Grimsby

Sometime in the 9th century AD, Grimsby was settled by Danes. According to legend, the name Grimsby derives from the name Grim, a Danish fisherman. [8] The suffix -by is derived from the Old Norse word býr for village (compare with Swedish: by). The legendary founding of Grimsby is described in a medieval romance, the Lay of Havelock the Dane, but historians consider this account to be myth.

In Norse mythology, Grim (Mask) and Grimnir (Masked One) are names adopted by the deity Odin (Anglo-Saxon Woden) when travelling incognito amongst mortals, as in the short poem known as 'Grimnir's Sayings' (Grimnismal) in the Poetic Edda.[9] The intended audience of the Havelock tale (recorded much later in the form of the Lay of Havelock the Dane) may have understood the fisherman Grim to be Odin in disguise.

The Odinic name "Grimr/Grim" occurs in many English place names within the historical Danelaw and elsewhere in Britain. Examples are the numerous earthworks named Grimsdyke.[10] Other British place names containing the element Grim are explained as referring to Woden/Odin (e.g. Grimsbury, Grimspound, Grime's Graves, Grimsditch, Grimsworne), and Grimsby is likely to have the same derivation.

Grimsby is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a population of around 200, a priest, a mill, and a ferry.

During the 12th century, Grimsby developed into a fishing and trading port, at one point ranking twelfth in importance to the Crown in terms of tax revenue. The town was granted its charter by King John in 1201. The first mayor was installed in 1202.[11]

Grimsby is noted in the Orkneyinga Saga in this Dróttkvætt stanza by Kali Kolsson:

St James' Church, now Grimsby Minster, before its extension

Grimsby does not have town walls. It was too small and was considered to be protected by the marshy land around it. However, the town did have a ditch.

In medieval times, Grimsby had two parish churches, St Mary's and St James. Only St James, now known as Grimsby Minster, remains. St James is associated with a folk tale of an Imp who played tricks in the church and was turned into stone by an angel (a similar story is told for Lincoln Cathedral; see Lincoln Imp).

In the mid-14th century, the town benefited from the generosity of Edmund de Grimsby, a local man who became a senior Crown official and judge in Ireland.

In the 15th century, The Haven began to silt up, preventing ships in the Humber from docking. As a result, Grimsby entered a long period of decline which lasted until the late 18th century. By 1801, the population of Grimsby numbered 1,524, around the same size that it had been in the Middle Ages.

The Grimsby Haven Company was formed by Act of Parliament in May 1796 (the Grimsby Haven Act) for the purpose of "widening, deepening, enlarging, altering and improving the Haven of the Town and Port of Great Grimsby". After dredging of The Haven and related improvement, in the early 19th century the town grew rapidly as the port was revived. Grimsby's port boomed, importing iron, timber, wheat, hemp and flax. New docks were needed to cope with the expansion. The Grimsby Docks Act of 1845 allowed the necessary building works.

Alexandra Docks and National Fishing Heritage Centre

The arrival of the railway in 1848 made it easier to transport goods to and from the port to markets and farms. Coal mined in the South Yorkshire coalfields was brought by rail and exported through Grimsby. Rail links direct to London and the Billingsgate Fish Market allowed for fresh "Grimsby Fish" to gain renown nationwide. The first true fish dock opened in Grimsby in 1856, and the town became a centre for the development of the commercial fishing industry.

The Dock Tower was completed in 1851, followed by the Royal Dock in 1852. No.1 Fish Dock was completed in 1856, followed by No.2 Fish Dock in 1877. Alexandra Dock and Union Dock were completed in 1879. During this period, the fishing fleet was greatly expanded. In a rare reversal of the usual trends, large numbers of fishermen from the South-East and Devon travelled North to join the Grimsby fleet. Over 40 per cent of these newcomers came from Barking in East London, and other Thames-side towns.[12]

In 1857 there were 22 vessels in Grimsby. Six years later there were 112.[13] The first two legitimate steam trawlers ever built in Great Britain were based in Grimsby. By 1900, a tenth of the fish consumed in the United Kingdom was landed at Grimsby, although there were many smaller coastal fishing ports and villages that also supplied the nation.[13]

The demand for fish in Grimsby grew to such an extent that, at its peak in the 1950s, Grimsby laid claim to the title of the largest fishing port in the world.[14] The population grew from 75,000 in 1901 to 92,000 by 1931.

