Chronology

As pages are added, an easy access pdf of Belton's historical timeline is updated for your desktop.

Articles are periodically updated with new information.

200 million years ago

Belton’s Own Jurassic Park geological time travel over 30 million years

~14,000 to 4,000 years ago

Molehill Archaeology from the Late Upper Palaeolithic to the Bronze Ages in Belton Park

15th century

Grantham House 1450, a history of the owners; its historical fire mark

16th century

Family Estates The extended family's extensive land ownership

17th century

Layd out when my Master came into the Cuntrey 1683 Belton accounts relating to the old manor house

Weather Why does Belton have so many chimneys?

Belton Stables 1688 says the graffito on the east façade

Belton's floor plans servants' use of the House in 1688, 1698 & 1737

The Hearth Tax

Inventories for 1688 & 1698

Hammersmith 1690s The Brownlows home in London

The Window Tax

Tapestries in the Indian style 1692

Architecture articles on features to be found at Belton

Arlington Street a Brownlow home in London from 1699

Weddings from 1699, the four surviving Brownlow daughters got married

18th century

London Holiday 1702 to Holland House, details travel and London living

Smallpox 1710 How did the Brownlow sisters acquire this virus that demanded close contact with an obviously infected person?

What's Cooking? Food prepared in Belton's basement kitchen

Daniel Delander Clock notes on this c. 1720 long case clock and the discovery of another Brownlow-owned Delander pocket watch

Tyrconnel & the Yamacraw Britain's first anti-slavery law of 1735

Inventories for 1737 & 1754

Floor plans what were the different areas in the Mansion used for? Includes a subpage on sanitation

Servant Orders 1737 orders for senior servants & inventories 

Belton Booze 1730s what the family and their servants drank

Lighting 1739 style candle use at Belton

Bellmount Tower inspiration & construction

Memorial to Richard & Anne Cust commissioned by Sir Brownlow Cust their grandson in 1797

19th century

Remedies & Recipes Belton's recipes & household concoctions C17, C18 & C19

Dentistry 1799-1800

Coade Stone 1810

Gardens constructing the Italian Garden & head gardeners from 1813

Housekeepers from 1813 to 1927

Belton Park Keepers Shepherds & Gamekeepers1813 to 1958

Pump House 1817 Braithwaite's pump engine that led to fire engines and trains

Exedra Lion's Head Fountain c1817

Abraham Hume's picture catalogue 1824

Building accounts 1830 the year the Chinese Bedroom was created

Inventory of furniture 1830 see also other inventories

The Boat House  c1830s

1841 Census for 1st Earl Brownlow's 12 Belgrave Square, London

1851 Census Belton & Manthorpe

W. G. Rogers conservator of Grinling Gibbons' limewood carvings

Tunnel under Belton junction canal between Grantham & Sleaford

Clerk of Works 1853 to 1863 Over 800 entries that uncover hidden areas of the Estate that no longer exist.

Women of Belton distinguished women associated with the Brownlow/Cust family, spanning 18th to 20th centuries.

3rd Earl Brownlow's notes on Belton under Architecture

The Primrose League in 1886 the Grantham Habitation, Countess Adelaide  Brownlow, a League Ruling Councillor,  became Dame President.

The Harry Cust Scandal 1893 a scandal that rocked the highest echelons of society

Establishment Accounts how much did it cost to run Belton in 1897 to 1898?

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee How did Belton celebrate?

Alford Letters mainly letters to Lady Marianne Alford from the great and the good of Victorian society

20th century

3rd Earl Brownlow's Diary samples from 1896 to 1914

Census 1901

WWI 

Belton Park Military Camp trained first the 'Pals' regiments and then the Machine Gun Corps

Belton at War a timeline of Belton's involvement & the diary of Private William Alfred Victor Bulstrode, a soldier at Belton

Edith Smith the first female police constable with powers of arrest

Interwar

1921 Census Belton House

Maud Brownlow wife of the 5th Baron Brownlow, her diaries from the 1920s

Osmond Wainwright  Belton forester from 1886 to 1924, reminisces about the Belton landscape

WWII 

Visitor Book spanning 1927 to 1952 - war and peace, and espionage

Anschluss and Belton Perry & Kittie Brownlow aid Austrian Jews fleeing Hitler

RAF Belton the initiation of the RAF Regiment at Belton Park from 1941

Post War

West Indian Properties

21st century

Ancient Trees comparing an estimated age of a tree to its tree ring count

AI-ding History how artificial intelligence can help our perception of history. Discover evidence for an unknown portrait of 'Young' Sir John Brownlow

Reconnecting Grantham to its Historic Landscape and the research performed for guided tours of the site and Bellmount Tower

360 degree views from Belton's balustraded platform

Behind the spines what history the book conservation on Belton's 20,000 or so books reveals

Coronations Charles III in May 2023, but how did Belton celebrate those of earlier monarchs

Architectural tour around the outside of the Mansion.