Spittlegate

The Library at Grantham will prove useful in your research.

• Prior to 1891, the parish was in the Grantham sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• In 1891, the parish was re-assigned to the Grantham North sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• We have an extract of a small portion of the 1901 surname index which you are welcome to review or add to.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. John the Evangelist.
   
• The church was built in 1840-1. Parish records start with the dedication of the church in 1842. The first restoration was done in 1883-4.
   
• The church seats 1,100.
   
• David HALLAM-JONES has a photograph of St. John the Evangelist church on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2017.
   
• There is a photograph of St. John's Church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
   
• The Inner Street school mission church was associated with St. John's.
   

• The Anglican church register starts with the dedication of the church in 1842.
   
• The registers for 1842-1903 are available at the Family History Library.
   
• The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Grantham Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel here on Commercial Road (originally on Bridge End road, erected 1875). Their registers for 1920-1963 are available at the Family History Library.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Grantham Baptist Church on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2017. In spite of the name, the church, built in 1930, is technically in Spitalgate.
   
• For more on these chapels and their records, check our Non-Conformist Church Records page for additional resources.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.

• Prior to 1891, the parish was in the Grantham sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• In 1891, the parish was re-assigned to the Grantham North sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July 1837.

Richard CROFT has a photograph of an old Pilory at The Angel & Royal on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2014.

Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the Former town lock-up on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2017.

Spittlegate (Spitalgate) is both an ecclesiastical parish and a portion of the town of Grantham on the southeast corner of the town. The parish itself is bounded on the north by Londonthorpe parish and to the south by Little Ponton parish. The parish covers about 679 acres.

Spittlegate is not defined as a village. If you are planning a visit:

• The parish is right where the A607 trunk road crosses the B1174 south of Grantham.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of a Reliance Bus in 1979 on Geo-graph, taken in May 1979. The caption provides more information on bus lines at the time.
   
• David DIXON has a photograph of the intersection of Harlaxton Road (A607) with Springfield Road and Trent Road on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2013. This is the southwest corner of Spittalgate.
   
• The railways came to Grantham in 1852.
   
• Visit our touring page for more sources.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Spittlegate to another place.

• The parish ecclesiastical district was formed on 8 Nov. 1842 from part of Grantham parish. Prior to that, Spittlegate had been a township of Grantham and covered about 2,125 acres.
   
• The parish was divided in Nov. 1894 into "Spittlegate Within" and "Spittlegate Without". "Spittlegate Within" is normally listed as "Spitalgate", covers about 580 acres and includes most of the area created in 1842. It included the R. Hornsby and Sons, Ltd., founded in 1815, one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery and implements. It also included the Perserverance Iron Works, a brewery, a corn mill and brickyard. "Spittlegate Without" lies beyond the municipality and covers about 1,680 acres.
   
• In 1918, Hornsby and Sons amalgamated with Messrs Ruston Proctor and Co. to form Ruston and Hornsby Ltd.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of Spittlegate House on the London Road on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2017.
   
• Ben BROOKSBANK has a photograph of locomotive LNER V2 2-6-2 in yard at Grantham Shed on Geo-graph, taken in April, 1947,
   
• Ben BROOKSBANK also has a photograph of a J39 0-6-0 at Grantham Shed, Spittlegate, on Geo-graph, taken in April, 1947.
   
• Although called "Grantham Station", the station was in the north side of Spittalgate. Chris MORGAN has a photograph of Grantham Station on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2019.
   
• Alex McGREGOR has a photograph of the Springfield Arms on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2018. It is located on Springfield Road where Huntingtower Road intersects.
   
• Alex McGREGOR has a photograph of The White Lion Pub. on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2018.
   
• Roger TEMPLEMAN has a photograph of The former Spread Eagle pub on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2014.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK910349 (Lat/Lon: 52.90412, -0.648955), Spittlegate which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The Royal Flying Corps opened an airstation here in 1916 and initially called it "Grantham Aerodrome."
   
• The Royal Flying Corps used the field as a flight training field from 1917 through 1948. The RFC became the RAF in 1918.
   
• The RAF started paving the grass runways in November, 1943, so the field could operate in all weather conditions and handle heavy aircraft. This was completed by early 1944.
   
• The RAF renamed the field as RAF Spitalgate on 29 March 1944.
   
• You can see the runway layout at Bomber County and read more about the field.
   
• The field closed in 1975. It is now a Royal Logistic Corps Territorial Army Centre.

You can see the Roll of Honour and the list of names at the Roll of Hounour web site.

• The name is believed to derive from the Middle English Spitel+gate for "Hospital Gate". The name is listed as Spitalgate in the Lincolnshire FHS Gazetter but most sources, such as the LDS Family History Library, use Spittlegate.
  [A. D. MILLS, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].

• This place was an ancient township in Grantham and became a Civil Parish in December, 1866.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Wapentake of Winnibriggs and Threo in the South Kesteven district in the parts of Kesteven.
   
• It was also within the Soke of Grantham.
   
• The Civil Parish of Spitalgate was split into Spittlegate Within and Spittlegate Without in December, 1894.
   
• For today's district governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.

• The township enclosed the common fields in 1785.
   
• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Spittlegate (Grantham) petty session hearings every other Saturday.
   
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Grantham Poor Law Union in 1842. That's kind of a given, because the Union Workhouse was located in Spittlegate when originally constructed.

It is virtually impossible to give meaningful population counts because the parish boundaries changed so often. Take these with a grain of salt.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	488
1831	1,063
1871	5,304
1881	6,459
1891	6,246
1901	6,694

• The children primarily attended school in Grantham.
   
• Spittlegate National School, founded in the 1840s, was situated on various sites in the Launder Terrace neighbourhood. In October 1940 part of the school was damaged and pupils were moved to various locations throughout the town. Later on the school buildings were occupied by army units during WWII, although in 1948 the girls' and the infants' schools returned to the Launder Terrace premises. The boys' school however, remained at Stonebridge House where it had been relocated during the war. In 1956 the school became a co-educational school and the first boys appeared on the admissions register here on 10 April 1956. The Launder Terrace building was closed in March 1977 and the school was moved to new premises in Trent Road.
   
• David HALAM-JONES has a photograph of the former Spitalgate Church of England Primary School on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2017. It is across the street from the parish church.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.