Grantham

The origin of "Grantham" is uncertain, although the name is said probably to be Old English "Granta+ham", meaning "Granta's homestead". It appeared as early as 1086 in the Domesday Book in its present form of Grantham,[3] but was also recorded variously as Grandham, Granham and Graham. The place name element grand could possibly mean "gravel".

The name of the town is the origin of the Scottish surname, now often used as a given name, Graham.[4]

Late neolithic vessels from a burial were found at Little Gonerby, in the north of the town, in 1875.[5] A number of flint blades have been found, including from near Welham Street to the south-east of the town centre and from near Barrowby where a macehead has also been found. At Little Gonerby a neolithic settlement site was discovered with finds of pottery and flints.

There have been a number of finds of flint and stone tools including palaeolithic hand-axes, from the Cherry Orchard Estate, to the north-east of the town centre, and from near North Lodge on the hill top south of Barrowby. Mesolithic flints have also been recovered from the Cherry Orchard Estate as well as from sites to the west of Great Gonerby

To the north-east of the town centre a Bronze Age bucket and urn cemetery, with cremation burials and ploughed-out barrows, has been recorded. Bronze Age flint scatters have also been found in several places, particularly on the higher ground near Barrowby. At Saltersford a Bronze Age ingot and a rapier were found. There are also several ring ditches on the higher ground above Saltersford.[6]

According to the Chronicles of Raphael Holinshed, Gorbonianus, a legendary King of the Britons built Grantham between 292 and 282 BC.[7]

Watercolour and graphite 1797 painting of Grantham Church by J. M. W. Turner, now housed at the Yale Center for British Art

The Domesday account notes Queen Edith having 12 carucates to the geld, with no arable land outside the village. She had a hall, two carucates and land for three ploughs without geld, and 111 burgesses. Ivo had one church and four mills rendering 12 shillings, and 8 acres (3 hectares) of meadow without geld. The lands of Bishop Osmond were described: "In Londonthorpe ... is land for two ploughs. This land belongs to the church of Grantham. In Spittlegate, St Wulfram of Grantham has half a carucate of land to the geld. In Great Gonerby, St Wulfram of Grantham has 1 carucate of land. There is land for twelve oxen."[8]

On 4 December 1290, the funeral cortège of Eleanor of Castile, accompanied by her husband King Edward I, stopped at Grantham on its way from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey. An Eleanor Cross was later erected in the town, although its precise location has not been identified.

In 1363 "The Castles, Manors and towns of Stamford and Grantham" were granted to Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and fifth son of Edward III of England. The question has been raised as to whether Grantham House was the site of a castle, however, no such site has been reliably identified. The street name "Castlegate" cannot be traced further back than the 17th century.[9] There are references to a Hospital in Grantham as early as the 1330s.

Grantham received its Charter of Incorporation in 1463.[10]

The town developed when the railway came to the town. The Nottingham Line (LNER) arrived first in 1850, then the London line (GNR) – the Towns Line from Peterborough to Retford – arrived in 1852. The Boston, Sleaford and Midland Counties Railway arrived in 1857.[11][12][13][14]

The town received gas lighting 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 the town included three townships of Manthorpe with Little Gonerby, Harrowby, and Spittlegate with Houghton and Walton.[14][15][16]

Grantham Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1894. The club continued until the onset of the Second World War.[17]

Until the 1970s the housing estates west of the town centre were green fields. Green Hill, on the A52, was literally a green hill.[14][16] In July 1975 the National Association of Ratepayers' Action Groups (NARAG) was formed in Grantham by John Wilks, its Chairman, being a forerunner of the TaxPayers' Alliance.

Army barracks, next to the A52, east of the town

The town has a long military history dating back to the completion of the Old Barracks in 1858.[18]

During the Dambuster Raids Royal Air Force missions in May 1943, the RAF Bomber Command's No. 5 Group and the operation HQ was in St Vincents,[19] a building which was later owned by Aveling-Barford and housed a district council planning department. It was built by Richard Hornsby in 1865, lived in by Richard Hornsby's son, and is now a private house. In 1944 (including D-Day), this was the headquarters for the USAAF's Ninth Air Force's IX Troop Carrier Command, being known as Grantham Lodge.[20]

RAF Spitalgate trained pilots during both world wars, initially as a Royal Flying Corps establishment. It was the first military airfield in Lincolnshire. It has never been an operational fighter or bomber base; although it did see operational service during the 1943 invasion of Europe as a base for American and Polish gliders and parachutists. It officially closed in 1974. The Women's Royal Air Force had been there from 1960 until closure.[21] (as RAF Wilmslow was closing due to the imminent ending of National Service), and moved to RAF Hereford (now the home of SAS).

