Listed in White's Directory 1872 "Sharp Thomas, victualler, Axe and Cleaver, West st" and in Kelly's Directory 1919 "Axe & Cleaver, Fredk. Singleton, 12 & 14 West st. Bostn"

DB 1 May 2019

Boston's General Baptist Church on High Street was built in 1837 in the Early Gothic Revival style of the period.

Pale buff (Gault) brick is laid in Flemish Bond.

November 2018

The church is Grade II listed.

The memorial in the front courtyard is to a former minister of the church.

November 2018

View from the gallery.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388899  

"In more recent times the Church has been modernised and provides comfortable seating for 150 on the ground floor and seating, at present unused, in the balcony for 250" 

DB 5 June 2019

A plaque affixed to the table reads :- 

"THE COMMUNION FURNITURE COMPRISING TABLE AND CHAIRS WAS PRESENTED TO THE GENERAL BAPTIST CHURCH, BOSTON BY MRS ELLEN ARCHER. A GIFT OF LOVE TO THE LORD AND HIS CHURCH, WHERE SHE HAD BEEN A FAITHFUL MEMBER 61½ YEARS, TO THE DAY OF HER HOME CALL, 12TH MARCH 1947. "BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH""

DB 11 September 2023

This datestone in the centre of the front elevation of the church is from the former chapel on this site.

November 2018

Detail of the organ.

DB 5 June 2019

Organ case viewed from the ground floor.

DB 11 September 2023

This slender triangle of land lying to the north-east of the town centre was adjacent to the cattle market. The stocks were at one end of the Green (behind the viewpoint).

Immediately beyond the Green can be seen a pair of cannon.

postcard, 1902

Former Bethel Baptist Chapel, Trinity Street dated 1869. 

Now Masjid Al Noor.

DB 31 March 2022 

This sluice controls the tidal outfall of the South Forty Foot Drain, a major drainage channel running from the west.

There has been a sluice here from the mid-seventeenth century. The current pumping machinery was installed in 1946 with two additional pumps being added in 1966.

"WITHAM & STEEPING RIVERS CATCHMENT BOARD BLACK SLUICE PUMPING STATION 1946"

Main machinery contractors named as Gwynnes Pumps Ltd and civil engineering contactors as Cleveland Bridge & Eng Co.

DB 11 September 2023

"In 1946 the Black Sluice Pumping Station came into operation together with the widening of 11 miles of the South Forty Foot Drain from Boston to Donington Bridge. The Black Sluice Pumping Station was equipped with 3 Ruston vertical five cylinder 900 horse power diesel engines driving 100" diameter vertical spindle pumps. The work was carried out and financed by the Witham and Steeping Rivers Catchment Board at a cost of £374,000"

https://www.blacksluiceidb.gov.uk/about/history/ 

View partly obstructed by the more modern ventilation hoods and ducting - fitted since Peter Gray's 1968 photograph.

DB 11 September 2023

David Brown gearbox transmitting drive between one of the Ruston diesel engines and the Gwynnes pump directly beneath.

DB 11 September 2023

Penstock valve used to stop the back flow of water when the pumps are not in operation.

DB 11 September 2023

In the 1966 the pumping station was extended to accommodate an additional two diesel engines and pumps.

The pumping station was damaged by a tidal surge in 2014 when parts of Boston were flooded. In 2018 it was announced that the pumps would be formally decommissioned. Drainage now relies on gravity sluices.

DB 11 September 2023

"Refectory range of Dominican Friary, now an arts centre.

Building heavily restored and altered 1963"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389013 

DB 21 May 2019

"This Dominican Friary, partly dating from the 13th century, and rebuilt in 1309, was the refectory of the order of Blackfriars.

They were known as Shodfriars because they wore sandals rather than walking barefoot.

King Edward I was entertained here by the friars.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the building fell into a long decline and in the 1930 s was acquired by the Boston Preservation Trust.

During the early 1960 s local arts groups raised funds to build a little theatre which opened in 1966.

The building continued to evolve and is now a focal point for the town's cultural activities"

DB 21 May 2019

Boston Mosque & Islamic Centre formerly a public house "King William IV".

Listed in White's Directory 1872 as a beerhouse "Sykes Samuel, 27 Horncastle road".

Viewed across the Maud Foster Drain. 

DB 5 May 2020.

View across the York Street pitch with the tower of St Botolph's Church visible in the background.

The club was founded in 1933 as a successor to a club called Boston Town and were members of the Football League from 2002 until 2007.

The club is known as 'the Pilgrims' in reference to the Pilgrim Fathers, who left England and sailed to North America and founded Boston, Massachusetts. The club's crest, the pilgrim fathers' ship 'The Mayflower', is also a reference to them.

The club's traditional colours are amber and black.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_United_F.C. 

DB 21 May 2019

Wonderful display of bluebells and other Spring bulbs.

Boston Cemetery is registered under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by Historic England for its special historic interest.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000935 

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"Boston Cemetery, laid out in 1855, is 1 mile north from the town, and stands by the side of Maud Foster drain, on one of the roads leading to Horncastle :

it consists of 12 acres of land, divided by a broad gravel walk into two portions, that on the south being consecrated, and that on the north being set apart for the use of Catholics and Dissenters :

there are two mortuary chapels, erected in the same year, and a lodge at the entrance, built off red brick:

in I885 an additional piece of ground, west of the cemetery, amounting to 7a. 1r. 23p. was added, and consecrated in October by the Rt. Rev. Edw. King D.D. Bishop of Lincoln 1885-1910:

the cemetery is under the control of the Corporation"

DB 1 May 2019

"This is a finely detailed cemetery chapel in white brick with Ancaster stone dressings and fishscale slate roof.

It is of 1854-5 and is by the distinguished architect James Pigott Pritchett of Darlington"

"This chapel is significant for its architectural quality, its erection so soon after the Burial Board Act of 1854, and for forming part of a landscape layout - also by Pritchett - included in the Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade II"

"The identical Nonconformist chapel on the north side of the walk was demolished in 1961"

DB 1 May 2019

"Cemetery entrance lodge. Designed by James Piggott Pritchett Junior and built in 1855 with an extension added in the 1980s"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1392661 

Built in the gothic revival style.

DB 1 May 2019

War memorial and former mortuary.

The former mortuary is now used for storage "First built in 1855 and rebuilt in 1885. Designed by James Piggott Pritchett Junior"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1392662 

DB 1 May 2019

"There are several memorials of particular interest within the original cemetery, the most notable of which is the burial site of Sir Herbert Ingram MP for Boston, the founder of the London Illustrated News, who came from the Boston area and drowned along with his young son on Lake Michigan, North America in 1860.

Sir Herbert's body was returned for burial to Boston and the grave is marked by a granite obelisk set with a cast of the face of his son, whose body was never recovered"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000935 

DB 1 May 2019

Centenary Methodist Church in Red Lion Street, Boston, was built by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1839-40 and had an attractive facade with twin towers and a colonnade between them.

The church shown here burnt down on 29 June 1909.

After the loss of the previous church on this site, destroyed by fire in 1909, this church was built. The opening date was 30 March 1911.

November 2018

The architects of the new Centenary Church were Gordon & Gunton. (This London architectural practice was established in 1900. Henry Thomas Gordon had been in practice since 1870; Josiah Gunton, the junior partner. worked with Gordon from 1885 and was succeeded by his son William Henry in 1916.)

The church is Listed Grade II*.

November 2018

"Arrangement and fittings date from 1910"

"The church can seat 1200 and is known locally as the Methodist Cathedral"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388976 

DB 5 June 2019

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"The Wesleyan Centenary chapel, in Red Lion street, erected in 1839, at a cost of £8,000, was destroyed by fire on June 29th, 1909; the present chapel, built on the site of the old one, was erected in 1911, at a cost of £12,000; it is a building in the Renaissance style, with corner towers rising to a height of 83 feet; there are 1,000 sittings"

Also

"Wesleyan Methodist, Red Lion street, Rev. S. H. Gregory, superintendent; Rev. J. Scholefield Morris; Rev. William W. Grigg, supernumerary; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; mon. & thurs. 7.30-p.m."