Grimsby fishing docks, c. 1890

But, the Great Depression and the restructuring of the fishing industry caused a severe decline in employment. The population was fairly stable for the rest of the 20th century.[15]

War memorial, Grimsby Dock

The current HMS Grimsby

The Royal Dock was used as the UK's largest base for minesweepers to patrol the North Sea. The Admiralty requisitioned numerous trawlers to serve as minesweepers for the Royal Naval Patrol Service. In many cases, their crew were ex-trawlermen, as well as men from the Royal Naval Reserve and Royal Navy volunteers. Trawlers would use the winches and warps from fishing operations to tow a paravane with a cutting jaw through the water in what was known as a 'sweep' to bring mines to the surface and allow for their removal.

As a result of the hazardous work, the Patrol Service lost more vessels than any other Royal Navy branch in the Second World War, and 2,385 men died.[16] Grimsby's Royal Naval Patrol Service veterans financed the construction of a memorial beside the Dock Tower to ensure that the bravery and sacrifice of their comrades was not forgotten.[16][17]

On 14 June 1943, an early-morning air raid by the Luftwaffe dropped several 1,000-kg bombs, 6,000 incendiary bombs, and more than 3,000 Butterfly Bombs in the Grimsby area.[18] Ninety-nine people died that night. In total, Second World War bombing raids in Grimsby and Cleethorpes killed 196 persons, while another 184 people were seriously injured.[18] The Butterfly Bombs, which littered the area, hampered fire-fighting crews trying to reach locations damaged by the incendiary bombs. The search for recovery of bodies continued for a month after the raid.[18]

HMS Grimsby is a Sandown class minehunter (commissioned in 1999) currently in service in the Royal Navy.

After the pressures placed on the industry during the Cod Wars, and the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy, which distributes fishing quotas from what would have been British waters to other EU nations, many Grimsby firms decided to cease trawling operations from the town. The sudden demise of the Grimsby fishing industry brought an end to a way of life and community that had lasted for generations. The loss of the fishing industry resulted in severe economic and social problems for the town, as had been suffered by towns of the coalfields following the decline of mining.[19] Huge numbers of men became redundant, highly skilled in jobs that no longer existed, and they struggled to find work ashore. As with the Ross Group, some firms concentrated on expanding industries within the town, such as food processing.

Post-war high-rise development on Grimsby's East Marsh, which was demolished in 2018

Grimsby's trawling days are remembered through the artefacts and permanent exhibits at the town's Fishing Heritage Centre. The preserved 1950s trawler, Ross Tiger, is located here. Few fishing vessels still operate from Grimsby's docks, but the town maintains a substantial fish market important in Europe.[20]

Grimsby was struck by an F1/T3 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.[21] Since the mid-1980s, the former Humber ferry, PS Lincoln Castle, has been moored in Alexandra Dock. She was used during this time as a pub\restaurant. Although her design and status as Britain's last coal-fired paddle steamer was unique, these operations no longer yielded a profit. The ship was broken up in 2010.[22] Berthed in the Alexandra Dock is the Ross Tiger, the last survivor of what was once the world's largest fleet of sidewinder trawlers.[23]

The town was described in The Daily Telegraph in 2001 as a town "subjected to...many crude developments over the past 30-odd years" and as a town which "seemingly shuns the notion of heritage".[24] Redevelopment was planned as part of Yorkshire Forward's Renaissance Towns Programme; however, Yorkshire Forward was abolished in 2012.

In the early part of the 21st century, the town faced the challenges of a post-industrial economy that was also affected by a decline in the fishing industry. The East Marsh ward of the town is the second-most deprived in the country, according to the governmental statistics.[25]

Offshore windfarm support vessels in Grimsby fish dock, with Ross House in background.

