The building was commissioned to replace the aging guildhall and jail on the corner of Guildhall Street and High Street. The site selected for the new building had previously been occupied by a large mansion that had been converted into a school known as "The Firs". The new building, which was designed by
William Watkins in the
Renaissance Revival style and built by William Wartnaby of
Little Gonerby, was completed in 1869. The main building accommodated a ballroom and a sessions hall; a prison building was erected at the same time as was a separate governor's residence. The guildhall was the meeting place of Grantham Borough Council until 1974 when the enlarged South Kesteven District Council was formed and the guildhall ceased to be the local seat of government; after a period of disuse it was converted into an arts centre, to a design by Tim Benton, in 1991. The mayor's parlour in the guildhall remains the meeting place for the
charter trustees who continue to appoint the mayor of Grantham each year. A blue plaque was unveiled on the wall of the old prison building in 2014 to commemorate the life of
Edith Smith, the first woman police officer in the United Kingdom with full
power of arrest. In 2015, a modern relief stone plaque commemorating
Eleanor of Castile was installed at the guildhall close to the site where an original
Eleanor cross was erected by
King Edward I in around 1294. The original Eleanor Cross had been destroyed in 1645 during the
English Civil War. The arts centre continues to provide support for
pantomimes such as "Peter Pan" in December 2017, "Dick Whittington" in December 2018, "Cinderella" in December 2019 and "Jack and The Beanstalk" in December 2021. ==References==