Goodies and ice cream.

We always said "Goodies" and never called them sweets.

Not many people will have heard of Mr. Tom Scotney's sweet making business at 55 Pen Street, but in 1939 (in his 80th. year) he had already been making sweets for 67 years, and apparently good ones they were too as countless ha'pennies were spent on Scotney's "broken scotch" and bulls-eyes.
Thirty of those years were spent working for Mr. Foreman, sweet-maker of Threadneedle Street Boston.
Fourteen years before he started his own business he was steward at the Peacock Bowling Club and many triumphs he could recall there, particularly at skittles, at which he had few equals. He often acted as a waiter in Mr. Clemows days when the Peacock catered for functions all over Lincolnshire. One of his specialities was his whooping cough candy, made from a recipe that had been in his family for a hundred years and it was said that he could put exactly two pounds of sweets onto the scales at the first weighing as he had had that much practise.

The Peacock in Mr. Clemow's days, where Tom Scotney often acted as a waiter.

Jakeman's were established in 1907 in Boston where they remain (at Sutterton, a village 6 miles distant) to this day and specialise in quality menthol based confectionary, they joined the LanesHealth family in 2007. LanesHealth are leaders in providing alternative natural remedies to many common ailments.

This Ice Cream Van which I remember as a boy was owned by Skinners and was a familiar sight in the Boston area for a number of years, Mr. Skinner was always welcome and I remember he used a handbell to let you know he was in the street. Originally starting life as a pickup, the model was adapted by its owners.
Another place I remember going to when I was a boy was the Brandy snap factory which was situated off Wormgate but I can find no information or pictures of it.

Boston Hoaxed.

In 1921 the following was found in an old cutting book which, sadly, was dateless. The Peacock is mentioned and in the 1880's this hotel was renamed the Peacock and Royal after a son of Queen Victoria stayed there so it was obviously pre this date.

"................a military hoax was perpetrated on the Mayor and town of Boston (Lincolnshire) a good many years ago, and which made the town the laughing stock of the countryside for a good many years. One day a gentleman of smart bearing and military appearence arrived at the police station and asked to see the superintendent of the police. He informed this gentleman that he was Captain X--, and had arrived to prepare quarters for 500 troopers who were on the road, and would arrive in Boston the next day. The superintendent took the Captain to the Mayor, and the latter gentleman hastily summoned some of the Aldermen, and it was decided to give the troopers a public welcome. In the meantime the Captain, escorted by the superintendent, went to the chief hotel, the Peacock, and arranged for the officers quarters there, giving very generous orders right and left, even to the killing of several sucking pigs.

Every hotel and inn of the town was requisitioned, and the butchers were soon busy killing extra beasts and sheep. The Mayor decided that it would be the proper thing to meet the troopers on horseback, and invited those Aldermen and Councillors and prominent townsmen who could ride to do the same. The Mayor, leading the way with a numerous suite, all on horseback, started early, and reached Kirton, the first village south of Boston. There they waited, several hours elapsed, but no troopers ever arrived, and at last it dawned on the whole of the people assembled that they had been hoaxed, and very badly hoaxed too, as the captain had cashed numerous cheques which, like the soldiers, were bogus. Some of the butchers were very badly hit, and meat and provisions were very cheap for several days after."

Queen Victoria's "visit" to Boston.

The highlight of the year 1851 for Bostonians was undoubtedly the "visit" of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. About the middle of August of that year it became known that the Queen would pass through the town towards the end of the month on her way to Scotland. The Town Council immediately applied for permission to testify to the "loyalty and affection to Her Majesty and her Royal Consort, either by presentation of a loyal and dutiful address or such other mode as may be deemed most desirable."

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

At first the request was refused but a second application pointing out that the Queen would not be delayed, "as the train must necessarily stay for at least five minutes," succeeded. The station was decorated with evergreens and banners  and a Mr. Lewin loaned all the timber necessary for the special platform.
On the day, rejoicing began at 12 o'clock when the Mayor (John Noble) gave a breakfast in the Assembly Rooms. At 3.30 the doors of the station were thrown open and those who had succeeded in getting tickets - about 2,000 in all - began to pour in and secure their places. When the train arrived , Lord John Russell alighted and made the introductions. The Queen received the address from the Mayor, standing at the door of her carriage, and she "was pleased to show herself to the people at the windows on both sides of her carriage." Albert however seems to have remained in the background.
The "visit" over, the train passed slowly toward the Grand Sluice and the day's festivities were brought to a close with a civic dinner at the Peacock Inn.

Before the railways came

Travel in Boston in the early 1700's was still something of an adventure, people did not often travel for pleasure and those that did travel went on horseback. For the people who had to travel and the transport of goods, there was, first of all, the stage coach.

Two coaches passing the Red Cow in Wide Bargate.

