Left over August oddments.

Two 1907 Advertisements for Clark's Tobacconist on the foot of the Town Bridge.

The Market Place.

The Congregational Church which once stood in Red Lion Street, on the site of which is now a car park.

Frank and Company, once opposite where the present day "Moon under water" pub is.

One of Ogden's tobacco cards showing Shodfriars Hall.

The Old Park.

July Oddments.

This is NOT Boston Stump!! It is Harkness Tower, a prominent structure at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

The tower was constructed between 1917 and 1921 and was donated to Yale by Anna Harkness in honour of her recently deceased son, Charles William Harkness.

James Rogers, who designed the tower and many of Yale's "Collegiate Gothic" structures, said it was inspired by Boston Stump, the tower of the parish church of St. Botolph in Boston Lincolnshire.

 

Below is a picture sent to me by Karen Loveley, a descendant of the Loveley family that had the dining rooms in the Market Place, showing the crockery used in the business.

 

 

Below: Building work (maybe the Tudor Room extension) on the now demolished Hessle pub. The landlord, Jimmy Hickinbottom (an old school-friend of mine) is in the centre among other well known builders in the town.

Date to the photo anyone?

 

Below: A pair of oak candle sticks marked on the base as being made from restored oak from Boston Stump in 1930-31.

 

Below: The Market Place in 1936.

 

Old John.

In January 1900 John Tomlinson of  9, Duke Street, Boston, was summoned for acting as a pedlar without having a certificate. Nothing unusual about this, it was a common thing at that time, but what made this case different was that the defendant, an old man, appeared in court proudly wearing a large blue neck sash, ornamented with gilt stars and other striking devices and carrying a basket containing oranges, boot laces and other articles of commerce. His strange attire had been seen before as old John used to stand and lecture in the Market Place and elsewhere and the sash was associated with the Lord's Day Observance Society.
On being told the charge he said that he had told the police he didn't have a certificate but had got one the same day and he could do no more.
The police said that he was offering for sale oranges and boot laces and when asked if he was hawking he said that he was selling oranges. When asked if he was selling boot laces as well he said that he wasn't but the police said "What have you in there then" to which he replied, "Not laces - not leather ones, anyway".
The police told the court that he was well known for lecturing in the Market Place and old John accused the police of lying about the conversation about oranges and boot laces.
When the Chairman asked old John what he was going to do with the oranges and laces he threw some oranges on the table and said, "Those are oranges, you can have one or two if you like"
Anyway, old John was fined 2 shillings and costs and he thanked the magistrates.
I wish I had a picture to show you of John Tomlinson, what a character!

Hildred Brothers.

Mr. David Foreman sent me these pictures of his old Hildred Brothers (Boston) piano which is still in good condition but he is giving to a friend and replacing it with a new one.

Hildred Brothers shop was at No. 6, Market Place, Boston and was the middle property of three that once stood on the site of the present Marks and Spencers store.

Below: The makers name on Mr. Foreman's piano.

 

Marriage, death and murder.

In August 1653 an Act of Parliament ordained that Banns of Marriage should be published three times on three seperate Sundays in the church or, if the parties desired, it in the Market Place on three market days, between the hours of eleven and two.

It was in January 1654 that the first banns of marriage were published in Boston Market Place, although before that marriages had been solemnised before a magistrate. The banns of marriage were published in Boston between 150 couples in 1656, 48 proclaimed in the church and 102 in the Market Place.
1657 saw 104 in the Market Place and 31 in church and in 1658 the Market Place 108 and the church 52.
The last recorded proclamation in the Market Place was on 1st. July 1659. It is also recorded that banns were published in Boston Market Place between parties residing at a considerable distance from the town - Spalding, Horncastle, Louth, Leicester and Warwick.

The Church and Market Place, Boston.

 

Here are a few more intriguing entries on Boston's records.

1672. William Pawmer died distracted in prison.
1676. Orlin Bradley drowned in the church well.
1681. Thomas Brown slain by a beer cart.
1770. Robert Harrold of Friskney, killed in a fray. (see below)
1737. Patrick Gregory, a mariner, killed by a fall from the south west pinnacle of the steeple.
1748. Richard Everett, a joiner, deposited in a tomb in his own garden in a coffin made by himself.

The Oxford Magazine for July 1770 recorded that, "Last Wednesday ended the assizes at Lincoln, when James Kearney, a private dragoon in Bland's regiment, received sentence of death, for the wilful murder of Robert Harrold, of Friikney, in that county. The murder was perpetrated at Boston. He was executed last Thursday, and afterwards his body was delivered to the surgeons for dissection."

