Then and Now: Grantham Birdcage Walk is a terrace of three-storey Regency houses

Birdcage Walk in London took its name from the Royal Menagerie and Aviary, located there during the reign of King James I, writes Ruth Crook of Grantham Civic Society.

During the Regency period it became fashionable to have birdcage walks in towns and cities. Some had aviaries containing exotic birds, some had adjacent birdcages hanging in trees, while others just ornate iron work similar to birdcages.

Grantham Birdcage Walk is a terrace of three storey Regency houses, with a continuous balcony and a metal canopy. It is unclear whether this is the reason that it was so named, or whether birds were kept there.

In 1865 it was decided to build a new road from St Peter’s Hill to Harrowby. It continued the road past Birdcage Walk, which had previously finished at what is now Alive Church. In 1866 a road sign for the new Avenue Road was placed on the road built down the hill, over a new bridge over the River Witham and continuing

on to Harrowby.