nged in ancient times to the Knights Templars, where
royal and other distinguished travellers were entertained. King John
is said to have held his court here in 1213, and the old inn witnessed
the passage of the body of Eleanor, the beloved queen of Edward I, as
it was borne to its last resting-place at Westminster. One of the
seven Eleanor crosses stood at Grantham on St. Peter's Hill, but it
shared the fate of many other crosses and was destroyed by the
troopers of Cromwell during the Civil War. The first floor of the
"Angel" was occupied by one long room, wherein royal courts were held.
It is now divided into three separate rooms. In this room Richard III
condemned to execution the Duke of Buckingham, and probably here
stayed Cromwell in the early days of his military career and wrote his
letter concerning the first action that made him famous. We can
imagine the silent troopers assembling in the market-place late in the
evening, and then marching out twelve companies strong to wage an
unequal contest against a large body of Royalists. The Grantham folk
had much to say when the troopers rode back with forty-five prisoners
besides divers horses and arms and colours. The "Angel" must have seen
all this and sighed for peace. Grim troopers paced its corridors, and
its stables were full of tired horses. One owner of the inn at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, though he kept a hostel, liked
not intemperance. His name was Michael Solomon, and he left an annual
charge of 40s. to be paid to the vicar of the parish for preaching a
sermon in the parish church against the sin of drunkenness. The
interior of this ancient hostelry has been modernized and fitted with
the comforts which we modern folk are accustomed to expect.

Across the way is the "Angel's" rival the "George," possibly identical
with the hospitium called "Le George" presented with other property by
Edward IV to his mother, the Duchess of York. It lacks the appearance
of age which clothes the "Angel" with dignity, and was rebuilt with
red brick in the Georgian era. The coaches often called there, and
Charles Dickens stayed the night and describes it as one of the best
inns in England. He tells of Squeers conducting his new pupils through
Grantham to Dotheboys Hall, and how after leaving the inn the luckless
travellers "wrapped themselves more closely in their coats and cloaks
... and prepared with many half-suppressed moans again to encounter
the piercing b