September snippets.

This building, near Goodbarn's Yard in Wormgate, was once owned by the Barnard family and the large arch gave access to a riverside wharf. The family were brewers and owned a lot of public houses. They were also merchants who opened a bank in the 1790's but on 27 June 1814 they became the first bank in Boston to fail.

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An old football programme advertising many forgotten Boston businesses including the Spick 'n' Span cafe, the Loggerheads pub and Cream Line Taxi's.

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A cigarette card issued by Ogden's, a branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. and showing Shodfriars Hall Boston.

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An unusual view of Boston Market Place showing a flag flying from the top of the Stump.

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The Green and the Market.

Here is a description of The Green and the Market from 1938, apart from the selling of animals it hasn't really changed a lot.



"Without its Wednesday market Boston would lose half its attractiveness. Even early on a Wednesday morning there is an atmosphere that makes it different from the ordinary day, the town puffs its chest out, feels more important because of its bustling activity. Plank-laden carts discharge their cargo for deft hands to set up the stalls, lorries with beast or poultry rattle down the streets, farmers and merchants drive up in their cars, and buses from the country districts bring visitors.

Down at the cattle pens they were already selling beast and I stood for a moment by the ring. But that is only one side of the market, and to the non farmer the least interesting. Only a few yards away the casual spectator can find much more to make him pause. Any Wednesday on Bargate Green you can walk round to find "lots" so strangely assorted that you fancy no one will ever buy them, but they do. Here is a great battery of cycles, sacks of potatoes are grouped a yard or two away and chairs, soon to be sold, are used by jaded auction attenders, a trunk load of books, a mass of twisted iron, a Chinese picture and planks of timber.

What's that he's saying now? "How much for Nelly?" Is this a slave market? But the assistant is holding up a dog. "Now come along, how much for Nelly? He's a grand dog. A shilling sir? Oh, come along, be serious, there's a collar and lead worth more than that. He's a fine ratter too is Nelly. How much am I offered? Is that the only offer I have? Very well, it's going for a shilling. A shilling to this gentleman. A few of the buyers detach themselves from the edge and move over to a young man whose hands are never still and he talks all the time. At his feet are pieces of brass, copper, taps and knobs and he is demonstrating and selling polish with which to clean them at sixpence a bottle.

Two gentlemen are selling razor blades and point out that it's silly to go paying high prices when you can get them of just the same quality at one third of the price. They joke that their most recent sale was forty of them to the Nottingham Suicide Club and all the members had died perfectly at ease and happy.
In the Market Place stallholders invite us to test their wares, these apples are unrivalled, these cough lozenges can't be equalled and this lotion was used by a personage whose name they had been requested not to mention, but these men with all their skill don't give us the kick that we get out of the salesmen on the Green. Over here is a man with a wild look in his eye, around him are linoleum pillars propped along the stall.

Outside the "Peacock" are the farmers and seed salesmen. Bronzed faces, bearded faces, jovial faces and hard faces. A crippled violinist is playing, nobody seems to take much notice of him and when a fashionably dressed woman fumbles in her bag, giving him a coin, she does it furtively, ashamed. It is tea time, parties go up into the cafes near the Market Place, women seeking a refuge from dust and noise, hugging parcels. In the streets the crowds grow smaller, one by one the stallholders take away their wares, and in the evening air the skeletons of stalls rise gaunt from a sea of paper bags and litter. Carts are loaded with the planks, lorries rumble away to distant towns, the hoses hiss in the cattle pens. Another market day is over.

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.

Boston celebrates the relief of Mafekin

Lord Baden-Powell

Lord Baden-Powell, although outnumbered, defended Mafeking for 218 days during the Boer War and when the town was finally relieved in May 1900 by a British force the whole of Britain, including Boston, went wild with rejoicing...........

The Royal Standard floated from the Municipal Buildings, a Union Jack was hoisted on the tower of the Stump and flags were raised on other public buildings. Men, Women and Children donned red, white and blue rosettes and ribbons, horses, carts and carriages were adorned with smaller editions of the national flag. Children marched through the street bearing banners and singing patriotic songs, men congregated in public places and indulged in much hand shaking and the bells of the Stump rang out all day. In the evening the band of the Artillery Volunteers paraded the town playing patriotic music.