DB 5 June 2019

"Font, lectern communion table and chairs are contemporary"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388976 

DB 5 June 2019 

"3 manual organ by Cousans of Lincoln with carved details"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388976 

DB 5 June 2019 

First World War memorial.

DB 5 June 2019

Second World War memorial.

DB 5 June 2019

"Leaded light windows with stained glass panels in restrained Art Nouveau style"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388976 

DB 5 June 2019

Main entrance to Central Park off Wide Bargate. 

Local signage states that :-

"Complementing Boston's historic townscape is the large open space of Central Park. This was originally part of a much larger private deer park, attached to the late 1700's Tunnard House on Wide Bargate, near the main entrance gates to the park. 

The private park was sold in 1894 with plans to develop the fine Victorian housing that still surrounds the park. The houses were built for the local shopkeepers and trades people of the busy town of Boston. Thorold Street, Tawney Street and Norfolk Street were completed in the early 1900's, Norfolk Street was located along the boundary of the original deer park. 

In 1919 Boston Borough purchased the central portion and developed it as 'Central Park' with space and facilities for cricket and football as well as other games. The facilities here replaced those of Boston's larger 'Peoples Park' which closed and had been located at the opposite end of the town, being subsequently used for port based activities. Central Park opened to the public in 1932. 

The park has provided a central, welcoming and cared for space for the town throughout its history. It is still evolving and has seen the recent developments of, new gardens spaces, artworks reflecting the towns heritage and a skate park"

DB 5 May 2022

The main Post Office in Wide Bargate, Boston, was opened on 12 December 1907 by the Postmaster General.

The public counter now fills most of the ground floor but the original sorting office and telephone have been moved elsewhere.

"General post office. 1935. In Queen Anne style"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389042 

Closed as a post office in February 2014.

DB 21 May 2019

Listed in White's Directory 1872 "Coach & Horses, George Gunnis, 86 Mainridge" and in Kelly's Directory 1913 "Coach & Horses, James T. Elsom, 86 Main ridge, Boston"

DB 5 May 2022

Boston Corporation was formed in 1545 and lasted until 31 March 1974.

These arms were granted to the Corporation on 1 December 1568.

The three crowns are thought to refer to the town's medieval links with Cologne, and the woolsack reflects the town's early prosperity based on the wool trade.

Postcard, c1908

The Congregational Church, built in 1868 by Innocent & Brown of Sheffield, stood in Red Lion Street. It seated 500.

Pevsner (The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1st edition) has one word for it: horrible.

The church closed in 1972 and the site is now a car park.

From The Boston Album of Views, c.1900

On the corner of Red Lion Street and Chapel Street.

The date stone appears to read "CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL 1869" 

DB 14 April 2022

Date stone appears to have two inscriptions one on top of the other :-

"CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL 1869"

and "WESLEYAN METHODIST" with another date.

DB 26 June 2019

Boston Cottage Hospital was built in 1874 for those suffering from accidents or curable diseases.

The 33-acre "Peoples Park" was given to the people of Boston by the Corporation in 1871. W. H. Wheeler laid out pleasure gardens planted with trees and shrubs.

Football, cricket and other sports were played there.

Postcard posted in 1909

County Hall former home of Holland County Council viewed from Boston Stump. The building which dates from the 1920s now houses a library.

DB 14 March 2022

Memorial plaque located in the entrance to County Hall. Now the entrance to Boston Library.

DB 17 March 2022

Located on Norfolk Street opposite the junction with Thorold Street.

DB 9 April 2022

Dated 1939 above the door. 

DB 9 April 2022

One of three matching footbridges cast at Butterley (Derbyshire) in 1811 and erected over the Maud Foster Drain (TF 329471).

It was designed by John Rennie or William Jessop.

March 2013

Site of the Crown & Anchor Tavern and home of George Bass :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bass  

A plaque at the site reads :- 

"THE SITE OF THE CROWN & ANCHOR TAVERN, POSSIBLY KNOWN AS THE ROPE & ANCHOR TAVERN, WAS THE HOME OF GEORGE BASS, SURGEON AND NAVIGATOR (1771-1803) WHO DISCOVERED BASS STRAIT AND PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT PART IN THE HISTORY OF TASMANIA AND VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA" 

DB 5 June 2019

The plaque beneath reads :-

"THE SITE OF THE CROWN & ANCHOR TAVERN, POSSIBLY KNOWN AS THE ROPE & ANCHOR TAVERN, WAS THE HOME OF GEORGE BASS, SURGEON AND NAVIGATOR (1771-1803) WHO DISCOVERED BASS STRAIT AND PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT PART IN THE HISTORY OF TASMANIA AND VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA"

George Bass attended school in Boston and later trained in medicine at the local hospital. 

DB 5 June 2019

"Custom house, now offices. 1725 altered early C19 and C20 ... to the rear yard further remains of vaulted undercroft to in No.10 South Street (qv), being part of the former Dominican Friary which was founded in late C13"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389001?section=official-list-entry 

An entry in Kelly's Directory 1885 has "Custom House, South street, George P. Charleton,collector; Henry Shepherd, clerk; John Watson, examining officer; S. W. Fields & Charles Campion, out-door officers"

DB 1 May 2019

"The Custom House for Boston from 1725 until 1983 and occupies the site of an earlier Customs House purchased from The Crown in 1662. It faced the main quay of the port until the opening of the Dock in 1884. Traces of medieval stonework from the Dominican Friary survive in the building".

DB 1 May 2019

Above the doorcase "a painted timber Royal Arms"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389001?section=official-list-entry 

DB 3 August 2019

Local signage states that :-

"The former Trinity House Buoy dates back to the 1950s or earlier and was used in The Wash within the waters under the navigational jurisdiction of the Port of Boston.

Its last position was to mark the deep water Parlour Channel which was used by commercial shipping until the 1980s and more recently by fishing and leisure craft. 

The buoy has been made available at a substantial discount by Captain Richard Walker, Port of Boston's Harbour Master.

The Port of Boston repainted it in traditional colours to comply with International Association of Lighthouse Authorities' recommendations and guidelines, the internationally recognized system of buoyage"

DB 1 May 2019

Boston Dock was built south of the town centre by Boston Coroporation as the Harbour Trust.

The first vessel entered the Dock on 15 December 1884 and ended a thirty-year period of economic stagnation for the port.

Boston Dock has a seven-acre basin and was built in fields to the south of the town centre.

Its traffic included the import of Baltic timber and export of coal from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

A coal hoist can be seen to the right in this picture.

Boston Dock had railway sidings and two large granaries to hold grain for export.

One of the granaries is to the left in this picture but both were demolished in the second half of the twentieth century.

For a number of years Lincolnshire potatoes (in 56lb bags) were exported through Boston.

Today the fishing fleet moors below the railway bridge.

Trading vessels lie either in tidal berths beside the dock where there are facilities for handling scrap steel or in the dock itself where there are facilities for handling paper, steel coil and grain as well as timber and general cargo, including containers.

Image 1975

The Dock was built in the 1880s but very few of the buildings survive around the 7-acre basin.

Peter Grey Archive, 1968

This tall and slender warehouse dates from c.1810 and stands on Doughty Quay, once the main quay on the west bank of the Haven.

It has a low-pitched roof and prominent, over-hanging gables.

It is known locally as the Van Smirren Building, after the twentieth century shellfish company that traded there.

March 2013

This tall and slender warehouse dates from c.1810 and stands on Doughty Quay, once the main quay on the west bank of the Haven.

It has a low-pitched roof and prominent, over-hanging gables.

It is known locally as the Van Smirren Building, after the twentieth century shellfish company that traded there.

March 2013

The warehouse was originally in public ownership and lettering which described its functions has survived.

March 2013

Duke of York, Lincoln Lane pictured prior to demolition.

Listed in Kelly's Directory 1937 as a beer retailer only "Duke of York, Wm Barker, 47 Lincoln la. Boston".

