The Building
The Guildhall and jail on St Peter’s Hill in Grantham was commissioned in 1866 by Mayor Thomas Winter after criminal Jesse Dale, who was serving 15 years for stealing, twice walked out of the town’s original jail in 1864.
This original Guildhall and jail building stood on the corner of Guildhall Street and High Street and dated from 1787. After Jesse’s second escape, the governor at the time William Mayer was sacked and a government inspector condemned the building. The inmates had to be sent to Lincoln. The site of the demolished Guildhall was bought by the Stamford, Boston and Spalding Bank (later Barclays) and is now home to the Goose at the Bank pub.
On the current Guildhall site was an old school – The Firs – housed in a former town house. This and the adjoining land were bought for £2,100. Lincoln architect William Watkins drew up the design for the new building and the work was carried out Mr Wartnaby, of Little Gonerby, for £7,260.
The original Guildhall was made up of three separate buildings - the main building which housed a ballroom and courtroom (or session’s hall), a governor’s residence and a jail for up to 18 men and women on two floors.
However, although it seemed no expense had been spared on the building, officers from the South Lincolnshire Militia were less than happy to find it was missing a certain facility when they booked to use the hall – a toilet. At this point, councillors agreed one should be installed to avoid further embarrassment.
The new Guildhall was also home to the four-sided clock which was the first time many of the town’s residents would have had the luxury of telling the time with any accuracy. It was this fact that coined the local phrase ‘under the clock’ meaning, ‘to appear in court’.
As late as 1930, publican Frank Milner of the Victoria Hotel, Commercial Road, was let off with a caution for serving out of hours because he set his time by the clock which was, and still is, a little slow.
In 1882 an area of the building was leased to cigar makers Robinson and Barnsdale and 15 years later, to the Grantham Technical Institute. Staff who work at the Guildhall today are convinced it is home to a cigar-smoking ghost as, on occasions, the strong smell of cigar smoke will appear in one or more rooms and then after a few minutes, disappear as quickly as it came.
Britain’s First Policewoman
At the height of World War I, the jail in the Guildhall was resurrected and the first female officer to have full powers of arrest, Edith Smith, joined the Grantham force and was based there.
Mrs Smith's role was in part prompted by the billeting of 14,000 soldiers in the area, which led to an increase of prostitutes and related trouble.
One report sheet for 1917 gives a flavour of her duties, recording "Foolish girls warned", "Prostitutes sent out of Grantham" and "Soldiers' wives visited, some cautioned and others had allowances stopped".
Edith left the force in 1918 after working seven days a week for two years. Five years later, she took a fatal dose of the pain-killer morphia.
She is still held in high regard in the town - the walkway leading into the Guildhall now bears her name ‘Edith Smith Way’ and a life-sized cut-out of Edith stands in front of the box office door and the entrance to the cells.
The Guildhall Arts Centre
In 1972, a dome replaced the original wrought ironwork over the clock tower and in 1974, the magistrates moved to the London Road, now home to Belvoir Property Management. In the same year, South Kesteven District Council was born and the Grantham Borough Council ceased to exist.
This renovation work saw the session’s hall transformed into the 210-seat theatre and the ballroom was redecorated to its former glory. The jail area was converted into the box office where the storage area is still referred to as ‘the back cell.’