North East Lincolnshire Council has eight Council wards within the area of Grimsby:

• Freshney Ward
• Heneage Ward
• Scartho Ward
• South Ward
• East Marsh Ward
• Park Ward
• West Marsh Ward
• Yarborough Ward

The Grimsby Ice Factory was built in 1900 to provide crushed ice for ships to keep stored fish cold.[32]

Grimsby is strongly linked with the sea fishing industry, which once generated wealth for the town. At its peak in the 1950s, it was the largest and busiest fishing port in the world.[23] As a result of the Cod Wars with Iceland, and the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy this industry has been in decline for many years. In 1970 around 400 trawlers were based in the port, by 2013 only five remained, whereas 15 vessels were being used to maintain offshore wind farms in the North Sea.[25] The town still has the largest fish market in the UK, but most of what is sold is brought overland from other ports or from Iceland by containerisation. Of the 18,000 tonnes of fresh fish sold in Grimsby fish market in 2012, almost 13,000 tonnes, mainly cod and haddock, came from Iceland.[25]

Today, Greater Grimsby is home to around 500 food-related companies, giving it one of the largest concentrations of food manufacturing, research, storage, and distribution in Europe. The local council has promoted Grimsby as Europe's Food Town for nearly twenty years.[33] In 1999, the BBC reported that more pizzas were produced in the town than anywhere else in Europe, including Italy.[34]

Grimsby is recognised as the main centre of the UK fish-processing industry; 70 per cent of the UK's fish processing industry is located there.[25] In recent years, this expertise has led to diversification into all forms of frozen and chilled foods.[19] The town is one of the largest centres of fish processing in Europe. More than 100 local companies are involved in fresh and frozen fish production, the largest of which is the Findus Group (see Lion Capital LLP), comprising Young's Seafood and Findus. Its corporate headquarters are in the town. Young's is a major employer in the area, with some 2,500 people based at its headquarters. From this base, Young's has a global sourcing operation supplying 60 species from 30 countries.[35]

Traditional Grimsby smoked fish has been awarded a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) in 2009 by the European Union. The traditional process uses overnight cold smoking using sawdust in tall chimneys, roughly 1 by 2 metres (3 ft 3 in by 6 ft 7 in) square and 10m high.[36]

Other major seafood companies include the Icelandic-owned Coldwater Seafood,[37] employing more than 700 people across its sites in Grimsby; and Five Star Fish,[38] a supplier of fish products to the UK food service market.

The £5.6 million Humber Seafood Institute,[39] the first of its kind in the UK, opened in 2008. Backed by Yorkshire Forward, North East Lincolnshire Council, and the European Regional Development Fund, the HSI is managed by the local council. Tenants include the Seafish Industry Authority and Grimsby Institute and University Centre. Greater Grimsby is a European centre of excellence in the production of chilled prepared meals, and the area has the largest concentration of cold-storage facilities in Europe.[40]

Area known as The Kasbah, Grimsby docks

The Port of Grimsby has been in use since the medieval period. The first enclosed dock, later known as the Old Dock, was built in the 1790s by the Grimsby Haven Company. Major expansion came with the coming of the railways, and construction of the Royal Dock, Grimsby in the 1840s. A Fish Dock was added in 1857, and the fish docks expanded over the next 80 years, with Grimsby becoming a major fishing centre. The Old dock was expanded to form Alexandra Dock in the 1880s. The Kasbah is a historic area between the Royal Dock and Fish Dock characterised by a network of streets, which remains home to a number of artisan fish processing businesses.[41]

Fishing activities were reduced to a fraction of former levels in the second half of the twentieth century. The current port is a centre for car import (and export). Since 1975, it handles general cargo. In the early 21st century, it has developed as a wind farm maintenance base.