DB 21 May 2019 

"36-39 Market Place (the Exchange Buildings) built by Boston Corporation as a fish market with dwellings above, now shops and offices; designed by Thomas Lumby and completed in 1772; C19 and C20 alterations"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388941 

DB 21 May 2019 

Viewed from Town Bridge to the rear.

DB 9 April 2022

Blue plaque placed by the Boston Preservation Trust.

https://www.bostonpreservationtrust.com 

DB 21 May 2019

The Feather factory in Trinity Street was built in 1877 by F S Anderson and Co.

At the time it was one of several factories in the area processing goose feathers for bedware and the like.

The building has been converted into domestic flats.

A second view of Fogarty Feathers.

"Red brick with stucco dressings, slate roof with wall stacks ... Centre feather motif with plaque bearing date, surmounted by large painted stucco statue of a swan"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389030?section=official-list-entry 

DB 31 March 2022 

"Centre feather motif with plaque bearing date, surmounted by large painted stucco statue of a swan"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389030?section=official-list-entry 

DB 21 May 2019

Postcard "Boots Cash Chemists "Pelham Series"" postmarked 26 September 1909.

Sign on left hand side of image reads Harrison & Lewin who are listed in Kelly's Directory 1909 under the category "SAWING, PLANING & MOULDING MILLLS "Harrison & Lewin,  Custom House quay, South street; Dock, South end & Buoy yard, Boston"

Probably the ferry at St John's Gowt, South End (National Grid reference TF 32947 43566) shown on the 25 inch OS map published 1905. Map shows an adjacent Inn and timber yards just to the north.

A small chapel built in typical style for the Wesleyan Methodists in 1876. The last service was held here in May 1966.

November 2018

Fydell House was bought by Richard Fydell in 1733, and was owned by members of the family in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Seen here is a rear view across the formal gardens. The armillary sphere in the foreground is part of a tribute to Joseph Banks – a frequent visitor to the house.

Frank Robinson, September 2014

Fydell House is thought to have been built in 1702-03 to a design by architect William Sands, who was responsible for the garden of Ayscoughfee Hall in Spalding.

The Jackson family were the original owners of the house and it was probably built for Mrs Lennox Jackson, who was then an elderly widow living with her family.

In 1733, Richard Fydell (1710-80), a worker in the wine trade, bought the house from Richard Browne. Richard went on to build a very successful business, which his son Thomas (1740-1812) continued.

Richard and Thomas between them were mayors of Boston six times. They also represented Boston in five parliaments. Thomas’s own son, Thomas Junior (1773 – 1814) also represented Boston at parliament.

1975 image

A painting of Canon A. M. Cook, Vicar of St Botolph's (1932–1946) above the fireplace.

DB 14 April 2022

"THIS ROOM was restored by The Boston Preservation Trust and opened on Monday 18th July 1938 by the Hon. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY United States Ambassador at the Court of St James in whose honour it was dedicated to the use of Visitors from Boston, Massachusetts and Members of The English Speaking Union"

DB 14 April 2022

"The house was owned by the Jackson family, rebuilt in 1726 - a dated brick by the front door and the downpipes bear the date. At about that time it came into the ownership of Joseph Fydell, Mayor of Boston. It was owned by the Fydell family in the 18th and 19th centuries several of whom were MPs for Boston. It was acquired by the Boston Preservation Trust in 1935"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388995?section=official-list-entry 

DB 14 April 2022

Tearoom with a view into the back garden.

DB 14 April 2022

Boston’s gasworks was designed by John Rofe and opened in 1826. The works were extended by JTB Porter of Lincoln in 1871.

By 1892 there were 350 gas lamps in the town.

This set of original lamp standards and fittings has been retained in the town’s Market Place.

March 2013

The former Boston General Hospital was situated on South End and established in 1871 in temporary premises as the Boston Cottage Hospital.

A new building was erected in 1874 and subsequently extended on several occasions.

The name was changed to Boston Hospital, c1887, and Boston General Hospital, c1937.

The Hospital was replaced by the new Boston Pilgrim Hospital, opened in 1971.

Photo dated 1958

"the inn is recorded in the renewal list of licenses in 1784"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388877 

DB 1 May 2019

Detail of pub sign.

DB 1 May 2019 

The Witham Navigation was created in the 1760s and ended at the Grand Sluice, with the tidal haven beyond the sluice.

The Great Northern Railway crossed the river at this point and by the date of this picture the river was used for recreation rather than commerce, as these rowing boats show.

Boston Grand Sluice was built in 1764-66 and enlarged in 1881. The railway bridge seen here was built be the GNR in 1885 and now carries the line to Skegness (former East Lincolnshire Line).

This stretch of the lower Witham north of Boston was used for recreational boating.

undated postcard by Boots Cash Chemists

The view from the tower of St Botolph’s church looking north-west shows the tidal river Witham up to the Grand Sluice, which was completed in 1766.

Just beyond the sluice is the railway bridge built by the Great Northern Railway in 1885.

Located near Boston railway station which is described in Kelly's Directory 1885 as "a first-class station on the Great Northern railway, and the junction of the lines to Grantham, Grimsby, Hull, Lincoln, London and Sleaford". 

The pub is listed in Kelly's Directory 1885 "Locking George, Great Northern Railway hotel, Station st" and in 1913 " Great Northern, Henry Smith, Station street, Boston" 

DB 21 May 2019

The Guildhall was established in 1260 as the hall of the Guild of the Blessed St Mary.

After the abolition of trade guilds the building was used as a civic centre for more than three centuries.

It is now a museum.

undated postcard

A view of the Banqueting Hall showing the crown-post roof.

The Guildhall, though much altered over the years, has original brickwork and timbers dated to the late fourteenth century.

Frank Robinson, September 2014

The inscription above states :-

"IN THESE CELLS WILLIAM BRADFORD, WILLIAM BREWSTER and others afterwards known as THE PILGRIM FATHERS WERE IMPRISONED on the 23rd September 1607 after attempting to escape to religious freedom"

DB 6 November 2019

Herbert Ingram (1811-60), born in Boston, founded The Illustrated London News.

He represented Boston as a Liberal MP for four years until his early death in a shipping accident in Canada.

His statue, designed by Alexander Munro in 1862, stands in the Market Place in Boston.

March 2013

This 5-bay late Georgian house was built for William Garfit (1700-81), founder of Lincolnshire’s first private bank – in this house – in 1754.

It remained in use as Garfit’s Bank until 1890 when the business moved to the Market Place.

The house passed through several owners in the 20th century but was derelict from the mid-1980s.

March 2013 

In 2008 this fine house was acquired by Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire and, with the support of substantial grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, it was refurbished.

At the rear (as seen here) a sympathetic extension was built to provide access for the disabled.

March 2013

Many of the original interior features of 116 High Street have been retained and sympathetically restored.

This fine stained glass is on the stairs overlooking the rear garden.

March 2013

This house, dating from the late eighteenth century, is considered by Pevsner to be the best house in the street.

It has five bays, with a pediment over the centre bays which contains a Rococo cartouche and long garland of flowers.

March 2013

Numbers 124-136 form an unusual eighteenth century terrace of three storeys and eighteen bays divided by giant pilasters.

This photograph shows one of the original doorways.

March 2013

Structural timbers in the gable end of 35 High Street indicate its medieval origins.

It is one of several timber-framed houses of this period along this stretch of High Street.

March 2013

"House, [on Wide Bargate] used C19 as a boarding school, now a dental surgery. Late C18, with minor C20 alterations"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389059 

DB 21 May 2019 

Holy Trinity 1846–48 by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish, formed May 15, 1874, from Skirbeck parish:

the church, in the Spilsby road, Skirbeck, consecrated in 1848, is a building of stone in the Decorated style, erected at a cost of £4,000, on a site given by Dr. Roy, who also largely contributed to the building fund; it consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a small. western turret containing one bell, presented by Charles I to the Derby Corporation and purchased from them by Dr. Roy:

in 1898 the floor of the chancel and the east end of the nave were re laid:

the church affords 490 sittings, of which 390 are free"

DB 26 June 2019

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856, when Holy Trinity was still part of Skirbeck parish, states :-

"TRINITY CHAPEL OF EASE, on the Spilsby road, owes its existence, like the National School, to the late Rev. Wm. Roy, D.D., who in 1842 purchased land for its site, and contributed liberally towards the building, which was not finished and consecrated till 1848.

