Grantham's whalebone arch collapsed after many years of children taking samples as souvenirs

Then & Now with Ruth Crook, of Grantham Civic Society

Little Ponton Hall was built in about 1725 by William Thorold.

After several owners and tenants, the Turnor family of Stoke Rochford purchased it in 1863.

It was previously thought that Christopher Turnor installed the whalebone arch on the approach drive, now called Whalebone Lane, to create a theatrical, picturesque welcome to the hall.

The whalebone arch, once 18 feet tall, was much older, however.

The Ponton enclosure awards were reported in the Stamford Mercury in 1811.

It said: “One public carriage-road and highway, of the width of thirty feet, called Whalebone road, beginning at the lordship of Spittlegate, and proceeding in a southwardly direction along the tract of the present road….”

The whalebone arch suffered for many years with children taking samples as souvenirs and eventually collapsed and was removed in the late 1960s.