Spitalgate (Spittlegate)
Note: This is NOT one of the ancient parishes of Lincolnshire.
- 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:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1841 |
H.O. 107 / 625 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3360 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2585 |
| 1901 |
R.G. 13 / 3055 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint 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 about 1,100.
- 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 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. 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.
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, down from the 2,125 it had at formation.
Spittlegate is not defined as a village, and is treated more as a suburb of Grantham. If you are planning a visit:
- The parish is right where the A52 trunk road crosses the B1174 south of Grantham.
- Visit our touring page for more sources.
- The ecclesiastical parish 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.
- The national grid reference is SK 9134.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer #247 map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- 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.
- There is a photograph of a class of W. R. A. F. students from 1961 on Flickr.
- You can see the runway layout at Bomber County and read more about the field.
- The airfield closed in 1975. It is now a Royal Logistic Corps Territorial Army Centre.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Spittlegate (Grantham) petty session hearings every other Saturday.
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 attended school in Grantham.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
Last updated on 16-March-2015
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