It cost about £4000, raised by subscription and grants, and has 650 sittings, of which 355 are free.

It is in the early decorated style, with open benches, but the tower is not yet erected.

The east window is filled with beautiful stained glass, given by the late rector, Dr. Roy, who died in October, 1852, and was interred in a vault under the chapel"

DB 3 August 2019

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 states :-

"The east window is filled with beautiful stained glass, given by the late rector, Dr. Roy, who died in October, 1852"

Glass by Thomas Willement.

"Thomas Willement (18 July 1786–10 March 1871) was an English stained glass artist, called "the Father of Victorian Stained Glass", active from 1811 to 1865"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Willement 

DB 3 August 2019

Holy Trinity's website states :- 

"It was a lightning strike in the early 1840s that gave a handful of worshipers the chance of having a parish church of their own.

Lightning destroyed Blades Mill and William Roy, the Rector of St Nicholas, Skirbeck, who had private means, seized the opportunity.

The Spilsby Road area was part of his parish.

In 1840 he had started things moving by having a room that was licensed for divine service.

By 1849 the new parish church of Holy Trinity, on the site where the mill used to stand, was consecrated by the Bishop of Lincoln"

https://www.holytrinityboston.org.uk/welcome/about-trinity/ 

DB 3 August 2019

Looking east towards the chancel.

"The survival of the Victorian pews is remarkable - they are by George Gilbert Scott and the parish is to be congratulated for keeping them"

https://www.bostonpreservationtrust.com/holy-trinity-church.html 

DB 3 August 2019

Looking west towards the entrance.

"4-bay nave arcade with octagonal piers and capitals with ball flower motif and stiff leaf carving"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389023 

DB 3 August 2019

"stone pulpit with panelled traceried sides"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389023 

DB 3 August 2019

C19 stained glass.

DB 3 August 2019

Looking east along the north aisle.

DB 3 August 2019

"Octagonal C19 carved font"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389023 

DB 3 August 2019

Tablet listing 75 names beneath the war memorial window. 

"DUTY - DEATH - VICTORY - GLORY"

DB 3 August 2019

Inscription at the bottom of the window reads :- 

"They whom this window commemorates were numbered among those who at the call of King and Country, left all that was dear to them, endured hardness, faced danger and finally passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty and self sacrifice giving up their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come After see to it that their names be not forgotten 1914-18"

DB 3 August 2019

Looking east along the south aisle.

DB 3 August 2019

Prayer tree and portable font beside the altar at the east end of the south aisle.

DB 3 August 2019

A new window by Antony Holloway dedicated 30th April 1989.

"the two lights stand for Man and Woman and their contribution through work and community involvement to the continuation of the Christian heritage"

DB 3 August 2019

When the Maud Foster Drain was widened by John Rennie in 1811 three matching cast-iron footbridges were cast at Butterley (Derbyshire) and erected in Boston.

They are thought to have been designed either by Rennie himself or William Jessop, another eminent drainage engineer.

The Hospital Bridge shown here, close to the Maud Foster windmill, is one of the two bridges that remain (the other is at Cowbridge).

Ken Redmore, 2008

The Hussey Tower, close to the centre of Boston (TF 331436), is one of the earliest brick buildings in Lincolnshire (c1460).

It was built by Richard Benyngton JP as part of a larger domestic complex.

Among the surviving architectural features of interest are a brick vaulted ceiling and an octagonal stair turret.

It is in the care of the Heritage Trust for Lincolnshire on behalf of the owners, Boston Borough Council.

"The ruined Hussey Tower is all that remains of a medieval brick fortified house, built in 1450, and occupied by John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford until he was executed in the wake of the Lincolnshire Rising"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire 

"The house is believed to have been built in the mid- to late 15th century for Richard Bennington; `Richard Benyngton Toure' being mentioned in a rental of 1489.

The tower, a Listed Building Grade II, was later owned by Lord Hussey, and following his death, in 1537, the estate was granted to the Corporation of Boston.

A gatehouse was demolished in 1565, and repairs were made to the remainder of the buildings, which were then rented by Joseph Whiting.

In the early 18th century further buildings were dismantled including the domestic range adjoining the tower, and in 1728 the lead and timber were removed from the tower"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1016692 

DB 5 June 2019 

Boston's Independent chapel stood on Grove Street.

From The Boston Album of Views, c.1900

No. 71 West Street listed as a beerhouse in White's Directory 1872 "Day William, beer house, 71 West street" and as a beer retailer in Kelly's Directory 1913 "Wingate Walter William, beer retailer, 71 West street".

DB 31 March 2022

"Public house. c1820"

"this inn first appeared in the license list in 1825, and was probably built to serve the barges using the Maud Foster drain"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388908 

DB 1 May 2019 

Former school now a furnishings and antiques centre. Kelly's Directory 1913 has an entry :-

"Laughton's Charity School, Witham place, was founded in 1707 by John Laughton, for educating & apprenticing boys, the sons of freemen of Boston.

This charity has been diverted to the purpose of Secondary Education; the buildings are used for Boston Central Classes, consisting of the following sections :-

Preparatory classes for girls from 13 to 16 years of age; Girl Pupil Teachers' Centre; Evening classes for men are also held here"

DB 31 March 2022 

Listed in White's Directory 1872 "Stennett John, victualler, Little Peacock, Wormgate" and in Kelly's Directory 1913 "Little Peacock, John Henry Slater, 55 Wormgate, Boston"

DB 31 March 2022

"Public house, Mid C18, altered C20"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388994 

DB 1 May 2019 

Former Oddfellows Hall located on Bridge Street.

DB 9 April 2022

"ERECTED BY THE BOSTON M.U.I.O.O.F. IN MEMORY OF BROTHERS, WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR"

DB 9 April 2022

Postcard view of the market dating from 1935.

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states "The principal market is on Wednesday, but a smaller one is held on Saturday.

A fat and store stock market is held every Wednesday, which is well attended.

The market for corn is held in the Market place, and the cattle market and fairs are held in the open space in Wide Bargate.

The fairs are on the 4th of May for sheep, and the day following for cattle; first Wednesday in August for fat cattle; September 15th for foals, cattle and general merchandise; November 18th and the following day for horses, and December 11th for cattle only"

No.15 Market Place viewed from the tower of Boston Stump.

"Pair of shops and offices. c1880, altered C20 ... the building stands between Dolphin Lane and Bonners Lane, and was built by Sherwins of Boston as Smalls Emporium"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388928?section=official-list-entry 

Now occupied by the Nationwide Building Society. An entry in Kelly's Directory 1913 has "Small J. H. & Son, linen drapers, silk mercers & house furnishers, 15 Market place".

No.16 also visible in this image listed in 1913 as "Hurst Saml. Jn. Chemist, 16 Market pl.& 40 Skirbeck rd"

DB 20 April 2022

Kelly's Directory 1913 has "The Masonic Hall, in Main Ridge, erected in 1860, is in the Egyptian style, and contains a lodge room and a banqueting room"

DB 3 August 2019

"Designed by G. Hackford and built in 1860/63, the Egyptian style portico of this building was based on the Temple of Dandour in Nubia. The original temple was given to the United States in 1965 and re-erected in the Metropolitan Museum of Art New, York"

DB 26 June 2019

The road on the right-hand bank is the present B1183 to Horncastle; the public house on the extreme right is thought to be the Cowbridge House Inn.

Hundreds of anglers travelled by train from Sheffield and the Midlands for sport in both the Witham and the fenland drains at this time.