Freshney Place

High street shopping in the town is focused on central Grimsby between the railway and River Freshney, where Victoria Street acts as a central pedestrianised shopping street with the undercover Freshney Place shopping centre to the north. Freshney Place is visited by 14 million shoppers a year and employs over 2,000 staff.[42] The centre houses over 100 stores,[42] including Marks and Spencer and House of Fraser. Constructed between 1967 and 1971 in a joint venture between the old Grimsby Borough Council and developers Hammerson's UK Ltd., it was known as the Riverhead Centre (so named as the development was adjacent to where the two local rivers, the Freshney and the Haven, meet). Hammerson's UK Ltd began a £100 million redevelopment of the retail centre, doubling it in size. The expanded centre was covered in a glass roof. Two multi-storey car parks were constructed at each end of the centre; with this development, the old Top Town area of Grimsby was effectively privatised and roofed over. Stores are serviced at the first floor by ramps at the western end, which can accommodate even large vehicles. The ramp also provides access to the car park on the roof of the indoor market, which is operated by the local council. Freshney Place won a design commendation in the Refurbishment Category of the 1993 BCSC awards.[43]

In the town centre Bethlehem and Osborne Street are also of mixed use, hosting retail, legal and service functions to the south of Victoria Street. Numerous local, independent stores operate in town, several at the Abbeygate Centre (off Bethlehem Street). Formerly the head office of local brewers, Hewitt Brothers, the building was renovated in the mid-1980s and is home to a number of restaurants and designer clothing stores.

Freeman Street also known as "Freemo", Grimsby

The town also has two markets, one next to Freshney Place and the other in Freeman Street (B1213). This was a dominant shopping area with close connections to the docks, but industry and demographic changes have caused it to struggle since the late 1970s. Previously the town centre area was rivalled by the Freeman Street shopping area, located closer to the docks. Freeman Street retains its covered market. Grimsby town centre has re-emerged in prominence as the docks declined and shops such as Marks and Spencer relocated to central Grimsby.

Other developments near the town centre since the 1980s include the Alexandra Retail Park and Sainsbury's to the west of Alexandra Dock, an Asda store between the town centre and Freeman Street, the Victoria Mills Retail Park off the Peaks Parkway A16, which is home to several chain stores, including Next and close to a Tesco Extra (the second in the area). B&Q opened a large store off the Peaks Parkway to the east of the town centre Depot. Unlike many towns where shopping has been built on the outskirts, these (and similar developments) were constructed in and around Grimsby's town centre. This keeps shopping in a compact area, making it easier for pedestrians and public transport users.

Morrisons at Laceby

Some out of town development has taken place with Morrisons constructing a store located just outside the town boundary, in the parish of Laceby. It is known as Morrisons Cleethorpes. This anomalous name is derived from the period when the area was part of the now defunct Cleethorpes Borough. Most major supermarkets have expanded in the early 21st century, including Asda, and Tesco at Hewitts Circus (this store is technically in the adjoining town, Cleethorpes).

Such is the quality of shopping in the area that bus services bring in shoppers from across Lincolnshire, especially from smaller towns such as Louth,[44] Brigg, and Scunthorpe.[45]

Grimsby is beginning to develop as a renewable energy centre, and generates more electricity from solar, wind, biomass and landfill gas than anywhere else in England.[46] The town makes 28 per cent of the electricity it uses from green sources.[46] Its proximity to the biggest cluster of offshore wind farms in Europe, have brought around 1,500 jobs to the area, most of these are in turbine maintenance.[46]

New bus provision in Grimsby known by some as the "Multicoloured stop swap" with Riverhead Exchange "Superstop" right.[49]

Grimsby's bus service is provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire which took over the original Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport in 1993. Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport had been formed in 1957, with the merger of the previously separate Grimsby and Cleethorpes transport (GCT) undertakings. Stagecoach had all the buses resprayed to their standard livery to replace the buses previous colour-scheme of orange and white. Prior to this, the buses were painted blue and white until 1981, when the colours were changed to caramel and cream. The orange and white livery was introduced in 1987. Until 1982 GCT ran a mixture of crewed and one-person operated services. However, in that year the job of conductor was abolished and the company changed entirely to driver-only services.

In 2005, Stagecoach bought out Lincolnshire Road Car, which provided buses to South Killingholme, Louth, Barton-upon-Humber and the Willows Estate. The company is now known as Stagecoach in Lincolnshire. Joint ticketing was allowed with Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes from May 2006.

