Editing Grantham (section)

===19th and 20th centuries===
The Lincoln Theatre Company of actors took a 21-year lease on the theatre in 1800.<ref>{{cite book|title= Treading the Boards : Actors and theatres in Georgian Lincolnshire |author= Neil R Wright|publisher= SLHA|year= 2016|page=68}}</ref> [[Westgate Hall, Grantham|Westgate Hall]], which was commissioned as the local [[corn exchange]], was completed in 1852.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Westgate Hall|num= 1062439 |access-date=11 July 2023}}</ref>

The town developed when the railway came. The Nottingham Line ([[London and North Eastern Railway|LNER]]) arrived first in 1850, then the London line ([[Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)|GNR]]) – the Towns Line from Peterborough to Retford – arrived in 1852. The [[Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway]] arrived in 1857.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leleux |first=Robin |title=The East Midlands |series= A regional history of the railways of Great Britain |volume=9 |year=1976 |pages=86–91}}</ref><ref>{{cite PastScape |mnumber=1365060 |mname=Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Boston, Sleaford, and Midland Counties railway |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=860200 |work=A vision of Britain through time |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref><ref name=vobmaps>{{cite web |title=Historical maps:History of Grantham, in South Kesteven and Lincolnshire |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/?layer=europe&xMin=3291949.84272&yMin=2928969.06313&xMax=3328949.84272&yMax=2965969.06313 |work=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref>

[[Gas lighting]] appeared in 1833. The corporation became a borough council in 1835. Little Gonerby and Spittlegate were added to the borough in 1879. The town had been in the wapentake of [[Loveden]] and included three townships of Manthorpe with Little Gonerby, [[Harrowby, Lincolnshire|Harrowby]] and Spittlegate with Houghton and Walton.<ref name=vobmaps/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/Reg/districts/grantham.html|title=Grantham Registration District|website=www.ukbmd.org.uk}}</ref><ref name=SKDCmaps>{{cite web |title=314 315 GRANTHAM TOWNSCAPE ASSESSMENT / APPENDICES APPENDIX A: HISTORIC MAPS OF THE STUDY AREA|url=http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4943&p=0|work=heritage study and town plan |publisher=South Kesteven County Council |access-date=6 June 2013}}</ref>

Grantham Golf Club, now defunct, was founded in 1894 and continued until the onset of the Second World War.<ref>[http://www.golfsmissinglinks.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=630 "Grantham Golf Club"], "Golf's Missing Links" website. Accessed 21 September 2022.</ref>

Until the 1970s, the housing estates west of the town centre were green fields. Green Hill, on the A52, was literally a green hill.<ref name=vobmaps/><ref name=SKDCmaps/> In July 1975 the National Association of Ratepayers' Action Groups (NARAG) was formed in Grantham by John Wilks, its chairman, as a forerunner of the [[TaxPayers' Alliance]].{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}