The Market Place, High Street, Bargate and West Street were all adorned, one of the premises in the Market Place being literally covered in Union Jacks, the letters "V R" were formed in fairy lights on the front of the building and illuminated at night.

The news formed the one topic of conversation, Near the Town Bridge, Mr. Fred Parker sang the National Anthem with band accompaniment, and the incident roused the hundreds of spectators.

The following Thursday was Queen Victoria's birthday and the two events were celebrated together on this day. Proceedings opened at 10.54 a.m. when the band of the 1st. Lincolnshire Voluntary Artillery played The National Anthem, Rule Britannia and Soldiers of the Queen from the Stump tower. In the Market Place later in the afternoon was an Orchestral Band and a parade of the Artillery and Rifle Volunteers and a grand parade of cyclists, motor cars, pony traps, ponies, riders in costume and machines and traps artistically decorated. A concert and variety entertainment in the Market Place were followed by the ascent of fire balloons from Bargate Green. The cattle market was illuminated and there were fireworks and rockets followed by a huge bonfire on Bargate Green. And the memorable day concluded with three ringing cheers for the Queen and three for Baden-Powell.

Before and After

A few pictures to show how Boston has changed.

Bargate Bridge. The Queens Head Hotel on the left is gone and is replaced by an undertakers and the buildings to the right were demolished to allow for bridge and road widening.

The Old Town Bridge. The little tobacconist kiosk was previously a watchmans hut and the building to the left of it (now a chinese restaurant) was the old Boot's the Chemist shop. The old bridge was replaced by the one below in 1913.

The junction of Bridge Street and High Street. The two buildings facing have been replaced by a pub and a kebab shop and the bow windowed shop on the right has long gone and is also a fast food shop.

Thankfully this building in the Market Place hasn't changed too much, except for the ugly hole in the wall cash machine.

High Street. Once one of the main routes into town, with busy two-way traffic, it is now a one way street. A lot of the upper parts of the buildings are untouched which sadly, can't be said of the lower parts.

Market Place shop. This shop next to The Still pub in the Market Place is now a bookies shop.

This building in Wide Bargate was, for many years, the home of the local newspaper "The Standard". It has recently been used as a small supermarket for Somerfield's, the Co-op and Morrison's.

Day's Cash Stores

Thank you to Kim Loos, who lives in Minnesota in the U.S., who e-mailed me to say that Day's Cash Stores (which was situated in West Street, and later the site of the Wimpy Bar) was founded by his Great Grandfather Charles W. Day. He says the original building was destroyed in a fire in 1910 and replaced within the year by the building that housed the Wimpy Bar and that Days went out of business when his Grand Uncles retired. Charles Day was also mayor of the borough in 1924/25. He and his wife donated the gates to Central Park and the electrified Five Lamps that stood in the Market Place and can now to be seen in Liquorpond Street. He also attached a 1925 photo of Charles and Ellen (nee Ward) Day.

Above: Day's Cash Stores. Below: The same site in 2012. Notice the left hand side pillar from the old shop didn't get destroyed in the demolition and is still to be seen today.

Charles and Ellen Day.

The lamps in the Market Place that Charles Day donated, they are now situated in Liquorpond Street.

 

Broughtons shop

Thanks to Michael Broughton, an ex Bostonian who now lives in Cardiff for the picture and e-mailed information below.

Broughton’s shop ran in his family for 4 generations, the last being William Harvey Broughton, Michael's Father, who sold the shop and retired early due to a heart attack, in 1969. The family moved to Cardiff where, soon after, his Father suffered another heart attack and passed away. The shop stood where the KFC food outlet is now at number 42 Market place. It had the Maypole on the left as you look at the photo, and the Home & Colonial grocery store on the right, the first floor of the shop and the same floor of the Home & Colonial was knocked through and rented out as a café, he couldn't be too sure of the café name but thought it may have been Coney’s Café. He also added that the newsagent business (unusually) never sold any Tobacco products. Thanks again for sharing this information Michael.

Old Boston buses



This Leyland bus was built in September 1927 and was acquired by the Lincolnshire Road Car Co. in 1931, for whom it worked out of Boston as No.132. It was exported in the 1950s and became a caravan, and is now rotting somewhere in Tasmania!

One of Sharpe's buses in its overnight storage position at their depot in Pipe Office Lane, Boston.

Above: A Kyme's bus in Bond Street at the side of the now demolished Regal Cinema. Below: A Kyme's bus in the Market Place.