From September 2006, a new fleet of low-floor single-deckers was introduced, making the fleet an unprecedented 85 per cent low-floor.

The A180 is the main route into Grimsby (from the west)

Grimsby also has rail links via Grimsby Town railway station and Grimsby Docks railway station. There is a level crossing in the centre of the town across Wellowgate. TransPennine Express provide direct trains to Manchester Airport via Doncaster and Sheffield whilst Northern Trains operate services to Barton-upon-Humber (for buses to Hull) and a Saturday only service to Sheffield via Retford. Lincoln and Newark are served by East Midlands Railway services which can go on to Nottingham on Sunday in the summer months. The service to Cleethorpes runs at least hourly during the day, along a single track, passing stations at Grimsby Docks and New Clee.

Grimsby was home to two tramway networks: the Grimsby District Light Railway and the Grimsby & Immingham Electric Railway. The Grimsby Electric was a normal gauge tramway opened in 1912 between Corporation Bridge at Grimsby and Immingham. There was no physical connection with the railway system. The tramway served the town with a passenger service between Grimsby and Immingham until closure in 1961. It is claimed that once this was controlled by the corporation, they were more interested in supporting the motorbus service, now number 45.

The Grimsby Light Railway opened in 1881 using horse-drawn trams. In 1901, these were replaced with electric tramways. In 1925 the Grimsby Transport Company bought the tramway company and in 1927 moved the depot to the Victoria Street Depot, an old sea plane hangar. This system closed in 1937. The depot continues to be used by Stagecoach, though the old Grimsby Tramways livery is still visible on the front of the building.

Operating in the area until the 1950s was a network of electrically operated trolley buses which received their power from overhead power lines.

Humberside Airport is 14 miles (23 km) west of Grimsby and mainly caters for charter holidays. It is popular for general aviation, with five flying clubs based there.

Blundell Park

The local football team is Grimsby Town F.C., nicknamed The Mariners, who since the 2016–17 season have played in Football League Two. Their ground is Blundell Park in Cleethorpes and it is often joked by locals that it is the only British club to play away every game. It is the oldest professional football team in the county of Lincolnshire and one of the oldest in the country, being formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham with a home ground on land off Ainslie Street, Grimsby.

During the 1930s Grimsby Town played in the English First Division, then the highest level of the domestic game in England. It also appeared in two FA Cup semi-finals in the 1930s: in 1936 (against Arsenal) and in 1939 (against Wolverhampton Wanderers). The latter semi-final was held at Old Trafford, Manchester, and the attendance (76,962) is still a record for the stadium.

Grimsby Town were relegated on 7 May 2010 to the Football Conference, losing their status as a League club.[50] It returned to the Football League after gaining promotion via the National League play-off final in 2016, beating Forest Green Rovers 3–1 at Wembley Stadium.[51]

The team reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1987 and in 1998 won the Auto Windscreens Shield[52] and the second division play-off final. Notable former managers include Bill Shankly, Lawrie McMenemy and Alan Buckley.

Blundell Park has the oldest stand in English professional football, the Main Stand. It was first opened in 1899, although only the present foundations date from this time. There have been plans to relocate the club to a new stadium, including one at the side of Peaks Parkway in Grimsby.[53]

Grimsby Borough F.C. is a football club established in 2003 and based in Grimsby. It belongs to the Northern Counties East League Division One. Cleethorpes Town F.C. plays in Grimsby, where it has a ground share with Borough of the Bradley Development Centre.

An ice hockey club has been based in Grimsby since 1936. The current club has teams playing at different levels throughout the English Ice Hockey Association structure, all under the name of the Grimsby Red Wings. In 2009 the club added an ice sledge Hockey team to ensure that it was able to offer a fully inclusive sport to the NE Lincolnshire area.

The area has an amateur Rugby Union side, the Grimsby RUFC, and an amateur cricket side, the Grimsby Town Cricket Club, both of which attract reasonable levels of support. The Grimsby Scorpions American Football team operated until 2014 before relocating to Hull where they merged with Hull's team to form the Humber Warhawks. Despite playing in another county the club maintain representation of both East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire.