Maud Foster Mill was built in 1819 by Hull millwrights Norman & Smithson for Reckitt Brothers (later of Reckitt's Blue fame).

1963 photograph

This seven-storeyed mill alongside the Maud Foster Drain was built in 1819.

Milling first by wind and then by engine stopped in the 1950s but was brought back to working order by the Waterfield family in the late 1980s.

Location of mill: TF 334 447

"The school was established in 1851 by Martha and Mary Gee as Boston Middle Girls School at George Street, Boston and was "intended for female children whose parents are in the rank next above the actual poor".

It subsequently moved to its current site at Tunnard Street, at a rebuilding cost of £800.

In 1905 the school was renamed as Conway School"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excell_International_School 

DB 14 April 2022

Still just possible to make out the text "MIDDLE CLASS GIRLS SCHOOL" and the names "MARTHA & MARY GEE" who established the school.

Kelly's Directory has an entry which seems to relate to this school "St. James's Endowed Middle Class Girls' School, Red Lion street, was erected in 1896, at an estimated cost of £800; Miss Mary Stothert, mistress".

DB 14 April 2022

Mentioned in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 :-

"Mission chapels at Hospital bridge & Station street; services at each on sunday evenings only"

Most recently used by "Restore Church" but is currently being offered for sale with an asking price of £125,000.

DB 21 May 2019

Municipal Buildings in West Street viewed from the tower of Boston Stump.

Kelly's Directory 1913 has an entry " The new Municipal buildings, in West street, opened June 16th, 1904, are in the Renaissance style, from plans of Mr. James Bowell, architect, of Boston, and were erected at a cost of about £20,000.

They comprise the usual offices for the mayor, town clerk and Corporation officials and also include a Free Public Library, School of Art, Fire Brigade station and Police Court"

DB 14 April 2022

A second view from ground level.

DB 31 March 2022

Buildings dated 1902 although not officially opened until 1904.

DB 31 March 2022

This view shows the road crossing Boston's new Town Bridge erected in 1913 to the design of John J Webster.

The old bridge on this site was demolished in 1913 and the new one opened on 18 July.

The building in the background is the Assembly Rooms built in 1819-22.

Postcard, 1914

This view is looking from High Street in Boston across the Town Bridge into the Market Place.

The bridge shown here was designed by John Rennie, built in 1803-07 and demolished in April 1913.

Controversially, Boston Corporation tried to charge tolls on the bridge until they lost a court case in 1830.

This boat is moored at Packhouse Quay which had been the heart of the port of Boston until the Dock, south of the town, was opened in the 1880s.

Some of the warehouses remain in the town centre but they have been converted to other uses.

Even after Boston Dock was opened south of the town, paddle steamers Privateer and Boston were still moored at the old quays in the town centre and occasionally took pleasure trips into the Wash.

This paddle steamer passes the timber yard in the South End on its way downstream.

Advert appearing in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1913.

Hotel unfortunately demolished in the 1970's.

"Merchant's house, now shop.

C15, rebuilt on present site in 1974. Exposed timber frame with brick infill, old plain tile roof. Double pile plan"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388956 

DB 17 August 2019 

Plaque near the entrance to Pescod Hall

DB 17 August 2019

The text beside the hospital's name reads :-

"This name plaque was unveiled on the 11th of June 1968 by the Right Honourable the Earl of Ancaster TD. Lord Lieutenant of the County of Lincoln to mark the beginning of construction of Pilgrim Hospital.

Sir Albert Martin CBE Chairman Sheffield Regional Hospital Board.

DM Thomas Esq MA Chairman Boston Group Hospital Management Committee" 

DB 3 August 2019

Pilgim Hospital viewed from the tower of Boston Stump.

DB 14 March 2022

Second World War Type 23 pillbox, on the banks of the River Witham, near the junction of South End with South Terrace.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_hardened_field_defences_of_World_War_II 

Note the mounting column in the open section for a Bren or Lewis gun. 

DB 5 June 2019 

Port of Boston viewed, across the River Witham, from London Road.

Part of the Victoria Group :- 

https://www.victoriagroup.co.uk/about-us/port-of-boston/ 

DB 5 June 2019

The Primitive Methodist Chapel was in West Street.

Photograph from 'The Boston Album of Views', c.1900

Opened in 1848, Boston was an important station at the junction of the line from Grimsby to Peterborough with the line from Boston to Grantham and Nottingham.

Seen here in 1970, it was about to lose the through services with the closure of the former route.

Today it is served by trains running between Nottingham and Skegness.

Peter Grey Archive, 1970

"The station opened for service on 17 October 1848 with the opening of the Great Northern Railway East Lincolnshire line.

The station has declined in importance since the 1960s. In its heyday the station employed over 50 staff and had two through tracks and cover over the platform tracks"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_railway_station 

DB 21 May 2019

"Boston station was once an important junction, with two lines diverging in either direction.

Today, only the eastbound line to Skegness, and the westbound line towards Sleaford remain in use.

There was previously a southbound line to Spalding (closed in October 1970) that joined the line to Peterborough (and formed part of the original GNR main line from London to York), and a north-westbound line to Woodhall Junction (closed in June 1963) and thence on towards Lincoln, Horncastle, or Louth.

Both surviving routes are single line, with a passing loop at the station"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_railway_station 

DB 21 May 2019

View across to Platform 1 - both of the original through tracks have been removed.

British Rail Class 153 Super Sprinter 153313 waiting to depart towards Wainfleet and Skegness from Platform 2.

None of the former Great Northern Railway buildings remain adjacent to Platform 2 having been replaced by plastic shelters.

DB 21 May 2019

"The railway reached Boston in 1848 and this station building replaced a temporary one in 1850.

The Great Northern Railway Company moved Its Locomotive Works from Boston to Doncaster in 1853, but the company still became the largest employer In Boston by 1900. 

It had many departments along the line, all the way from the Grand Sluice to the bridge over the South Forty Foot Drain"

DB 31 March 2022

Modern station booking hall.

DB 14 March 2022

View from the station footbridge with West Street Junction Box visible upper right.

"Signal box. 1875 for the Great Northern Railway ...

this is the oldest GNR signal box still in use, and was built to control the northern junction of the main line with the goods line near the West Street level crossing"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388986 

East Midlands Train 12:19 for Wainfleet and Skegness about to arrive at Platform 2.

Semaphore signal still in use on the left and in the background.

DB 21 May 2019

This shows the railway bridge carrying the Great Northern Railway across the river Witham on the upstream side of the Grand Sluice at Boston.

The iron bridge designed by Richard Johnson, GNR's chief engineer, was opened on 28 May 1885 to replace the original wooden bridge of 1848.

Postcard, 1909

"Bridge. c.1805, possibly by John Rennie"

"One of a series of bridges over Maud Foster drain, dating from the draining of the Fens by John Rennie"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1360449  

DB 1 May 2019 

" Mid C18, altered C19"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389054 

Listed in White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 :-

"Red Cow, Wm. Horrey, Wide Bargt" 

DB 21 May 2019 

"Attached to the right is a low brick wall with cast-iron gate pier, and matching gate pier opposite. These bear the 3 crowns of Boston town"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389054?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022 

The Regal Cinema, Boston, drawing by Hilary Healey based on programme leaflet.

It was built in the 1930s in flamboyant Art Deco style on West Street and was converted into a shopping arcade in the early 1980s.

The River Witham north of Boston was diverted from a winding channel into this new straight cutting in the 1760s.

Behind the barge in this view is the railway bridge and beyond it, the Grand Sluice which separated the inland river from the tidal haven.

Postcard, 1911

Three warehouses, dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, front the river Witham close to the centre of Boston.

On the extreme right is Packhouse Quay, a building converted by the County Council into the Sam Newsum Music Centre in 1978

View of the Witham in Boston, 1904.

Packhorse Quay is on the left (west bank) and beyond are the backs of premises in High Street.

