Treasure find.

In 1912 Mr Philip Harr, a farmer from Freiston, a village near Boston, had arranged for a new fence to be placed around his farmyard, and accordingly, workmen were engaged in erecting it. One of the men, George Clayton, had dug down to a depth of approximately 3 feet, when his attention was caught by the skeleton of an animal, apparently that of a dog. With the bones thrown out was what appeared at first sight to be a piece of old brick, but the shovel caught the object and revealed to the workman an antique jug, nearly filled with old coins.

Naturally great interest was occasioned by the discovery, but unfortunately steps were not immediately taken for the preservation intact of the jug and the coins, the former losing a piece of the lip, and the latter being given away wholesale.
It appears that when first discovered they were roughly about 160 coins of the reign of King Henry the eighth, four values being represented. The Money was in splendid preservation, the largest denomination being the shilling of that period. The other coins where the silver penny, the groat, and the half groat.
How they came to be deposited where they were found is unknown. It was suggested that they were part of a hoard secreted by the monks of Freiston Priory, at the time of the suppression of the monasteries by the King. The jug was earthenware, handmade and glazed, and was about four and a half inches in height and twelve inches in circumference at the widest part.

A Hotchpotch

THE GRECIAN.

In November 1907 a bottle was picked up at Frieston Shore which contained a sad note that read as follows.
"We are shipwrecked in the North Sea. Who finds this bottle send it to the nearest station for help. Mercy, we are starving (shipwrecked off the trawler Grecian)."

The steam trawler Grecian was launched in 1900 for The Boston Steam Fishing Co. Ltd. as "Grecian" (BN87) and in 1902 was sold to The Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co. Ltd., Boston. On the 17th. of December 1903 she left Boston for the North Sea fishing grounds and was last seen 265 miles north easterly from Inner Dowsing Lightship by another Boston trawler "Sutterton" (BN39). The Grecian was lost with all hands. The crew were:

G.A. Woods (skipper)
Z. Gutteson
W. Mingay
R. Smith
J. Wentworth
W.F. Tredennick
G. Savage
T. Dawson
A.E. Radford

SOME COINS AND TOKENS.

A Peacock 3d token.

A 1666 Boston Farthing token.

During the medieval period many thousands of English men and women undertook pilgrimages to shrines and holy places in Britain and overseas. In Lincolnshire a number of pilgrimage centres are known to have existed and one such centre seems to have existed in Boston. Sometime around 1815 the little metal crucifix above, about two inches by one and a half inches, surrounded by an inscription was found. The inscription read, "The Token of the Good Rood in the Walle at Boston", and suggests the existence of a Holy Cross or "Rood" set into a wall in Boston. The crucifix is most likely to have been a token or a badge sold to pilgrims to this holy place. Many thousands of such tourist souvenirs were produced for pilgrims at the major shrines, and were worn pinned onto their hats or coats to show which shrine they had visited. The little token was last seen some time in the 1850's when Pishey Thompson published a drawing of it in his book "The History and Antiquities of Boston".

A 1930's helmet of the former BOSTON BOROUGH POLICE. The metal helmet plate is that of the older and discontinued Borough Coat of Arms and not the coat of arms which is now used by Boston. The badge in itself is a rare item, but the complete helmet is the only one I am aware of that has survived. A label is attached to the inside, the first letter is either an E or C. W. Sage - 27 - size 6 and 7/8" This would refer to the Constable... P.C. Sage and his force number - 27.....so is a researchable helmet. Boston Borough Police was a very small force of a few dozen officers. On April 1, 1947 Boston Borough Police and forty-four other non-county borough police forces were merged with those of the counties in which they were situated. Boston became part of Lincolnshire.