After closure, RAF Spitalgate became the Territorial Army Royal Logistic Corps Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, named after Prince William of Gloucester.[21][22] Grantham College used the site's two football pitches for their South Lincolnshire Football Development Centre (from September 2004).[23] After closure in 1975 a Vehicle test centre was built on the outfield, which closed in 2011.[24][25] The large mast on the base was part of the BT microwave network.[26]

The Queen's Royal Lancers (part of the Royal Armoured Corps) have their RHQ on the base.

The RAF Regiment was formed just north-east of the town in parts of Londonthorpe and Harrowby Without during December 1941 with its headquarters at RAF Belton Park which is recognised as the birthplace of the Corps.[27] The Belton Park estate had been the training centre for the Machine Gun Corps from November 1915.[28]

The RAF Regiment grew to in excess of 66,000 personnel, and during training were housed at RAF Belton Park, which was the Regiment's first depot, RAF Folkingham and RAF North Witham.

Grantham was the first place after London to recruit and train women police officers. It was the first provincial force to ask the newly formed Corps of Women's Police Volunteers to supply them with occasional policewomen, recognising them as useful for dealing with women and juveniles. In December 1914 Miss Damer Dawson, the Chief of the Corps, came to Grantham to supervise the preliminary work of the women police. The officers stationed there were Miss Allen and Miss Harburn.[29] In 1915, Grantham magistrates swore in Edith Smith, making her the first policewoman in Britain with full powers of arrest.[30]

Richard Hornsby and Richard Seaman founded Seaman & Hornsby, Iron Founders and Millwrights, at Spittlegate in Grantham in 1810. The company was renamed Richard Hornsby & Sons when Seaman retired in 1828.[31] Products included ploughs and seed drills.

From 1840 until 1906 the company built steam engines. Thereafter production shifted to oil, petrol and gas engines. The works employed 378 men in 1878 and 3,500 in 1914.[32]

In 1905 Richard Hornsby & Sons invented a caterpillar track for a machine using Hornsby's oil engines; these engines were developed by Yorkshireman Herbert Akroyd Stuart, from which compression-ignition principle the diesel engine evolved, being manufactured in Grantham from 8 July 1892.[33] Although these engines were not wholly compression-ignition derived, later in 1892 a prototype high-pressure version was built at Hornsby's, developed by Thomas Henry Barton OBE – later to be the founder of Nottingham's Barton Transport, whereby ignition was achieved solely (100%) through compression; it ran continuously for six hours, being the first known diesel engine. In the town, Hornsby's built Elsham House (the grounds became Grantham College) and the Shirley Croft. Their site on Houghton Road was bought from Lord Dysart.

Hornsby oil engine at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life

In 1910 Hornsby demonstrated its chain-track vehicle to the British Army, which subsequently bought four caterpillar tractors to tow artillery. At this demonstration, a British transport officer suggested putting armour plating and a gun on a Hornsby tractor, thus creating some sort of self-propelled gun. David Roberts, Managing Director of Hornsby, did not pursue the idea, but later expressed regret at not having done so. Four years later, Hornsby sold the patent for its caterpillar track to the Holt Manufacturing Company of California, USA, for $8,000, having itself sold only one caterpillar tractor commercially.[34] The Holt system was superior to Hornsby's, but the Hornsby transmission was what Holt really wanted. Thanks, in part, to this acquisition, Holt eventually became the successful Caterpillar Inc. Tractor Company.

In 1918 Hornsby's amalgamated with Rustons and the company became Ruston & Hornsby. In the 1920s the company had its own orchestra in the town; the site was a diesel engine plant. During the Second World War, the company made tanks such as the Matilda at the Grantham factory. Ruston and Hornsby left in 1963 and most of the factory was taken over by a subsidiary, Alfred Wiseman Gears, which left in 1968.

