Then and Now: 18th century house in Grantham has unique bow window on the first floor
Bow House is a late 18th century Grade II listed house on Manthorpe Road, unique in Grantham, because it has a bow window on the first floor, writes Ruth Crook of Grantham Civic Society.
When the house was put up for sale in 1968, the accommodation was described as ‘entrance hall, morning room, dining room, kitchen. First floor – drawing room, bedroom, bathroom and bathroom/dressing room. Second floor – three bedrooms and toilet with basin and W.C.’.
Behind the house and garden is Grantham’s little known graveyard. It is accessed through the gate to the left of the house and up some stone steps, and is open to the public each year during Heritage Weekend in September.
The land behind is considerably higher than Manthorpe Road and the gardens of the surrounding houses because of the large numbers of people who were buried there between 1809 and 1857. St Wulfram’s parish registers record between 80 and 250 burials each year between these dates, totalling over 6,000 people, and it is thought that at least 3,000 of them were buried in the Manthorpe Road burial ground.
Only 119 names are recorded on the grave stones, which can be viewed, along with a presentation about the graveyard and a book
, on the Grantham Civic Society website www.granthamcivicsociety.co.uk