Oxford Street in Grantham was developed in 1858 when industrialist Richard Hornsby purchased pasture land to build housing for his growing workforce.
Hornsby named the streets in the area after universities and schools, creating Oxford, Cambridge, College, Harrow and Eton Streets.
Early Sanitation Improvements
The terraced homes were among the first in Grantham to feature an outside toilet for each house. Narrow service passages ran behind the properties, used by night soilmen who emptied the privies—little more than buckets beneath wooden planks.
This arrangement was short-lived. By 1877, the houses had been fitted with water closets, an early type of flushing toilet that used water to carry waste into the drains, eliminating the need for buckets.
The service passages also served refuse collectors and provided a back entrance for residents, a traditional feature of Victorian working-class homes.