Scale model of Hornsby 1910 steam caterpillar tractor

The agricultural engine and steamroller manufacturer Aveling and Porter of Rochester, Kent, merged with Barford & Perkins of Peterborough to become Aveling-Barford Ltd in 1934, largely due to financial help from Ruston & Hornsby, when both companies had entered into administration. The new company took a former site of Hornsbys, naming it the 'Invicta' works, from the motto on the coat of arms of Kent, and translates as 'unconquered'; all Aveling & Porter machinery was brought from Kent by rail.

During the 1970s it was the town's largest employer with around 2,000 employees.[35] It initially prospered, but with the sinking market for large dumper trucks and road rollers, it declined. Their agricultural division, Barfords of Belton, in 1947 developed the world's smallest tractor, the Barford Atom, weighing 177 pounds (80 kilograms).

Now as Barford Construction Equipment, it makes dumpers for construction sites, being owned by Wordsworth Holdings PLC, owned in turn by the entrepreneur Duncan Wordsworth until it went into administration. In March 2010 Wordsworth Holdings went into administration. A restructuring package resulted in ownership transferring to Bowdon Investment Group in May 2010, and is known as Invictas Engineering.

A trailer company, Crane-Fruehauf, moved into part of the factory, from its former home at Dereham, when it went into receivership in early 2005.

British Manufacture and Research Company (British Marc Ltd or BMARC), on Springfield Road, made munitions, notably the Hispano cannon for the Spitfire and Hurricane from 1937 onwards. It was owned by the Swiss company Oerlikon from 1971 until 1988, becoming part of Astra Holdings plc. The company was bought by British Aerospace in 1992, who afterwards closed the site which has now been developed as a housing estate. The site's former offices are now business units for the Springfield Business Centre. Grantham's register office was moved there in 2007.

In 1968 Reads of Liverpool built a canning factory on Springfield Road. It made cans for Melton Mowbray, becoming American Can, then Pechiney (French) in 1988, then as Impress (Dutch) it was closed in 2006, demolished in 2007 and is now a housing estate. Ransome & Marles Bearing had a ball bearing factory in the town until 1957, when production was moved to Newark.

Mowbray and Co Ltd, a brewery, was bought by JW Green of Luton. It was founded in September 1828 and became a public company in 1880. It closed in 1967.

The conference and hospitality industry is well represented in the Grantham area, with the Olde Barn Hotel in Marston, the Q-Hotel group Belton Woods Hotel, the Urban Leisure Hotel (former Marriott) and various golf clubs. Stoke Rochford Hall won the Les Routiers Wedding Venue of the Year in 2011.[61] The Griffin Inn at Irnham won the 2012 Les Routiers B&B of the Year Award.[62][63]

The sign of the Angel and Royal

The Angel and Royal in 1836

The Angel and Royal, situated in the High Street, is widely regarded as the oldest surviving English inn. The façade of the main building as it appears today was built about 600 years ago, but the site had already been an inn for 200 years. It was originally built as a hostel for the Knights Templar. King John is reputed to have visited with his Royal Court in 1213. The inn was extended in the mid-14th century and again in the 15th century.

A visit by Richard III was the origin of the gold emblem angel holding the King's crown over the original archway. In 1483 Richard held court and it was from the "Chambre de' Roi", that he dispatched a letter bidding for the Great Seal to proclaim the treachery of his cousin, the Duke of Buckingham, leading to the signature of Buckingham's death warrant. Copies of the letter, the original of which is kept by the British Museum, are displayed adjacent to the Richard III lounge and the King's Room Restaurant.

King Charles I made use of the King's Room during his visit in 1633 and Oliver Cromwell also stayed at the Angel after his successful battle near Grantham in 1643. The cellars and foundations of the inn are reputed to date from the 9th century, and are rumoured to be linked by tunnels to both St Wulfram's Church and the town's Market Square. In 1707 the then landlord Michael Solomon died, but left a legacy of 40 shillings a year to pay for the preaching of a sermon, against the evils of drunkenness, for every Mayor.

