Editing Grantham (section)

==Medieval town==
===Origins===
The local historian Michael Honeybone has "no doubt that the town of Grantham was established during [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|[Anglo-]Saxon]] times"; its name suggests it emerged in the earliest phase of Anglo-Saxon settlement, probably by the 7th century.<ref name="Honeybone15"/> The archaeological evidence for this is limited to finds indicating cemeteries at the sites of the Central School in Manthorpe and the junction of Bridge End Road and London Road in the town, and to small quantities of pottery sherds found on London Road, Belton Lane, Saltersford, New Somerby and Barrowby.<ref>{{Harvnb |Lane |2011 |p=20}}</ref>

The town's Saxon-period history is obscure and debated.<ref name=":4" /> The medievalist Sir [[Frank Stenton]] argued that Grantham probably emerged as an "important estate centre" before the [[Viking Age|Viking invasions]] in the 9th century and then functioned as a "minor local capital" in the [[Danelaw]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Stenton|1971|p=525}}</ref> By contrast, the historian David Roffe has argued that the town and its outlying [[Soke (legal)|soke]] were established in the 1040s or 1050s by [[Edith the Fair|Queen Edith]] and [[Leofric, Earl of Mercia]], to strengthen their hands in the county at the expense of [[Siward, Earl of Northumbria]]. They may have also created [[St Wulfram's Church, Grantham|St Wulfram's Church]] either as a new place of worship or as one revived from a possible earlier [[Monastic cell|cell]] of [[Crowland Abbey]]. Roffe argues that Siward's death in 1055 made Grantham's new role less important; as such, its soke only grew to its full extent after the [[Norman Conquest]] of England, when the king merged it with the soke of Great Ponton.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roffe|2011|p=36}}.</ref> Whatever its origins, by the time of the [[Domesday Book]] (1086, the earliest documentary evidence for the settlement), Grantham was a town and royal [[Manorialism|manor]]; under its jurisdiction fell soke comprising lands in 16 villages. St Wulfram's served this extended parish area.<ref name=":4">{{Harvnb |Roffe |2011 |p=21}}</ref>

===Royal manor===
Grantham's Domesday entries show it as an estate centre, where Queen Edith had a [[hall]] before 1066. Twenty years later, the king had the manor; there were four mills and eight acres of meadow, but no arable land. The [[demesne]] appears to have been land now known as Earlesfield in Great Gonerby. There were 111 [[Burgess (title)|burgesses]] and 72 [[bordars]], possibly labourers or craftsmen, indicating that Grantham was both a manor and a borough where the lord retained exclusive rights.<ref>{{Harvnb |Roffe |2011 |pp=26–29}}.</ref>{{Refn |group="n" |Alongside this estate, a smaller fee was held by the Abbot of Peterborough, whose tenant was called [[Kolgrimr (landowner)|Kolgrimr]] in 1086, and 77 tofts held by sokeman tenants of thegns settled nearby.<ref>{{Harvnb |Roffe |2011 |pp=28–29}}.</ref>}} It was a valuable asset, used by the king to reward loyal followers.<ref name=":5">{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=33}}.</ref> By 1129, the manor and soke had been granted to [[Rabel de Tancarville]], the king's [[Chamberlain (office)|chamberlain]] in [[Duchy of Normandy|Normandy]]. He sided against [[Stephen, King of England|King Stephen]] during [[The Anarchy]] (1135–1154) and his lands were probably [[Forfeiture (law)|forfeited]] on his death in 1140, although restored to his son William and confirmed in the early 1180s.<ref>{{Harvnb |White |1976 |pp=559–560}}.</ref> The king retook the manor after William's heir Ralph de Tancarville failed to support him in Normandy.<ref name=":5"/>

In 1205, the king granted it to his ally [[William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey]]. It was held as a [[life interest]] and [[Future interest|reverted]] to the [[The Crown|Crown]] on his widow's death in 1249, but regranted to his son [[John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey|the 6th earl]] in 1266. On his death in 1304 it reverted to the crown and was soon granted to [[Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke|Aymer de Valence]], but had been regranted to Warenne's grandson, [[John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey|the 7th earl]], by 1312. Four years later it was resettled on the 7th earl for life with reversion to the crown. [[William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton]] was granted the reversion in 1337 and took [[seisin]] ten years later. After his death, it reverted again to the Crown and in 1363 [[Edward II of England|Edward II]] granted it to his son [[Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York|Edmund of Langley, Duke of York]], through whose heirs it passed to [[Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York]],<ref>{{Harvnb |Manterfield |2011 |pp=39–40}}.</ref> a major figure in the [[Wars of the Roses]] and rival of [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]]. After Richard's death in 1460, Henry's Queen [[Margaret of Anjou]] attacked Grantham in 1461, but later that year was defeated by Richard's son Edward, who took the throne as [[Edward IV of England|Edward IV]]. Two years later, Grantham was rewarded for loyalty to the [[House of York|Yorkist]] cause when the king granted the borough a [[Charter of Incorporation|charter of incorporation]], as a self-governing council – the Corporation of Grantham headed by an Alderman – with various freedoms.<ref name="honeybone1988-p35">{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=35}}.</ref>{{Refn|group="n"|The manor stayed in royal hands and was often granted to a queen or queen mother for life. In 1696, William III granted it without reversion to [[William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland]].<ref name="honeybone1988-p35"/> The earl's eventual successor, the 3rd Duke of Portland, sold the manor to [[Lord William Manners]] in 1767.<ref name="turnor-61">{{Harvnb |Turnor |1806 |p=61}}.</ref> He gave it to his illegitimate son John Manners,<ref name="turnor-61"/><ref name="drummond">{{Harvnb |Drummond |1964}}.</ref> who married [[Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart|Louisa Tollemache]], a daughter of the [[Lionel Tollemache, 4th Earl of Dysart|Earl of Dysart]], a title she later inherited in her own right;<ref name="drummond"/> their son, [[William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower (1766–1833)|William]], along with [[Buckminster Park]] inherited the lordship of the manor. He was created a [[baronet]] and adopted the surname Talmash (or Tollemache). It then passed to his son, who also inherited the Dysart title as the 8th Earl, in 1833.<ref>{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=43}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb |Port |Thorne |1986}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb |Jenkins |2009}}.</ref> By the late 20th century, the lordship was held by trustees of the Buckminster Estate.<ref>{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=38}}.</ref>}}

