Gonerby Hill Foot

{{Short description|Area of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}

{{Infobox UK place

| country = England

| official_name = Gonerby Hill Foot

| coordinates = {{coord|52.924 |-0.656 |display=inline,title}}

| map_type = Lincolnshire

| static_image_name = Gonerby Hill Foot Primary School - geograph.org.uk - 2928446.jpg

| static_image_caption = Gonerby Hill Foot Primary School, Grantham

| population =

| population_ref =

| shire_district = South Kesteven

| shire_county = Lincolnshire

| region = East Midlands

| constituency_westminster = Grantham and Bourne

| civil_parish = Grantham

| post_town = GRANTHAM

| postcode_district = NG31

| postcode_area = NG

| dial_code =

| os_grid_reference =

| london_distance_mi = 112

| london_direction = S

}}

Gonerby Hill Foot (previously Gonerby Hillfoot) is an area of Grantham in South Kesteven in Lincolnshire, England. It is directly to the north-west of Grantham town centre, and near the border with Great Gonerby.

Gonerby Hill was said to be the steepest hill on the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh, until 1825 when the gradient was reduced by work done by Italian prisoners from Norman Cross Prison. There is a mounting block dated 1703 at Gonerby Hill Foot, one of a series erected by Edmund Boulter along roads he regularly travelled.{{Cite web |date=2023-11-20 |title=Gonerby Hill Foot |url=https://www.granthamcivicsociety.co.uk/gonerby-hill-foot#:~:text=Gonerby%20Hill%20Foot&text=During%20the%20first%20decade%20of,to%20aid%20travellers%20on%20horseback. |access-date=2024-11-10 |publisher=Grantham Civic Society|language=en}}{{cite web |title=Edmund Boulter's Mounting Blocks – September 2020 - the story so far |url=https://www.milestonesociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Edmund-Boulter-website-version.pdf |publisher=The Milestone Society |access-date=12 January 2025}} Includes a photograph of the stone, on page [2] The 1885 edition of Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire states Gonerby Hillfoot is a hamlet in Great Gonerby parish, with the alternative name of Middle Gonerby (being between Little Gonerby and Great Gonerby), and lists a maltster, a brickmaker, and a shopkeeper in the hamlet, noting also that there is a wall letterbox.{{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=E. R. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/kellysdirectory00ergoog/page/416/mode/2up?q=Gonerby&view=theater |title=Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the Port of Hull and neighbourhood... |publisher=Kelly & Co. |year=1885 |page=416 |language=English|chapter=Great Gonerby }} In 1901, The Grantham Journal commented on the growth of Middle Gonerby compared with a decade or two earlier, when it had very few residents.{{Cite news |date=13 April 1901 |title=Great Gonerby |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1901-04-01/1901-04-30?basicsearch=%22middle%20gonerby%22&phrasesearch=middle%20gonerby&retrievecountrycounts=false |work=Grantham Journal |page=2 |format=transcript}} An elementary school opened in 1908,{{Cite news |date=4 July 1908 |title=Great Gonerby |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1908-07-01/1908-07-07?basicsearch=gonerby%20hill%20foot%20school&somesearch=gonerby%20hill%20foot%20school&place=grantham%2c%20lincolnshire%2c%20england&county=lincolnshire%2c%20england&retrievecountrycounts=false&mostspecificlocation=grantham%2c%20lincolnshire%2c%20england |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=Grantham Journal |page=4 |format=Transcript}} a forerunner of Gonerby Hill Foot Primary School.{{cite web |title=Welcome to Gonerby Hill Foot |url=https://www.gonerbyhillfoot.co.uk/ |publisher=Gonerby Hill Foot Church of England Primary School |access-date=12 January 2025 |language=en}} On 1 October 1930, Gonerby Hill Foot became part of the enlarged borough of Grantham.{{Cite web |title=Grantham AP/Tn/CP through time - Boundary changes |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10418276#tab02 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240914142352/https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10418276#tab02 |archive-date=14 September 2024 |access-date=2025-01-12 |website=www.visionofbritain.org.uk }}{{Cite news |last= |date=30 September 1930 |title=Absorbed parishes |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1930-09-29/1930-09-30?basicsearch=%22gonerby%20hill%20foot%22&phrasesearch=gonerby%20hill%20foot&retrievecountrycounts=false |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=Lincolnshire Echo |page=7 |format=Transcript}}

Gonerby Hill Foot is mostly residential; small "pockets" of older terraced housing remain, but from the 1970s onwards medium density semi-detached and detached housing developments have been built, many roads being cul-de-sacs.{{Cite web |title=Grantham Townscape Assessment - CA06d: Gonerby Hill Foot residential suburbs |url=http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4949&p=0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003103825/http://www.southkesteven.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4949&p=0 |archive-date=3 October 2012 |pages=8–9}} The Vaculug commercial vehicle tyre retreading factory on Gonerby Road was established in the 1950s, shortly after the firm was founded.{{Cite web |title=Our Roots – Vaculug |url=https://www.vaculug.com/our-roots/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |language=en-GB}}

The grade II listed Gonerby House at Gonerby Hill Foot is Jacobean with Georgian and Victorian extensions.{{NHLE|num=1360251 |desc=Gonerby House | access-date=12 January 2025}} It was used for student accommodation by The King's School for a period until 2002 and has since been divided into several residences.{{cite news |last1= |first1= |title=Do you have memories of this Grantham house? |url=https://granthammatters.co.uk/do-you-have-memories-of-this-grantham-house/ |access-date=12 January 2025 |work=Grantham Matters |date=30 January 2022}}