The prime position of the inn on the Great North Road led to its long history as a coaching inn, which accounts for its characteristic layout, with long courtyard, old stables and entrances to front and rear. In 1800 six inns were listed in Grantham, together with 21 alehouses. The Angel's prosperity declined markedly with the coming of the railways.

By the middle of the 1800s the Angel had also enjoyed the patronage of King George IV. In 1866 the then Prince of Wales visited Grantham, directly leading to the second part of the inn's name. In the early 1920s the word Inn was dropped and the building became a hotel.

After the Second World War, the hotel was purchased by Trust House Hotels, later to become Trust House Forte. It remained with Trust House until a few years ago. Since when there has been a succession of owners, including several brewery companies. In May 2002, the Angel and Royal was purchased by a consortium of local business professionals.

Brook Street and Hill Avenue sub-post offices were closed in Grantham in 2008 as part of the Post Office Network Change programme. In August 2010 it was confirmed that the Grantham branch of Marks and Spencer would close, with two other Lincolnshire branches in Skegness and Scunthorpe, because of low sales, although a Marks and Spencer Food Hall re-opened within the town in 2014. The closure met with local protests.[64] Discount department store chain Boyes took over the property in 2012.[65] Haldanes, a chain of about 20 supermarkets based on Ruston Road, went into administration. The former HMRC office at Crown House in Castlegate closed in early 2010, moving to two sites in Lincoln.[66]

Class 91 Electric locomotive at the station in May 2004, looking south

Bridge 66 on the Grantham Canal at Harlaxton

Spittlegate Millhouse, Grantham

Grantham railway station is served by the London to Edinburgh East Coast Main Line (between the stops for Peterborough and Newark Northgate), and the Nottingham to Skegness Line (Poacher Line). Liverpool–Norwich trains also call at Grantham. Electric trains began running in October 1988. Transport links to Nottingham and Peterborough attract some commuters. The town's grammar schools also attract pupils from Radcliffe on Trent, Bingham, Newark and even Retford via the train. Grantham is the best-served station in Lincolnshire, although after October 1970, most of Lincolnshire's branch lines were closed. Before October 1970 the connection from King's Cross to Lincoln Central was through Grantham and followed the A607 via Leadenham. After that date, London-Lincoln trains still passed through Grantham, but then continued up the main line to Newark Northgate, where the trains branched off to Lincoln St Marks Railway Station via a new curve just north of Newark.

In 1906 a rail accident killed 14 people.

On 3 July 1938 Mallard broke the world speed record for steam locomotives, at 126 mph (203 km/h), on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line.

The Great North Road was routed through the town in 1196. The turnpike to the north reached the town in 1725, that to Stamford in 1739, to Nottingham in 1758, and that to Melton in 1780.

The A1 main road from London to Edinburgh runs past the town, which was bypassed in 1962. High Street, until recently, was part of the A52, which runs to Nottingham. Wharf Road and London Road junction is still a busy junction on the A607 for Lincoln. Motorway-style Grantham North Services, at the north end of Grantham bypass, is on a new junction which replaced a roundabout in May 2008.[74]

Grantham, with Stamford, had been earmarked for a bypass before the war in 1939. There were 60 serious accidents a year, with three to four deaths. After the war, on 21 November 1945, there was a meeting at the Guildhall about the proposed bypass of the London-Edinburgh-Thurso trunk road for Grantham and Great Gonerby. This was the first enquiry into a trunk road scheme in the country after the war. The proposed route followed the current line, from Little Ponton to College Farm, except it was to be a single carriageway road.

On 8 February 1960, it was announced that a bypass would be built, including the route south to the B6403 at Colsterworth. Robert McGregor and Sons Ltd of Manchester would build the road for £1,856,009. (The company went on to build Newark bypass in 1964.) The bridges were built by Simon Carves of Cheadle Hulme. It was formally opened on 10 October 1962 by James Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 3rd Earl of Ancaster, then the Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire (from 1950 to 1975).[75] He was married to the (only) daughter of Nancy Astor.

