Summary
Public house, formerly a hotel, constructed during the late C18 or early 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 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 inn. 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.
The Kings Arms at 11 Westgate was constructed sometime during the late-C18 or early-C19, probably on the site of an earlier building. The pub’s original name is not known, but it is likely to have changed to the Blue Ram during the early-C19, at a time when local landowners, the 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 building is labelled as the Blue Ram Hotel on the OS Town Plan on 1887.The building appears to have been constructed in two phases, albeit in a relatively short timeframe, with the northern and southern sections set at slightly different angles to the street and differing subtly in design and materiality. Its form did not change between 1885 and 1965. Between 1965 and 1975, the building was extended to the rear along its northern boundary, and a carriage entrance was incorporated into the main building, with a window inserted in the archway. The pub was extensively refurbished during the 1990s or early 2000s with the carriage entrance reinstated and a further extension added across most of the rear of the building. At this time, the pub’s name was changed to the Kings Arms.
Details
Public house, formerly a hotel, constructed during the late C18 or early C19.
MATERIALS: The building is of red and red-brown brick in Flemish bond with a roof covering of concrete tiles.
PLAN: the building is of two storeys across five bays, under an M-shaped roof.
EXTERIOR: the principal, west elevation is arranged in two sections set at slightly different angles to the street and with subtle variations in design. The north section contains three, six-over-six timber sash windows on each floor, set flush to the wall, under rendered and painted window heads. A doorway between the two southern bays carries a timber doorcase with a pediment supported on brackets and a rectangular, three-light fanlight. There are two courses of corbelled brickwork at the eaves, and two pitched-roof dormers with timber casements facing onto Westgate. There is a later-C20 ridge chimney stack of brick in stretcher bond positioned on the northern gable. The southern section of the elevation is two bays wide. The southern ground-floor bay contains a brick-arched carriage entrance while the northern bay contains a canted bay window with an eight-over-eight timber sash flanked by two-light timber sashes, within a moulded timber frame over a brick base. On the first floor are two, six-over-six timber sashes set flush with the wall, under painted brick arch heads. There is a single course of projecting brickwork at the eaves, and two plain, lead-covered dormers with timber casements looking out onto Westgate. A rendered plinth runs along both sections below the ground-floor window sills. Behind the older, west range are two adjoining C20 extensions. Running east along the northern boundary is a flat-roofed element adjoining buildings fronting Guildhall Street. To the south is a one–to two-storey extension under a pitched roof.
