A look around South Square.

A walk along South Square brings into view many old buildings of Boston or recalls names to do with the towns history. The first building to be mentioned must be the Guildhall, the building has probably been put to more uses than any other in the town over the years.

The Guildhall.

Originally intended as a meeting place for the brethren of The Guild of St. Mary it has been, among other things, the meeting place of the Town Council, the Court of Sewers, the Charity Commissioners and other important bodies. It has aso been used as a Court House, a prison, a workshop and a dance-hall and during world war two was used as a community dining hall. A Mr. Dixon, an old inhabitant of Boston who lived down Spain Lane, recalled as a boy (when the Sessions were being held in the old Guildhall) that on many occasions he had formed part of a procession of weeping women and children who had followed luckless prisoners, who had received life sentences for trivial offences, down to the old jail in South End.

BEDESMAN'S LANE
The narrow lane at the side of the Guildhall is called Bedesman's Lane from a few small cottages which were occupied by the bedesmen of St. Mary's Guild.

DUCKFIELD LANE
This lane had nothing to do with a duck or a field but takes its name from the family of Duchefielde who are said to have been residents of Boston at the time when the foundation stone of the Stump was laid in 1309. In the 1930's Duckfield Lane was one of the least spoiled bits of old Boston and there had been little alteration to this lane during the previous 150 to 200 years.

Cottages that once stood in Duckfield Lane.

INGELOW HOUSE
Opposite Duckfield Lane there once stood the home of Jean Ingelow, writer of childrens stories and poems, her most famous being "The high tide on the Lincolnshire coast".

Ingelow House.

GYSOR'S HALL
The block of old warehouses next to the Magnet Tavern and opposite Fydell House that have been turned into flats should be noted as the lower course of stonework of these buildings is what remains of Gysor's Hall, said to have been built by John Gysor who was Lord Mayor of London in 1245.

Above: Gysor's Hall. Below: the old warehouses that used some of the stonework in its lower course.

Gysor's Hall

This is the 13^th. Century Gysor’s Hall that once stood in South Square.

In about 1372 John of Gaunt made it the collecting point for the payments due to his manor at Boston. It was pulled down in 1810 and some of the stones from it were used in the building of a warehouse that was built on its site.

That same warehouse has now been converted into modern flats.

Boston's Old Cinemas

Some of Boston's old Cinemas.

The New Theatre (demolished, now a Marks and Spencer store) in the Market Place

The Odeon (demolished, now a Doctor's surgery) in South Square.

The Cosy (demolished) nearly opposite the Golden Lion pub in High Street.

The Regal (demolished, now a car park) in West Street.

The Scala (centre right). The building is still there and is now the Poundstretcher store.

Ingelow House

Why was this beautiful old house in South Square ever pulled down.

Jean Ingelow (1820-1897) the poetess lived in it at one time and it could have been renovated and been good for tourism in Boston, instead it was demolished and the area left as a wasteland.

Ingelow House, and below Jean Ingelow.