"Public house. Mid C18, altered C20 ...

the Robin Hood is known to have operated as an inn since 1784"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388889 

5 June 2019

"Public house. C18, altered early C19 ...

site of John Foxe's birthplace"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388952 

Former public house, listed as Martha's Vineyard, but signage is now for The Stump & Candle.

DB 1 May 2019

Blue plaque on the wall of the former Rum Puncheon public house.

"HERE STOOD THE BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN FOXE THE MARTYROLOGIST 1516 -1587"

"John Foxe (1516/17 – 18 April 1587) was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of Actes and Monuments (popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs), an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the 14th century through the reign of Mary I.

Widely owned and read by English Puritans, the book helped to mould British popular opinion about the Catholic Church for several centuries"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Foxe 

DB 1 May 2019

Reported in Kelly's Directory 1913 that "The Salvation Army has quarters in High street, seating 400"

DB 14 April 2022

"Former Sessions House in Tudor Gothic style built in 1841-42 to the designs of Charles Kirk"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388845?section=official-list-entry 

Viewed from the tower of Boston Stump. 

DB 14 March 2022

"Deeply crenellated, Gothic panelled parapets, with the Royal Arms at the centre, and a cornice with carved foliation"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388845?section=official-list-entry 

DB 17 March 2022

The Sessions House was built between 1841 and 1842 to designs by Charles Kirk who was also responsible for the near identical Sessions House in Spalding (completed in 1843).

The new building accommodated the sittings of the Quarter Sessions and the Kirton and Skirbeck Bench.

It has been subject to very few alterations, most of which have been carried out in the custody and service areas located to the rear of the ground floor.

The Sessions House ceased to be used as a Magistrates Court in 2003.

undated print

"The Ship Tavern dated to the early C19, and is known to have been a public house since that time. It stands on one of the narrow lanes leading to Boston's historic waterfront, within part of the site of the town's medieval Dominican Friary ...

The building retains much external detailing consistent with a late C18 or early C19 date and evidence of its original interior layout prior to more recent amalgamation of its separate ground floor bars"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388855?section=official-list-entry  

DB 9 April 2022

The half-timbered building shown here is the front part of Shodfriars' Hall (designed by brothers G G Scott junior and J O Scott) in South Street, Boston.

It was built in 1874 and includes timber framing of a smaller earlier building on the site.

Behind this front part is a red brick club-room with storage below.

Hall viewed from the tower of Boston Stump. 

"Guildhall, now shops, offices and entertainments hall. c1400, C17, restored and extended by Sir George Gilbert Scott 1873"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388998?section=official-list-entry 

DB 20 April 2022

"This 15th century timber framed building was remodelled and restored in 1874 by J. Oldrid Scott, son of the distinguished Sir Gilbert Scott, with a large hall in the Flemish style to the rear. Later fitted as a theatre seating 650 people. It was here in 1899 that locally born Arthur Towle aged 14 made his debut before achieving fame, under the stage-name of Arthur Lucan as "Old Mother Riley""

DB 5 May 2022

"Parish Church. 1911 by Temple Moore and some internal works of 1939. Porch of 1956" 

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388920 

There was an earlier iron church built in 1885 and demolished in 1911.

Peter Kirk Collection, 19 June 2002

General view of the church from the south-east.

August 2018

The rather plain cement rendered west end of the church has three gables of similar height.

The nave, in the centre, has a tall 3-light window with cross mullions and hood. To either side the gables of the north and south aisles have high level 3-light windows with sill band and hood.

In the apex of each gable is a vent.

August 2019

In a niche over the door to the porch is a stone carved figure of St Thomas kneeling to the risen Christ. It was sculpted in 1956 by Philip Pape*.

August 2018

Philip Pape lived and worked in Tyrwhitt Hall, Barton uopn Humber, from 1960 to 1982.

The south side of the nave has a recessed doorway with a lean-to roof forming a porch with an adjacent brick stack.

The tympanum is half-timbered and the porch opening has an ogee timber head and a carving of St Christopher and child in a small gabled canopy.

August 2018

The porch was added to St Thomas's church in 1956. It is in brick, gabled, with battered side buttresses.

August 2018

Water tower viewed from West End Road, Wyberton.

Located off Garfitts Lane at National Grid Reference TF318424.

Cranage associated with Boston Docks visible in the background. 

DB 21 September 2020

St Nicholas Church in Skirbeck, on the edge of Boston, was damaged by a great flood in 1571 and parts were demolished in 1595.

This picture shows the church after George Gilbert Scott had restored the nave and roof in 1869-75 but before the aisles were extended in 1905. A new chancel was built in 1933-35.

Close by the Witham, two of Boston's most notable buildings look over South Square.

At the rear centre is the Guildhall, a fifteenth century brick building, recently restored.

Next to it is Fydell House with classical features, built in 1726 for William Fydell.

On the near left is a Late Georgian warehouse, one of several on this stretch of the river.

St Botolph's church, on the north-west side of the Market Place in Boston, is one of the largest parish churches in the country.

The exceptional Perpendicular tower (or, as locally known, "the stump") is 272 ft high and a great Lincolnshire landmark.

The tower ("stump") of St Botolph's in Boston was extensively repaired and restored in 1932.

Postcard

The classic view of Boston "Stump" from the Town Bridge over the Witham.

March 2013

View of St Botolph's from the Witham below the Grand Sluice.

August 2017

The chancel of St Botolph's church.  The choir stalls with misercords date from the late 14th century.

The canopies over the stalls were constructed in the 1850s.

March 2013

DB 14 March 2022

"The chancel has a C18 painted barrel-vaulted ceiling and a flower frieze"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 17 March 2022

"Herbert Ingram (27 May 1811 – 8 September 1860) was a British journalist and politician. He is considered the father of pictorial journalism through his founding of The Illustrated London News, the first illustrated magazine. He was a Liberal politician who favoured social reform and represented Boston for four years until his early death in the shipwreck of the Lady Elgin"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Ingram 

DB 14 March 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

St George fighting the Dragon.

DB 9 April 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 17 March 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 17 March 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

Two swans in the center supported by additional swans swimming on either side. 

DB 17 March 2022

"St Botolph's has an array of sixty-two misericords dating from 1390. Subject matter includes mythology, heraldry, and some everyday scenes"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Misericords  

"Choir stalls of c1390 with good misericords"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

An angel depicted in the center but with missing supporters on either side.

DB 17 March 2022

One of many poppyhead carvings part of the c1390 choir stalls.

DB 17 March 2022

One of many poppyhead carvings part of the c1390 choir stalls.

DB 17 March 2022

One of many poppyhead carvings part of the c1390 choir stalls.

DB 17 March 2022

One of many poppyhead carvings part of the c1390 choir stalls.

DB 17 March 2022

South Doorway. 

"Under the central window is a priest's doorway with ogee moulding over pointed head, with foliate pinnacle. It is flanked by statue niches and has a castellated top"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 14 March 2022

East window above the altar.

"From 1851 to 1853, a major period of Victorian restoration occurred. The Nottingham architect George Place worked on the church as lead architect, under the direction of Gilbert Scott. ... Place was responsible for the design of the east window, based on Hawton church"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Restoration 

DB 14 March 2022

Organ located on the north side of the chancel.

"The church has a large three manual pipe organ by Harrison and Harrison. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register. In the church's early days each of the various guilds had their own organ but the guilds were suppressed in 1547 and by 1589 all existing organs in the church had been disposed of.

The church was subsequently without an organ for more than a century and a quarter during Puritan days, until Christian Smith was engaged to build one in 1717. Some of Smith's pipes still survive in the present instrument but, over the years, various builders have had a hand in its development, namely Nicholls, Hill, Bishop, Brindley, Norman & Beard and Henry Willis. The last major rebuild was in 1940 by Harrison & Harrison of Durham"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Organ 

DB 17 March 2022

Chapel located next to the south porch. 

"THIS CHAPEL OF UNKNOWN DEDICATION, RESTORED IN 1857 IN MEMORY OF JOHN COTTON, ONCE VICAR OF THIS CHURCH, IS RESERVED FOR PRIVATE PRAYER"

DB 1 May 2019 

Picture displayed in the chapel of unknown dedication - the chapel was restored in 1857 in memory of John Cotton a former vicar.

