You don't know you're born.

Mrs. Fanny West was 95 years old when she died in 1910, before her death she was a fine old lady with a retentive memory and a cheery smile and very active and nimble for her age. She had been "the oldest guest" at the gathering held in Shodfriars Hall on January 1st. 1909 in celebration of the Old Age Pensions Act, when about 400 of the residents of Boston, who had passed the age of three score years and ten, were entertained at a tea and concert promoted by the Boston Liberal Association.

Mrs. West was born in June 1816, and in an interview two years before her death stated that she remembered the last election when voting took place in the Parish Church. Excitement was so intense that the electors tore off the green baise coverings from the pews in the church to make banners and flags.

She remembered she was cleaning the doorstep when the horsemen riding past announced the death of King William IV, and was present at the feast provided in a booth in Pump Square to celebrate the coronation of Queen Victoria.

Mrs. West had been a widow for fifty four years and when her husband died she was left with four children under seven years of age, the youngest being ten months, and no parish relief. The oldest boy, 9 years old, worked seven days a week for sixpence a day. The next, a mere boy of 8 years, worked for fourpence a day, Sundays included. Tea was a rare delicacy in those days, and more often was made by pouring boiling water over toasted bread and calling it tea because it looked brown. The eldest girl went out to service at 12 years of age for £1 per year, and Mrs. West toiled for the little ones, washing at one shilling a day, taking in sewing and gleaning in the harvest time corn getting enough to keep a pig in a stye. The humble pig in the olden days seems often to have been the saviour of the family.

Shodfriars Hall interior.

The outside of Shodfriar’s Hall is one of Boston's most photographed sites, but what of the inside? Here are a few pictures to give an idea of its interior.

The building comprises two conjoined buildings of different dates and styles, a fifteenth century L-shaped structure and a substantial red brick extension of 1874.

 

 The older of the two (described by Pevsner as ‘the ghost’ of a timber framed building) was heavily restored or, more correctly, reconstructed and much altered by J Oldrid Scott in 1874.

The hall was employed for much the same mix of uses as an old circuit theatre, that is, dances, public meetings and concerts, with occasional theatricals, the main difference being that touring theatre companies usually played for only a few nights on each visit.

There were big open fireplaces. A proscenium was inserted in 1905 and replaced by a presumably more permanent one in 1915 when the hall was also reseated and the public entrances improved, making regular theatrical presentations possible.

 It finally closed as a performance centre in 1929 and became a billiards hall.

 Since then, it has had continuing uses as snooker hall, night club, restaurant and shops.

The balcony, now disused, still has turned and twisted wooden balusters. A proposal to convert Shodfriars into an arts centre in 1944 proved abortive.

The Hiring Fair

The annual hirings of farm and domestic servants took place at what was known as the "Fortnight Market" (more commonly known as the Hiring Fair) on the Wednesday following the 14th. of May. The men's hirings took place in Pump Square and the men wore corn dollies plaited in different ways to distinguish their various crafts, thus enabling the hiring farmers to identify the particular type of worker they were seeking. Living accommodation and food would be included in the agreement and after haggling over the conditions and when agreement was reached, the worker would shake hands and be paid one shilling to seal the bargain.
The women's hiring took place at Shodfriars' Hall, the women wearing an arrangement of white ribbons on their dresses to denote their skills, and young girls were accompanied by their mothers so that their respectability might be judged.

Shodfriars Hall.

The living accommodation for all workers was often extremely primitive, the men often living in the lofts over the stables and feeding in the kitchen of the farm foreman, feeding almost exclusively on a diet of boiled fat bacon, potatoes and bread and boiled puddings. The women might fare a little better as to food, as there would be leftovers from the upstairs table, but the sleeping accommodation was very meagre, in a cold garret room with a candle. Working conditions were very hard, with coal fires and oil lamps, often the coal had to be carried in from outside stores and up stairs. It was always a case of early rising as the rooms occupied by the household had to be cleaned and fires lit before the house came down for breakfast. There would be only a small supply of hot water from the kitchen range, and common yellow soap and stiff scrubbing brushes would be in common use in the days long before electric machines and modern utensils came into use.
These practices of annual hirings ceased with the end of the 1914-1918 war, so a phase of what some called the 'good old days' was over. It should be remembered that years ago families were much larger and the houses generally smaller than today, and there was very often not enough accommodation for the youngsters to live at home, the only alternative was to go out to Service. In general, all young men and women would be given a written character as to their general behaviour and work ability for them to show to prospective employers. A very large number of these young people would only stay at one employment for one year and then be hired again at the next Fortnight Market.

J G Horton.

Shodfriars Hall

Eleven views of Shodfriars Hall over the years.