Tennis teams from local clubs have been successful in various inter-County competitions with the Men's Team from Grimsby Tennis Centre winning the Lincolnshire Doubles League again in 2005. Tennis players from the town represent the county on a regular basis at all age levels.

Grimsby Tennis Centre underwent a major redevelopment of facilities in 2005 and is now entirely accessible to the disabled.

The town had one of the largest table tennis leagues in the country[54] with over 120 teams competing during the 1970s, but, like the game of squash, the sport has declined in the town during recent years.

The Grimsby Auditorium

Prior to the late 1960s many public houses in the area were owned by the local brewer Hewitt Brothers and gave a distinctive local touch but following a takeover in 1969 by the brewer Bass-Charrington. These have been re-badged many times, closed or sold off.[55][56] The Barge Inn is a former grain barge converted into a pub/restaurant. It has been moored at the Riverhead quay since 1982.

Caxton theatre and arts centre

Musical entertainment is found at the Grimsby Auditorium, built in 1995 in Cromwell Road, Yarborough, near Grimsby Leisure Centre. The smaller Caxton Theatre is on Cleethorpe Road (A180) in East Marsh near the docks. The Caxton Theatre provides entertainment by adults and youths in theatre. A notable theatre company in the area is the Class Act Theatre Company run by local playwright David Wrightam.

North East Lincolnshire Council has installed a Wi-Fi network covering Victoria Street in central Grimsby. The service provides access to the Internet for the general public on a yearly subscription.

Grimsby's former cinema in Freeman Street closed in 2004,[57] with the Parkway cinema in nearby Cleethorpes serving the town. Periodic plans to build a new cinema in the town have been made since.[58] The Whitgift Film Theatre based in John Whitgift Academy shows a programme of limited release and art house films.

Corporation Bridge in foreground with Victoria Mill in background

• Corporation Bridge
• Fisherman's Memorial[59]
• Grimsby Docks
• Grimsby Dock Tower
• Grimsby Ice Factory – built in 1898–1901 to provide crushed ice to preserve fish stored in ships at Grimsby's seaport
• Grimsby Institute
• Grimsby Marina
• Grimsby Minster
• Grimsby Town Hall
• Humber Forts
• National Fishing Heritage Centre
• Waltham Windmill
• Weelsby Woods

Grimsby is the site of a Blue Cross Animal Hospital, one of only four in the country; the other three are situated in London. The Grimsby hospital was previously in Cleethorpe Road, but in 2005 it moved to a new building called 'Coco Markus House' in Nelson Street.

The Grimsby Telegraph, has an audited circulation of 14,344 copies (2017). It is based in Heritage House near to the Fishing Heritage Centre.[60] The local radio stations are BBC Radio Humberside, Lincs FM, Viking FM and the exclusively North East Lincolnshire-based Compass FM which ceased being a local station in 2020. The transmitter for Compass FM and EMAP Humberside (Lincs FM DAB) is on top of a block of flats in East Marsh. Terrestrial television coverage based in the area are the BBC and ITV Yorkshire who have a news unit based in Immingham. That's TV Humber (formerly Estuary TV and Channel 7 Television) broadcast on Freeview channel 8 and on Virgin Media channel 159.

• Bernie Taupin, who lived in Humberston and Tealby (near Market Rasen) when in his teens, wrote the lyrics to Elton John's 1974 song, "Grimsby", which is included in John's album Caribou.
• The town has been used as a film location: Scartho Hospital (now Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital), and the Scartho Cemetery entrance, were used in the 1985 film Clockwise.[61] The 2006 film, This Is England was partly set and filmed in Grimsby and other East Midland locations such as Nottingham.[62]
• Grimsby is an action-comedy film starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Strong, released by Columbia Pictures in February 2016. No scenes for the film were actually shot in the town; they were filmed instead in Tilbury, Essex.[63]
• The town was the setting for the second series of the Channel 4 documentary Skint in 2014. The programme follows families and individuals living with the "devastating effects of long-term unemployment".[64]