THREE FORGOTTEN NAMES

HALF CROWN HILL.

The Ostrich and Gaol, demolished to enlarge the churchyard.

In 1774, Mr. John Parish gave the Ostrich public house and several buildings and shops adjoining for the purpose of enlarging the churchyard upon the condition that the Corporation would give the old Gaol and two shops for the same use. Behind these houses there was part of the churchyard called Half Crown Hill which had long been used as the burial ground of the lower classes and where, in consequence, the ground had been raised, until it was level with the windows of the Ostrich looking into the churchyard. The hill was levelled, the houses taken down, and iron gates and palisades next to the Market Place were erected.

BETTY BARBER'S LANE.

Stells Lane.

Betty Barber's Lane was the old name for Stells Lane in London Road. The lane appears to have been an old footpath that ran along the boundary line of the town, dividing Boston from Skirbeck and years ago a young girl named Betty Barber was killed while crossing the railway by this path, hence the name. After this fatality the Railway Company was put to the great expense of erecting a high wooden bridge that carried the footway over the shunting yard. This was later taken down and a new concrete footbridge (now demolished) was built near the present Black Sluice.

PARADISE ROW.

Church Close (below) was once known as Paradise Row.

State of Boston Gaol

1808
AN ACCOUNT OF THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE OF THE
SOCIETY FOR THE DISCHARGE AND RELIEF OF PERSONS IMPRISONED FOR SMALL DEBTS THROUGHOUT ENGLAND AND WALES.

The Flesh Market

This was the old Boston Flesh Market, or Butchery, it was drawn by William Brand and dated June 1806.

The Flesh Market was where all meat was bought and sold in those days, before the coming of butcher’s shops. The building was erected in 1707, and taken down in 1790. It stood near the Town Gaol forward of the present churchyard railings as can be seen on the extreme left of the picture below. Over the doorway was a symbolical coat of arms with poleaxes crossed , and a beast and sheep as supporters. Over the South entrance (to the left) was sculptured the Boston Borough Arms with the name Robert Vent, Mayor, 1707. The town stocks can be seen at the corner of the building.

The Gaol sale

The old Gaol is on the right of this drawing.

In September 1898 a set of gibbet irons (below, left) and a headsman's block from Boston Gaol were sold at an auction room in Covent Garden, London. They were bought by a Mr. Williamson, he paid £4. 17s. 6d. for the gibbet and 7s. for the block which was described as " a rotting discoloured stump, gashed and scarred, and altogether unlovely".

This particular set of gibbet irons were erected down Ralphs Lane.
The story of the last man "hanged in chains" in the neighbourhood of Boston is as follows:-

A man named Ralph Smith had, for some reason or other, a grudge against an old man named Sutton, living in a cottage in a field near to Wyberton Church. One day, so the story goes, the old man was going home to his dinner, when, as he opened the door, Smith hit him on the head with an axe, killing the old man on the spot.

Smith was taken to Lincoln, tried, sentenced to death and hanged. The body was then taken to Wyberton to be "hanged in chains" as a warning to others. The news quickly spread that the body was on the gibbet and the place became very lively, especially on Sundays, when it was more like a Fair.
An old resident of Boston named Polly Searby, who died in the 1860s/70s used the bone of the first finger of Smith's right hand as a tobacco stopper!
When the gibbet was removed it was stored in Boston Gaol, and when that building was pulled down, the chains were on view at Mr. Ball's museum at The Whale pub (Main Ridge).