“….Dating back to around 1484 the town [Grantham] was given the right to hold a weekly market and two annual fairs by order of a Royal Charter granted by King Richard III….” From https://www.gbnews.com/news/grantham-medieval-onion-fair-revival-centuries-old-tradition-market.
To be at an event for which Richard III was responsible at a pivotal moment in his reign, Grantham is the place to be this October. Like my home city of Gloucester, Richard was the one who granted its royal charter during his royal progress of 1483. If you go to this previous New Murrey & Blue blogpost (https://murreyandblue.co.uk/2020/08/29/the-royal-progress-of-richard-iii/) you’ll find: “…. On hearing the news of the rebellion [2nd Duke of Buckingham’s], the king moved to Grantham, where he wrote to Chancellor Russell asking for the Great Seal, and expressed in a postscript, added in his own hand, his outrage at the desertion of Buckingham.[48]….”
Richard’s outraged response was that Buckingham was “….the most untrue creature living….” You can feel Richard’s hurt and anger in those few words.
The scene where he wrote it is famous. It was October 1483, at the Angel & Royal in Grantham, where the occasion is still commemorated. See https://murreyandblue.co.uk/2025/04/21/the-angel-royal-has-its-blue-plaque-at-last/.
Buckingham’s rebellion was another link between Grantham and Gloucester, because it was the notorious flooding of the River Severn around Gloucester that did for the miserably treacherous duke. Well done Gloucester and the Severn. Another previous blogpost deals with what happened to scupper the rebellion: https://murreyandblue.co.uk/2017/10/18/just-why-did-buckingham-think-he-could-cross-the-flooded-severn/ The duke lost his head. Literally. And his fate was well deserved. To read an interesting article about him, go here https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/blog/2016/07/31/189-the-most-untrue-creature/.
You can read more about Grantham’s markets here: https://www.discoversouthkesteven.com/south-kestevens-historic-markets/ .
The New Murrey and Blue blog 
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