Stage coaches ran between London and York and stopped at Stamford and Grantham on the Great North Road. Boston was cut off from this great highway but in February 1786 it was announced that a stage coach to carry four inside passengers was to run three times a week from Spilsby, Boston, Spalding, Peterborough and Huntingdon to London. It took nearly a day and a half to get to London and stopped the night at Peterborough, leaving again at 5 a.m. next morning.

A stagecoach in the Market Place.

From July 1st. 1787 a diligence left the Peacock Inn, Boston on Sundays and Thursdays at 9. a.m. and went by way of Wainfleet to Skegness.

A coach outside The Peacock Hotel.

During the 1700's an increasing proportion of rough goods went by water. The Witham had always been the main link between Boston and Lincoln, and the means by which the goods shipped to the Port of Boston found their way into, and out of, the county. There was a good deal of coasting trade between Boston and London and boats regularly plied on inland waterways. This water transport was increasing right down to the coming of the railway. In an old Lincolnshire directory of 1821 there was advertised a steam packet running every day between Lincoln and Boston for both passengers and goods.

Very swiftly in the end the coach and river trade were overtaken by the railway which arrived in Boston in 1848.

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.

BOSTON ITEMS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

Here are a few Boston items that are held in the British Museum in London.

Above and below: Boston Banknotes.

  

There have been a lot of watchmakers in Boston over the years. They put watch paper in the cases of the watches they sold, here are a few of their designs.

Below: A Trade card of  Bellamy, of the Peacock Inn (later called the Peacock and Royal).

Below: Tokens from Wilkinson & Wright & Co Boston and the Grand Sluice Iron Works.

And finally, 3 views of the Stump.

Royal Mail from Boston

Letters from Boston to London were first conveyed by coach on 5^th July 1807, before that date they were carried by a man on horseback to Stilton (near Peterborough) from where they were forwarded by one of the Northern Mails.
Many coaches were subsequently run from and through Boston to London and elsewhere, carrying passengers and goods. The Red Lion and Peacock were famous posting houses and the White Hart and the White Horse also had their share of the business.
The coaches advertised in the period included the “Perseverance” the “Undaunted Perseverance” the “New Resolution” the “True Briton”, the “Prince Blucher” and “Tally Ho”, running from Boston in all directions except perhaps Lincoln which was served by the river packets.
It is possible to approximately fix the date of the Boston Market Place scene shown below. The Royal Arms appear on the door of the coach, and the Royal cypher, “W.R.”, under the driver’s box, indicates William IV, whose reign terminated in 1837.

Dig in the Market Place

In October 1965 Boston Corporation workmen excavated a sewer trench at the south end of Boston Market Place in a line across from the Peacock and Royal Hotel towards the centre of the Exchange Buildings opposite.

A sample of material was collected from the excavation. The bulk of this came from a black silty layer at a depth of 3-4 feet from the modern road surface, and consisted chiefly of cow horn, leather insoles, green glazed pottery, metal fragments and nine bone or wood awls, presumably for leather working. The more complete pieces of leather sole were dated almost certainly to the fifteenth century. It seems possible that the material was deposited from cobblers' shops or stalls at the side of the Market Place.
Medieval and later pottery was recovered from the site of the former Peacock and Royal Hotel.

The Fair

The smell of candy floss and toffee apples, the caterpillar and speedway, the steam yachts, Rhona the Rat Girl and the boxing booth……….
Boston Mayfair has a very long history (to at least 1125) and traces it’s origins back to the great trading fair of medieval times although this was very different from the modern funfair that we know.

In the Middle Ages fairs were like markets and were held only once a year with merchants coming from all over Europe to buy and sell at the Boston fair.

However, by the 1890’s, the mix of fair rides and stalls that we know was certainly occupying both the Market Place and Wide Bargate and it is now one of the few remaining street fairs in the country.

The event, which has a Royal Charter, occurs in the first week of May (usually the 3^rd) and is surrounded by tradition and ceremony.

The Mayor declares the fair open at noon (see below) from the Assembly Rooms balcony overlooking the Market Place and the ceremony is attended by VIP guests including representatives of the Showmen’s Guild.

After the Fair has been declared open the mayor and guests tour with representatives from the Showmen’s Guild and are allowed to ride free on any of the attractions.

Families of showmen have been coming to Boston for generations, occupying the same pitches with their rides and stalls, which are jealously guarded. The Fair stays in the town for seven or eight days.

Below (1) Sideshows outside the Peacock and Royal Hotel in the 1940's.

Below (2) The Helter Skelter near the Post Office in Bargate in the 1920's.

The Peacock

The Peacock (in the Market Place) dated from around the 1670's.

The Royal was added, making it the Peacock and Royal, during the 1880's when a son of Queen Victoria stayed there.

It was finally demolished in the 1960's and the present Boot's the Chemist store was built on the site.