===Economy and government===
[[File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - North East View of Grantham Church, Lincolnshire - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|Watercolour and graphite painting of Grantham Church by [[J. M. W. Turner]] (1797)]]
Its lords encouraged Grantham to expand as a commercial centre.<ref name=":7">{{Harvnb |Manterfield |2011 |pp=40–41}}</ref> By the late 11th century it was an "important market town".<ref>{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=16}}</ref> The [[Medieval English wool trade|wool trade]] prospered, benefiting from its proximity to [[grazing]] lands on the Lincoln Heath. This wealth contributed towards the building of [[St Wulfram's Church, Grantham|St Wulfram's Church]].<ref name=":8">{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |pp=25–26}}</ref> Wool shops were in Grantham in 1218<ref name=":8" /> and Walkergate (now Watergate) was recorded in 1257, indicating the presence of [[Fulling|fullers]] (walkers), who played a role in processing wool. Cloth manufacture declined around this time, but wool continued to be produced for trading, primarily for export from [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]]. Wool merchants are recorded from the town in the late 13th century (foremost being was Roger de Belvoir, who contributed over £296 to the [[Wool Prize]] of 1297). By this time merchants from [[Italy]],<ref>{{Harvnb |Manterfield |2011 |pp=41–42}}</ref> [[Saint-Omer]] and [[Amiens]] were active in the town.<ref>{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=26}}.</ref>

In 1269, the earl granted the town free [[tronage]] – the right to weigh wool without paying a [[Toll (fee)|toll]]. Less than 30 years later, its merchants were asked to send a representative to counsel the king.<ref name=":7"/> The wool trade boomed in the early 14th century; the town's merchants traded at least 980 sacks of wool at Boston during [[Edward II of England|Edward II]]'s reign, half from the de Chesterton family.<ref>{{Harvnb |Manterfield |2011 |pp=42–43}}.</ref> In 1312, the earl granted the burgesses various freedoms and the right to elect a leader (the [[Alderman]]), codifying a longstanding informal arrangement.<ref>{{Harvnb |Manterfield |2011 |p=41}}.</ref> Later in the century the king sought to raise revenues by [[tax]]ing the wool trade; some Grantham merchants, including the wealthy Roger de Wollesthorpe, acted as [[creditor]]s to the king.<ref name=":9">{{Harvnb |Manterfield |2011 |p=43}}</ref>

England's falling population, continued taxation of wool exports and the growth of cloth exports and monopolisation led to the wool trade declining by the mid-15th century.<ref>{{Harvnb |Haigh |1990 |p=127}}</ref> Cloth exports became more important nationally. Grantham had a small cloth industry, but it could not compete with new [[Fulling|fulling mills]], which required fast-flowing water.<ref name=":10">{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |pp=26–27}}</ref> Its merchants continued to trade in wool and it remained a dominant aspect of the town's economy.<ref name=":9"/> Other industries also existed during the Middle Ages; there is evidence of [[wine]] trading, [[brewing]], [[parchment]] making, [[weaving]] and other trades and crafts.<ref name=":10"/>

The bridging of the [[River Trent]] at [[Newark-on-Trent|Newark]] by the late 12th century realigned the [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]] so that it passed through Grantham,<ref>{{Harvnb |Honeybone |1988 |p=29}}</ref> bringing traffic to the town as an important stopping place and leading to the development of [[inn]]s such as [[The George Inn, Grantham|''The George'']] and [[Angel and Royal|''The Angel'']].<ref>{{Harvnb |Dixon |Taylor |2011 |pp=237–238}}.</ref> By the 16th century, the economy was diverse. The largest sector was the [[leather]] trade, employing a quarter of the known workforce; distribution, food, drink and agricultural trades were also important. By that time, clothing and textiles each accounted for less than 10 per cent of the town's workers.<ref>{{Harvnb|Manterfield|2011|p=44}}.</ref>