"John Cotton (4 December 1585 – 23 December 1652) was a clergyman in England and the American colonies and was considered the preeminent minister and theologian of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

He studied for five years at Trinity College, Cambridge, and another nine at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

He had already built a reputation as a scholar and outstanding preacher when he accepted the position of minister in 1612 at St. Botolph's Church, Boston in Lincolnshire.

As a Puritan, he wanted to do away with the ceremony and vestments associated with the established Church of England and to preach in a simpler manner.

He felt that the English church needed significant reforms, but he was adamant about not separating from it; his preference was to change it from within.

Many ministers were removed from their pulpits in England for their Puritan practices, but Cotton thrived at St. Botolph's for nearly 20 years because of supportive aldermen and lenient bishops, as well as his conciliatory and gentle demeanor.

By 1632, however, the church authorities had greatly increased pressure on non-conforming clergy, and Cotton was forced into hiding.

The following year, he and his wife boarded a ship for New England"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cotton_(minister) 

DB 17 August 2019

View of the interior of St Botolph's looking east.

In the foreground is the Victorian font designed by Pugin in 1853.

There are seven-bay arcades between the nave and both aisles.

undated postcard

Looking east towards the chancel.

"7-bay tall nave arcades, having quatrefoil piers with fillets, annular capitals and tall bases"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 14 March 2022

Looking west towards the tower arch.

DB 14 March 2022

"Painted timber nave ceiling 1927, by Sir Charles Nicholson, with moulded beams in coffered formation with bosses at intersections"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 17 March 2022

"octagonal C19 font in elaborate C14 style, by Edward Welby Pugin, on large stepped stone plinth"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844 

DB 1 May 2019 

Eagle lectern given as a memorial following the death of Rev R. Connington in 1861.

Listed in White's Directory 1856 " Conington Rev Rich., M.A. & LL.B. surrogate, Wide Bargate".

DB 17 March 2022

"The Chamber Organ is a ‘Premier’ model built by the firm of Cousans (Lincoln) Ltd in the 1960s. It is used for more intimate choral performances, where the main organ is not always appropriate, and with an orchestra, as a continuo organ"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Botolph%27s_Church,_Boston#Organ 

DB 17 March 2022

The pulpit and tester in St Botolph's church, Boston.  It is dated 1612 and has a Georgian stair.

March 2013

Looking east.

DB 14 March 2022

Looking west.

DB 17 March 2022

This window is in the north aisle of the church commemorates Anne Bradstreet (1612-72).

Anne Bradstreet’s father was Thomas Dudley, steward for the Earl of Lincoln’s estates. It is thought she shared the tutors of the Earl’s children at Tattershall Castle.

At sixteen she married Puritan Simon Bradstreet and the whole family sailed in 1630 aboard the Arbella to Boston, Massachusetts.

She wrote poetry for her own amusement and was unaware that a relative had taken her manuscripts to London to have them printed. She thus became the first American settler to be published and is a feminist icon in the United States.

The window design shows her in Puritan dress holding a nest of eight hatchlings. This is a reference to the opening lines of her poem about her children:

    Four cocks there were, and hens the rest.

This memorial window for Jean Ingelow (1820-97) is in the north aisle of the church.

Born at Boston in 1820, daughter of a banker, Jean Ingelow began writing as a girl, contributing verse and stories to magazines.

Her first volume of poetry was considered ‘charming’ by Alfred Tennyson and the two poets were to become friends.  In 1850 Ingelow’s supporters hoped Queen Victoria would create her the first female Poet Laureate, but Tennyson was given the role.

Perhaps her best known poem is the narrative ‘The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire (1571)’.  In it the mayor of Boston exhorts his bell-ringers to sound the alarm for flooding: three bells are depicted round her shoulders.

Jean Howard, Oct 2012

The memorial in St Botolph’s church to Thomas Fydell (1740-1812) and his wife Elizabeth.

Fydell was three times Mayor of Boston, MP for the town from 1790-1803 and 1806-1812 and commandant of the Boston Volunteers. He was a wine merchant and banker.

Mark Acton, 2013

"GIVEN IN 1918 IN THANKSGIVING FOR PEACE"

DB 17 March 2022

Displayed above the north door.

DB 26 March 2022

Viewed from the tower of Boston Stump.

Kelly's Directory 1919 "The living is a vicarage, with the chapelry of St. James, net yearly value £338, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln, and held since 1916 by the Rev. Richard Oliver Hutchinson M.A. of Jesus College, Cambridge, rural dean of Holland (East) and chaplain of Boston union"

DB 26 March 2022

"The south porch is of 2 storeys with parvise. The buttresses have 3 tiers of niches and pinnacles ...

In the gable a 5-light 4-centred arched window. The parapet has a quatrefoil frieze and sundial dated 1757"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 26 March 2022

Looking east.

DB 14 March 2022

Looking west. 

DB 17 March 2022

C17 parish chest displayed in the south aisle.

DB 14 March 2022

A knight of St John of Jerusalem. A Maltese Cross indicating his order hangs round his neck.

The order became connected with Skirbeck in the 13th century, and maintained two hospitals and St John's church.

The last Prior of the order, which was dissolved in 1540, was Sir William Weston whose famly had been connected with Boston from the 14th century.

The church of St John was demolished in 1626.

November 2018

"This figure is believed to represent Dame Margaret Tilney "who layid the first stone of the goodly steple of the Paroche Church of Boston in 1309. The central shield on the black marble tomb had the arms of Tilney carved upon it in 1852, for which there was no warrant". 

DB 6 November 2019

This Royal Arms in St Botolph’s church is a rare survivor with the Stuart Arms of Charles I.

Mark Acton, 2013

Another view of Charles I coat-of-arms.

DB 26 March 2022 

South facing window above the supposed tombchest of Dame Margaret Tilney.

Stained glass dedicated in memory of George Henry and John Thomas Bradley.

DB 17 March 2022

The western face of the great tower of St Botolph's.

August 2017

View of the 'lantern' on top of the 'stump' seen from the south-west.

The tower was begun c.1430 and completed c.1520.

August 2017

One of 10 hatchments displayed in the tower.

DB 26 March 2022

One of 10 hatchments displayed in the tower.

DB 26 March 2022

One of 10 hatchments displayed in the tower.

DB 26 March 2022

One of 10 hatchments displayed in the tower.

DB 26 March 2022

Memorial in the tower floor of St Botolph's Church, Boston.

"John Taverner (c. 1490 – 18 October 1545) was an English composer and organist, regarded as one of the most important English composers of his era. He is best-known for Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas and The Western Wynde Mass, and Missa Corona Spinea is also often viewed as a masterwork ... 

He is buried with his wife under the belltower at Boston Parish Church"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taverner 

DB 17 March 2022

"High up, at the top of the second stage is a star lierne vault by GG Pace, using the springers of an unexecuted medieval vault"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 26 March 2022

Framed memorandum displayed at the base of the tower.

Kelly's Directory 1930 "The present church appears to be the fourth built on this site, the oldest portion being the lower part of the tower, the first stone of which was laid on Monday, June, 30, 1309, being the Monday after the Feast of St. John the Baptist (June 24.), by Dame Margery Tilney, Richard Stephenson, a merchant of Boston, and Sir John Truesdale, rector of Boston, each of whom placed £5 on the stone ; it was not, however, completed till nearly 200 years later, and is now the most conspicuous and beautiful feature of the church, serving also as a valuable guide to travellers both by land and sea"

DB 14 March 2022 

The Australia Memorial in St Botolph’s church commemorates the Lincolnshire explorers such as George Bass, Joseph Banks and John Franklin who helped to shape modern Australia.

Funds are currently being sought for its restoration (2013).

Mark Acton, 2013

View over the nave roof towards the Market Place.

