Grantham, United Kingdom

Grantham is a town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, a non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands of England. Until 1974, it was a municipal borough; it is now a civil parish and bounded by the parishes of Great Gonerby to the north-west, Belton and Manthorpe to the north, Londonthorpe and Harrowby Without to the north-east and east, Little Ponton and Stroxton to the south, Harlaxton to the south-west, and Barrowby to the west. Its urban area is almost entirely within the parish, though The Spinney housing estate, Alma Park industrial estate and part of the Bridge End Road housing estate are in Londonthorpe and Harrowby Without.

The town lies in the valley of the River Witham, its core at the Witham's confluence with the Mowbeck (or Mow Beck). The Witham flows south–north through Grantham. The Mowbeck, which rises from springs at Harlaxton about 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south-west of the town, is culverted behind Westgate and Brook Street until it joins the Witham at White Bridge.

As of 2012, Grantham Hospital was the largest individual employer in the town, while food production was a major sector. Poultry production company Moy Park (formerly Padleys) is at Gonerby Hill Foot; GW Padley bought the site in 1977 from Wolsey, a former garment manufacturer. It acts as a poultry hatchery. Moy Park are owned by Marfrig of São Paulo, with Marfrig's European headquarters at Preston Deanery in Hackleton, Northamptonshire. Aviagen Turkeys also has a poultry hatchery further along the B1174 at Gonerby Moor. Brake Bros Ltd has a depot near the Gonerby Moor service station, off B1174.

Fenland Foods (part of Northern Foods) on the Earlesfield Industrial Estate, closed in September 2008 after losing business with Marks and Spencer, its sole customer. On Ellesmere Business park is Väderstad-Verken UK, its parent company based in Väderstad in Sweden and Tecknit Europe (makers of electromagnetic shielding equipment), owned from 2006 by Parker Hannifin based in Cranford, New Jersey.

Wyndham Park has two children's play areas. There is an open-air paddling pool, football pitch and cafe. Dysart Park has a paddling pool and safe play area for children under six, a green for football and a bandstand. Indoor amenities for children include a swimming pool at the Meres Leisure Centre.

The public library is located in the Sir Isaac Newton Centre. On St Peter's Hill in the centre of town stands Grantham Museum and the Guildhall Arts Centre, which includes a 210-seat theatre.

Belton House is a popular National Trust site, with events for children, a play area, train rides, picnic area and woodland walk.

Grantham and its surrounding area host peregrine falcons, which have in recent years roosted in the bell tower of St Wulfram's Church. Grantham is surrounded by rolling countryside and woodland, such as nearby Ponton Park Wood, which has walks and views of woods and farmland. To the north-east there are the attractive gardens and the magnificent deer park of the National Trust's Belton House. Adjacent are Londonthorpe and Alma Park Woods, both owned by the Woodland Trust. The former comprises young woodland and open areas of wild flowers, while Alma Park has mature woodland on its steep limestone scarp and offers views over the town and the surrounding area.

Grantham College, a further education college for the district, opened in 1948, for those not attending school sixth forms. It has a satellite site at Sleaford College. Since September 2008, the Walton Academy in Kitty Briggs Lane near Harlaxton Road has run post-16 courses. In September 2019, the school had its first intake of male students in the lower school, making the former all-girls school co-educational.

Two notable schools in the district are Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School and The King's School. Both have large sixth forms and eminent past students. The UK's first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, attended Kesteven and Grantham, and Isaac Newton famously attended King's. Both have remained single-sex up to the age of 16.