Famous People from Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire has its fair share of connections to famous people and some of the places where they lived can make an interesting outing.

Enjoy a day out in Grantham and its environs? Whether or not you were a fan of Margaret Thatcher it is still fascinating to view the corner shop where she grew up on the corner of North Parade and Brook Street. There is a blue plaque so you shouldn’t miss it. While you are in Grantham also visit the Town Museum which has quite a bit of Margaret Thatcher memorabilia as well as a lot of other interesting local artefacts.

Still in the Grantham area, visit Woolsthorpe Manor, now owned by the National Trust. Isaac Newton, one of the world’s most influential physicists, was born here in 1642. You can see the famous apple tree that caused him to ask “why do apples always fall straight down?” and led him to discover the law of gravity.

Most people have heard of Alfred, Lord Tennyson who wrote such famous poems as “The Lady of Shalott” and the “Charge of the Light Brigade”. He was born and brought up in the beautiful Lincolnshire Wolds in the tiny village of Somersby. Have a gentle wander through the village, view the house where he was born and the church where his father was rector and the stream immortalised in his poem “The Brook”. In the nearby church at Bag Enderby there is a lot of information to be found about his life in the area.

The famous naturalist Joseph Banks was born in London but in 1743 when he was two years old his father inherited Revesby Abbey near Horncastle and it became the family home. He accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyage on the Endeavour and brought many exotic specimens back from his travels and helped establish the Botanic Gardens at Kew. Although the Revesby Estate is not open to the public there is an information panel in a nearby lay- on the A155 providing an outline of his work. Descendants of the deer and Merino sheep he introduced can be seen grazing in the park. Visit nearby Horncastle and look round the Sir Joseph Banks Centre which celebrates his life and work. 

Grantham Museum, St Peters Hill, Grantham NG31 6PY

tel: 01476 568783      www.granthammuseum.org.uk

Woolsthorpe Manor, Water Lane, Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Grantham. NG33 5PD

tel: 01476 860338     www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolsthorpe-manor www.tennysonsbirthplace.co.uk