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In praise of … Grantham In praise of … Grantham
(6 months later)
She came, Shirley Williams wrote on Tuesday of Margaret Thatcher, from "the remote Lincolnshire town of Grantham". Remote from where, exactly, Shirley? From the hothouses of London, maybe, though most people in Grantham would not mourn that; yet it's plumb on the east coast railway, with two trains an hour to King's Cross (70 minutes), and no daunting distance from such notable cities as Nottingham, Lincoln and Leeds. The 20th century did not serve Grantham well – too much good townscape blighted or wrecked. It cannot offer the unpremeditated charm of a Newark or Louth. Yet it still has its particular glories, above all the soaring spire of the parish church of St Wulfram – earlier than Salisbury, earlier than Norwich – the sight of which once overwhelmed Ruskin. It even has a little municipal joke: a walkway in the main shopping precinct called Letsby Avenue. Not very Alderman Roberts, perhaps; but endearingly quirky.She came, Shirley Williams wrote on Tuesday of Margaret Thatcher, from "the remote Lincolnshire town of Grantham". Remote from where, exactly, Shirley? From the hothouses of London, maybe, though most people in Grantham would not mourn that; yet it's plumb on the east coast railway, with two trains an hour to King's Cross (70 minutes), and no daunting distance from such notable cities as Nottingham, Lincoln and Leeds. The 20th century did not serve Grantham well – too much good townscape blighted or wrecked. It cannot offer the unpremeditated charm of a Newark or Louth. Yet it still has its particular glories, above all the soaring spire of the parish church of St Wulfram – earlier than Salisbury, earlier than Norwich – the sight of which once overwhelmed Ruskin. It even has a little municipal joke: a walkway in the main shopping precinct called Letsby Avenue. Not very Alderman Roberts, perhaps; but endearingly quirky.
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