Various attempts at one-way systems in Grantham have been introduced, but traffic delays are still commonplace. Low railway bridges also add to traffic difficulties with lorries becoming stuck under them. Many promises have been made by the local council for a Grantham bypass road. The latest, the Grantham Southern Relief Road, has been in planning since 2007. Phase one of the project was completed in 2016. Phase Two started in October 2019 which involves building a new junction on the A1 and is due to be complete by Autumn 2021. Phase three which is the main stretch of road is due to start in 2021 and complete by 2023[76]

Grantham was once linked to Nottingham by the Grantham Canal. It is possible to walk and cycle along the canal starting from Grantham near the A1/A607 intersection (opposite The Farrier).

The River Witham runs through Grantham. It has a riverside walk linking Dysart Park and Wyndham Park, on which is a view of Spittlegate Mill. The walk passes Inner Street allotment and the rear of Sainsbury's car park, access to which is by a pedestrian bridge at the end of College Street. There are other footbridges with views of the river and its weirs. Swans, ducks and trout are among the wildlife that can be seen along the river.

Grantham Town Football Club is the local football team, currently playing in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League. The club was founded in 1874 and currently plays in the 7,500-capacity (covered 1,950, seats 750) South Kesteven Sports Stadium (although average attendances are well below capacity).[85] The ground also doubles as the town's athletics stadium (one of only three in Lincolnshire), next to the Grantham Meres Leisure Centre on Trent Road.[86]

Harrowby United F.C. based at Dickens Road, near the Church of the Ascension, are in the UCL (United Countries League) Division One league.

Kesteven RFC pitch in April 2006

Kesteven Rugby Football Club was founded in 1947 and plays at Woodnook, off the B6403. The club fields two men's teams, a ladies XV and many junior sides.

Grantham Hockey Club, which fielded men's and women's team in league hockey, played at the Meres Leisure Centre, on an astro-turf pitch once situated directly behind the football stadium.[87] In 2011, the men ended a long spell in the Midlands League, moving to the East League, successfully earning promotion to Division 5 (North West). Their story is documented in 1,309 Days Later, the title a reference to a no-win spell between 2006 and 2009.[88]

Grantham bowls players have represented the indoor and outdoor clubs within county and national competitions. Indoor club players Martin Pulling, Dion Auckland, Ian Johnson, and former England U25 player Mathew Orrey, have played for the England squad.[89][90]

In 1993 and 1994 international team matches were held in Grantham, at the South Kesteven Table Tennis Centre, which was opened in January 1992 by Johnny Leach. Grantham College have a Table Tennis Academy.[91]

• Philip Knights, Baron Knights (1920–2014), police officer
• Walter Richard Parker VC (1881–1936), Royal Marine awarded the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli[94]
• Edith Smith (1876–1924), first woman police officer with full arrest powers

• Antonio Berardi (born 1968), fashion designer
• Judy Campbell (1916–2004), actor and playwright
• Syd Cain (1918–2011), film production designer
• Eric Chappell (born 1933), comedy writer
• Colley Cibber (1671–1757), actor, playwright and poet laureate, attended The King's School, Grantham
• Dorothy Cowlin (1911–2010), novelist born in Grantham
• Johnny Haddon Downes (1920–2004), television producer
• Vince Eager (born 1940), singer
• Graham Fellows (born 1959), actor and musician[95]
• Michael Garner (born 1954), actor
• Jessie Lipscomb (1861–1962), sculptor
• Nicholas Maw (1935–2009), composer
• Richard Nauyokas (born 1962), soldier and actor
• Nicholas Parsons (1923–2020), television and radio presenter
• Roy Petley (born 1951), Grantham-born plein air painter
• William Stukeley (1687–1765), antiquarian[96][97]
• Richard Todd (1919–2009) actor
• Clare Tomlinson (born 1968), news presenter

• Beverley Allitt (born 1968), serial killer[98][99][100]

