GRIMSBY, Or GREAT GRIMSBY, is a borough and seaport town of England, in Lincolnshire, situated near the mouth of the Humber. The streets are clean, and the houses in general well built. The church, which is called St James, is spacious and handsome, and is built in the form of a cross, with a tower in the centre. The steeple is a fine specimen of English pointed architecture. A part or the choir fell down in 1600, but the steeple has scarcely suffered from the depredations of time. In the upper part of the steeple is the singular inscription, " Pray for the soul of John Empringham." The church contains many ancient monuments. •Grimsby had formerly a mon astery of Gray Friars, a convent of Benedictines, and a priory of Augustine canons. Grimsby was once a rich and populous town, wilt a considerable foreign and inland trade. It was a mayoralty in the reign of King John ; and in the reign of Edward III. it furnished 11 ships and 170 mariners to assist at the siege of Calais. The har
bour, however, was gradually choked up, and a dangerous sand bank having drifted near its mouth, its trade declined, and was transferred to Hull. Of late; the trade of the place has revived ; the harbour has been improved, a dock constructed at great expellee, and the town enlarged by additional buildings. A small coasting trade is carried on with sloops. Salt and coals are the chief articles of importation. There was once at Grimsby a castle, but it is entirely decayed. There are some very ext•aordinary fountains near the town, called Blow Wells, which never overflow, though they rise to a level with the surface of the ground; Grimsby is a port town under that of Hull, and has a deputy collector, comptroller, and coast sur veyor. The Grimsby canal is a short canal, which leads from the Humber to Grimsby wet docks. Population of the burgh and parish, in 1311, 2747. See the Beauties of England and Wales, vol. ix. p. 689, &c.