first diesel engine in 1892 and were early pioneers of tractors and caterpillar tracks.
6 Market Place is a former inn, now a wine bar and restaurant, initially constructed during the early C17, possibly on the site of an earlier building. Although it is not known when an inn was established in the building, or if this was its original use, the earliest identified reference to the Granby Inn in Grantham comes from a local newspaper article of 1794 (Stamford Mercury, 21 February 1794, p2). The establishment continued to operate under this name until around 2002, at which time it became the Eden Wine Bar.
The substantial original building is on a T-shaped plan on the north-west corner of the Market Square, partially concealed behind 5 Market Place. Two stone cross windows survive on the ground floor, while the first-floor windows were replaced with sashes during the C18 or early C19. Adjoining the inn to the west is a range of outbuildings constructed of stone, possibly during the C18. To the north (rear) of the inn is a range of outbuildings and stables constructed of brick during the early C19. In the late 1960s, a further outbuilding constructed of brick was added at the western end of the range of stone outbuildings.
The ground floor of the inn was remodelled during the mid-C20. By the early 2000s, the outbuildings and stables to the north and west were vacant but were subsequently refurbished and are now occupied by a nursery.
Details
Inn, constructed during the early C17, extended during the C18 and early C19, now in use partly as a wine bar and restaurant, and partly as a nursery.
MATERIALS: the principal building is constructed of brick, which is smooth rendered on its south elevation and painted on its east elevation, with a slate roof covering. The outbuildings to the west are of squared and coursed limestone and red brick under a clay pantile roof. The outbuildings to the north are of red brick under a clay pantile roof.
PLAN: the main building has an infilled T-shaped plan and forms a U-shaped courtyard with two rectangular ranges projecting to the west.
EXTERIOR: the three easternmost ground-floor bays were remodelled in the mid-C20. This comprises a wide central doorway in the second bay in from the east, containing a pair of five-panelled doors, with a rectangular fanlight and simple canopy above, flanked by wide, fluted pilasters. The doorway is flanked by a matching pair of tripartite windows with fluted mullions, containing timber, multi-pane casements. A rendered sill and string course run across the remodelled bays and returns onto the east elevation. To the west of the remodelled entrance are two stone cross-windows with fixed lights, and an additional sash window. A painted stone string course runs across the south and east elevations between the ground and first floors. Just beneath this, at the eastern end of the south elevation, there is an iron/mild steel wall tie plate, apparently of the C20.
On the first floor are five timber sash windows set flush with the wall. Four have six-over-six glazing, while the central window has eight-over-eight glazing. Immediately above the window heads is a painted cornice. There are three evenly-spaced dormers on the southern roof pitch, containing timber casement windows.
The design of the remodelled entrance continues round onto the east elevation, which is smooth-rendered on the ground floor with a timber casement window and an additional blind window, both with rendered sills, beneath two painted string courses. Between the string courses are a pair of iron/mild steel wall tieplates, which appear to be of the C20. On the first floor are two large blind windows under gauged brickwork heads. North of the original building, the east elevation of the two-storey infill extension contains a C20 door and window on the ground floor and a uPVC window on the first floor.
Adjoining the C17 building to the west are three, one- to two-storey outbuildings under gabled roofs. The easternmost range is of squared and coursed limestone with uneven redbrick infill around the window and door openings. The element immediately adjoining the inn is taller and has a partially visible red brick western gable. Both outbuildings contain a series of flat and segmental-arched openings on the ground and first floors, all containing late-C20 or C21 windows and doors.
To the north of the inn is an additional, one-to-two-storey range of outbuildings constructed of red brick under a pitched roof. On the ground floor of the south elevation of the outbuildings are a series of flat and segmental-arched openings of different sizes, all containing C21 doors and windows. There are a series of small, flat-headed openings on the first floor, tucked into the eaves of the pitched roof. On the west elevation, there is a timber casement window on the first floor and an iron tie on the ground floor.