• Mary Sophia Allen (1878–1964), suffragist, women's rights activist, and Nazi sympathizer
• Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet (1659–1697), politician and landowner
• William Bury (c. 1605–1669), Commonwealth politician and army officer
• William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520–1598), statesman and Secretary of State, attended the King's School.
• Sir Clement Cotterell (died 1631), courtier and MP for Grantham
• Sir John Cust (1718–1770), MP for Grantham (1743–1770) and Speaker of the House of Commons
• Joseph Godber, Lord Godber (1914–1980), was Conservative MP for Grantham in 1951–1979 and held several government posts.
• Douglas Hogg, Lord Hailsham (born 1945), was a Conservative politician and minister, and MP for Grantham (1979–1997)
• Denis Kendall, MP for Grantham 1942–1950
• John Mordaunt (died c. 1505), MP for Grantham in 1491 and Speaker of the House of Commons
• Henry More (1614–1687), rationalist philosopher, attended The King's School.
• Thomas Paine (1737–1809), political writer and revolutionary
• Margot Parker (born 1943), UKIP MEP (2014–2019)
• Sir Arthur Priestley (1865–1933), Liberal MP for Grantham (1900–1918)
• Alderman Alfred Roberts (1892–1970), local politician
• Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby (1735–1803), politician
• Norman Shrapnel (1912–2004), political correspondent and author
• Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), Conservative Prime Minister, daughter of Alfred Roberts
• Thomas Witham (c. 1420–1489), Chancellor of the Exchequer to Henry VI and Edward IV

Bishop John Still, effigy in Wells Cathedral

• Frederic Barker (1808–1882), Anglican Bishop of Sydney, attended The King's School.
• Tim Ellis (born 1953), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (2006–2013)
• Arthur Greaves (1873–1960), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham and later Grimsby
• Gregory Hascard (died 1708), Anglican Dean of Windsor and religious writer
• Dennis Hawker (1921–2003), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1972–1987)
• John Hine (1857–1934), Anglican bishop, successively of Nyasaland, Zanzibar, Northern Rhodesia and Grantham (1920–1930)
• Welbore MacCarthy (1840–1925), Anglican Archdeacon of Calcutta, and later inaugural suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1905–1920)
• Algernon Markham (1869–1949), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1937–1949)
• James McCann (1897–1983), Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
• Anthony Otter (1896–1986), Anglican suffragan Bishop of Grantham (1949–1965)
• John Still (1593–1608), Bishop of Bath and Wells, once thought to have written an early farce, Gammer Gurton's Needle
• Doris Stokes (1920–1987), spiritualist and psychic medium
• William Wand (1885–1977), Anglican prelate, successively Archbishop of Brisbane, Bishop of Bath and Wells and Bishop of London

Rivercourt Methodist Church, Hammersmith, London, designed by Charles Bell

• Charles Bell (1846–1899), architect
• William Clarke (1609–1682), apothecary and tutor to Isaac Newton
• Maxwell Hutchinson (born 1948), architect
• Isaac Newton, (1642–1726/27), physicist and mathematician
• Mark A. O'Neill (born 1959), biologist and computer scientist
• Thomas James Smith (1827–1896), pharmacist and founder of the medical equipment firm Smith & Nephew

• Patrick Bamford (born 1993), professional footballer with Leeds United[101]
• Terry Bly (1935–2009), professional footballer, died in Grantham
• Ian Bowyer (born 1951), professional footballer
• Roderick Bradley (born 1983), American footballer
• John Broughton (1873–1952), first-class cricketer

Olympic gold medal winning tennis player Charles P. Dixon

• Charles P. Dixon (1873–1939), Olympic gold, silver and bronze medal winning tennis player
• Mathew Dowman (born 1974), first-class cricketer
• Dave Gilbert (born 1963), professional footballer
• Arthur Green (1885 – post-1912), professional footballer
• Timothy Grubb (1954–2010), Olympic show jumper
• Cyril Hatton (1918–1987), professional footballer[102]
• Richard Holmes (born 1980), professional footballer
• Richard Howitt (born 1977), first-class cricketer
• Vikki Hubbard (born 1989), international high jumper
• Dickie Joynes (1877–1949), professional footballer
• Alastair McCorquodale (1925–2009), Scottish athlete and first-class cricketer, died in Grantham
• Harry Pringle (1900–1965), professional footballer, died in Grantham
• Arnold Rylott (1839–1914), first-class cricketer
• Simon Terry (born 1974), Olympic Bronze medal winning archer
• Tom Wells (born 1993), first-class cricketer
• William Woof (1858–1937), first-class cricketer
• Ashley Wright (born 1980), first-class cricketer
• Luke Wright (born 1985), first-class cricketer