DB 14 March 2022

"To the west side a pair of doors with traceried heads, set in a wide recessed doorway with cusped and crocketed ogee arch over, seaweed tracery, double panelled spandrels and to either side double height blank statue niches with nodding ogees, all with castellated and arcaded parapet"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 26 March 2022

"A very large 8-light west window, with cusped tracery"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388844?section=official-list-entry 

DB 26 March 2022

St Leonard's Bedehouses viewed across the Maud Foster Drain.

"Group of ten almshouses, formerly St Leonard's Hospital. 1874 ... the almshouses were built for ten poor men and their wives"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389068?section=official-list-entry 

Kelly's Directory 1913 states "St. Leonard's Hospital, endowed with £35 yearly, is on Maud Foster drain, and was rebuilt in 1874 for 10 poor men and their wives, who receive one shilling each weekly.".

DB 14 March 2022

"The central six-unit block is of eight bays, with a central gable containing the datestone"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389068?section=official-list-entry 

DB 14 March 2022

"A  typical  example  of  the  simple  Pre-Emancipation  Regency  type  of chapel that predominated before the surge of building and the Gothic revival of the 1840s onwards.

The external appearance of the church has been marred by a porch addition of the 1970s.

There is a contemporary attached presbytery"

http://taking-stock.org.uk/Home/Dioceses/Diocese-of-Nottingham/Boston-St-Mary 

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"St. Mary's Catholic, Horncastle road, Rev. Joseph Gattie; mass, 8 & 10.30 a.m. & evening service 6.30 p.m.; holidays of obligation, mass 7 a.m. & evening service 7.30 p.m. ; daily, mass 7 a.m" 

DB 1 May 2019

Looking towards the altar.

DB 14 April 2022

Looking back towards the entrance porch.

DB 14 April 2022

Closer view of the altar and sanctuary.

DB 14 April 2022

Portable font.

DB 14 April 2022

"A shallow segmental ceiling with six panels of decorative coffering"

https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/boston-st-mary/ 

DB 14 April 2022

Chapel within the porch.

Porch built in 1974 by Reynolds & Scott.

https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/boston-st-mary/ 

DB 6 November 2019

Stained glass in the porch windows.

Included in the stained glass and visible from the street are the dates 1810 "Catholicism returns to Boston", 1827 "St Mary's is built in Boston" and 2009 "A Universal Church in Boston".

DB 14 April 2022

"1914-1918 PRAY FOR THE SOULS OF THE MEN OF THIS CONGREGATION WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR"

DB 6 November 2019

Beneath the First World War Memorial.

DB 14 April 2022

Attached presbytery.

DB 1 May 2019

"Swing bridge for docks railway. 1882-4 by Handysides the Derby Ironfounders"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388921 

DB 5 June 2019 

Bridge closed ready for a train departure. 

"It was constructed to connect the docks single track railway to the Great Northern Line, when the docks created in 1884, in order to cross the Haven.

The bridge was prefabricated in the works and arrived in Boston in a partly assembled state in November 1882.

The dock was opened on 15th December 1884. "

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388921 

DB 5 June 2019 

British Rail Class 09 locomotive 09022 about to cross the bridge hauling coils of sheet steel destined for the motor industry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_09

DB 5 June 2019 

Locomotive crossing London Road.

Departures currently three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

DB 5 June 2019 

Manual control at the center of the bridge.

DB 5 June 2019 

Control cabin and level crossing, London Road.

DB 5 June 2019 

Inside control cabin.

DB 5 June 2019 

Rear of the building viewed across The Haven. 

"Assembly rooms and shops. 1822 possibly by Jeptha Pacey based on earlier designs by William Atkinson, altered later C19 and c1960s following a major fire"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388955?section=official-list-entry 

DB 9 April 2022 

"Public house. Early C19. Gault brick with tiled roof and rebuilt parapet"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388934?section=official-list-entry 

There is an entry in Kelly's Directory 1930 " RYSDALE C. W. & CO. (A. C. Rysdale), wine & spirit merchants, 23 Market place & Still lane ; No. 10 Bonded warehouse, Grant's lane. T N 200. See Advt. Index". 

DB 14 April 2022

This stretch of the tidal river Witham was the site of Boston’s quays for centuries. It is still used by small fishing vessels.

Peter Gray Collection, 1968

Stated "CIRCA 1870" on the outside of the building and is listed in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1889 :-

"Selby Joseph, Unicorn P.H. Tattershall road"

DB 6 November 2019

The Unitarian Chapel or Meeting House on Spain Lane (now adjacent to John Adams Way) was built in 1819 and opened in 1820.

It remains in active use as a place of worship (5.00 pm on the first and third Sundays of the month). It is also used by other local community groups.

November 2018

"War Memorial. 1921 by WS Weatherby FRIBA"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389064 

DB 21 May 2019

Avenue "Veterans Way" leading to the War Memorial.

DB 21 May 2019

"Dedicated on the occasion of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War to the memory of the casualties from the Borough of Boston"

DB 21 May 2019

Three warehouses, dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, front the river Witham close to the centre of Boston.

On the extreme right is Packhouse Quay, a building converted by the County Council into the Sam Newsum Music Centre in 1978.

Former water tower viewed from Grand Sluice Lane.

In November 2012 "Residents of a Lincolnshire town were kept awake for five hours after a faulty flood siren was wrongly triggered.

People in Boston were woken at about 03:00 GMT on Sunday by the siren in an old water tower on Horncastle Road.

Lincolnshire County Council has apologised, saying it had not been able to find the building's owners to switch the siren off.

The siren was meant to have been decommissioned 12 months ago"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-20204294 

DB 31 March 2022

Advert appearing in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1913.

The hotel's website has an interesting history :-

"The earliest record of an inn here is of The Unicorn, which thrived in the late 1700s at a time of huge economic boom for the sea-port town.

A subsequent remodelling of the town centre, including the construction of a replacement bridge over the River Witham, prompted the rebuilding of The Unicorn and its renaming as The White Hart in 1804"

https://www.whitehartboston.com/the-hotel/history/ 

"Hotel. Mid C18, altered and extended early C19, with further mid C19 alterations. The wing at right-angles to the river was added after 1807 and the construction of the new town bridge"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388903?section=official-list-entry 

DB 14 April 2022 

"Pair of houses, arranged as single design. c1830 with later C19 alterations"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389057 

DB 21 May 2019

Wide Bargate was the heart of Boston's livestock fairs and markets until the second half of the twentieth century.

This picture from the Edwardian period shows pens full of sheep in the area close to the junction with Pen Street.

Witham Fourth District Internal Drainage Board offices located on Norfolk Street.

In 1930 the Land Drainage Act was passed setting up Catchment Boards and internal Drainage Boards. First meeting of the Board at the new Norfolk Street offices was in September 1936.

https://www.w4idb.co.uk/about-us/our-history/  

DB 31 March 2022

"Early C19, altered later C19 ... the inn was recorded as first licensed in 1765, presumably an earlier building on this site, and would date from the construction of the nearby Grand Sluice"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389077

DB 6 November 2019

A home for the "aged sick".

photo dated 1958

Listed as St Johns Buildings and now in use by Lincolnshire County Council Social Services as Scott House.

"Workhouse front range ... with the rear ranges demolished in 1980. 1837 by George Gilbert Scott ...  built near the site of the medieval Hospital of St John where the earlier workhouse was situated"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388982 

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"Workhouse, Skirbeck road, is a large brick building with stone dressings, built in 1837, at a cost of £8,000, and covers an area of 4 acres; it will hold 490 inmates; Reginald Tuxford, Medical officer; Thomas William Steel, master; Mrs. Mary Martha Steel, matron"

The area behind the Workhouse front range now belongs to the Port of Boston and large grain silos dominate the scene.

DB 5 June 2019

A second view of the workhouse front range.

DB 11 September 2023 

"Public house. Late C18, altered C19 and C20"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1389089?section=official-list-entry 

Listed in White's Directory 1872 "Wormgate lnn, E. Guy, 8 Wormgate"

Tower of Boston Stump visible in the background. 

DB 31 March 2022