Kitty Briggs Lane

KITTY Briggs Lane was a track, and a public right of way, long before any builders moved in.

Its name has most likely evolved over the centuries from Winnibriggs, the old wapentake covering this side of Grantham. Domesday Book records it in 1086 as Winegebrige or Winebruge, which seems to come from an Old English personal name, Winegar, and brycg, meaning bridge.

The wapentake’s meeting place is thought to have been a small bridge on the Harlaxton road, less than a mile from the lane. Eighteenth century documents record the fields nearby as Winnibrigs Close, though the same land also turns up as William Briggs Close.

A wapentake was a grouping of parishes and townships, the Danelaw’s equivalent of the hundreds used elsewhere in England. Winnibriggs and its neighbour Threo were the two closest to Grantham, and were later combined into one. Kesteven had nine in all, among them Loveden, Beltisloe, Aswardhurn and Aveland.

The word arrived with the Danes, long before the Norman Conquest. It comes from the Old Norse vápnatak, literally “weapon-taking”, after the custom of those at the meetings raising their weapons to show they agreed.

Tunnel under A1 off Denton Avenue, former Kitty Briggs Lane footpath

Bethesda Hall

BETHESDA Hall was set up as a small independent Christian church, run by its elders, with members taking turns to preach rather than having priests or pastors. It’s listed today as Bethesda Evangelical Church.

It took Cyril Jones, a special needs teacher at Loughborough College who lived on Hunt Lea Avenue, four years to build as a labour of devotion, and it opened in November 1957.

The worshippers’ simple approach extends to the name. The hall was never meant to have one, but Kitty Briggs Lane hadn’t been numbered yet and the Post Office needed an address, so it became Bethesda, meaning house of mercy.

It was at its busiest in the 1970s, when more than 100 children from the area went to its Sunday school and its annual outings.

Walton Girls’ High School opened on Kitty Briggs Lane in 1966, replacing the Girls’ Central School, which occupied a building in Castlegate and the former Brownlow School, Finkin Street, for 45 years. Headmistress Nina Hewitt, in charge since 1946, was still only the school’s second headmistress, having taken over from Miss Jabet.

Walton School

WALTON Girls’ County Secondary School opened on Kitty Briggs Lane in 1966, two years after work started, taking over from the Girls’ Central School on Agnes Street, off Castlegate. It took its name from Walton, one of the early townships that made up Grantham, along with Spittlegate and Houghton. It’s now Walton Academy.