The old Watch House.

The Watch House. The building on the left was then Boot's the Chemist and today is a Chinese Restaurant

This Watch House stood at the marketplace end of the old Town Bridge (opposite where Clark's tobacconist is now) and was demolished in 1913 when the present town bridge was built. It was erected when the old bridge was built in the early 1800's, and had been devoted to various uses. In turn it had been a watchman's shelter, a rate collector's office, and a tobacconists kiosk. 
Mr T Thompson, when he was Poor Rate collector, used to occupy it, and ratepayers went there to pay their rates amidst surroundings of cobwebs and dust, and powdered plaster. Then it was let to Mr John Naylor, for a tobacconists shop. It was a landmark, and had the appearance of antiquity, but it was a gigantic fraud. It was built of bricks and mortar, and covered with plaster. It was suggested that it should be removed to the park and preserved as a relic, but at a meeting of the Paving and Lighting Committee it was not regarded as a relic worthy of preservation, and it was ordered to be demolished. Perhaps they were right all those years ago but I for one wish it had been preserved so we could see it today.

100 year old Bridge.

I couldn't  let July 2013 go by without mentioning that the present Town Bridge was opened in July 1913, exactly 100 years ago.
It replaced Rennie's cast-iron bridge of almost a century earlier and between the times when the old bridge was demolished and the new one was built a temporary footbridge was erected. The pictures below tell the story.

 Above: The old Town Bridge.

Below: The S.S. Privateer pulling down the old bridge.

Below: Five views of the construction of the present bridge.

And finally the official opening in 1913.

 

 

The old "Privateer"

The Privateer was owned by the Boston Steam Tug Company Limited and ran pleasure trips from Doughty Quay in Boston to Skegness and Hunstanton piers and also down the River Haven to The Wash and back.

Above: Doughty Quay, Boston.

 

 

Above and below:The Privateer, going past The ferryman, heading out on one of its trips.

 

 

After the Titanic disaster the Board of Trade brought in strict measures and new certificates for Passenger Carrying. Consequently the Privateer's new certificate cut numbers drastically and the trips did not pay, and the vessel resorted to towing.

 

The company sold her and she was sunk by the Germans off the French coast in 1914.
Incidentally The Privateer pulled down the old Town Bridge in 1912/13.

Above: The Privateer demolishing the old Town Bridge.

Bits.

George Wilson, Grocer, on the corner of Red Lion Street and Wormgate. 1909.

 

 

Dion's butcher cart whose shop was in Pen Street.

 

 

Rona the Rat Girl at Boston May Fair.

 

 
The official opening of the Town Bridge 1913.

 

Tom Kemp

Tom Kemp retired in March 1937 after 44 years of employment as a paver and slabber at Boston Corporation, paving the streets at the time when they were of granite slabs. He was one of the first to pass over the Town Bridge after it was reconstructed (in 1913) and helped to pull the old bridge down of which he had a memento, a piece of ironwork in the shape of a figure "8", that his wife used as a stand for the flat-iron!

The old and new Town Bridge.

 

He helped in the construction of the Municipal Buildings and one of his last jobs was near the Sluice Bridge where he helped to make the circle (the small roundabout?) near the bridge and lay the pavement from Tattershall Road up to the bridge. For 15 of those years he was transferred from the town down to the dock, and while going to work from his home in London Road one day over the Swing Bridge, wheeling his bicycle, he got almost over the bridge when a railway engine came down the line. He couldn't get away and was pinned between the bridge and the engine. The bicycle was torn in half and he was left holding the handle-bars and the front wheel.
On another occasion he was helping to trace a gas leak in West Street when he struck a pebble while shovelling out soil. The spark from the pebble ignited the leakage in a main pipe but he jumped out before any damage more serious than singed eyebrows had occurred!
One embarrassing occasion which stayed in his mind was when he had been stationed outside the Municipal Buildings when they were opened in order to take the tickets of those who had been invited. He stopped one man from going through because he hadn't got a ticket and refused to let him pass, then the Police came and told him that the man was Mr. Doughty, the M.P. for Grimsby!

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.

Boston Pranksters

Prior to the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, towns were guarded (more or less) during the day by constables and at night by watchmen. At Boston a watch house stood at one end of the old Town bridge (see below) which was demolished in 1913 and, according to an old diary, the watchmen were called ‘Charlies’ who in the winter wore ‘three decker’ topcoats, and carried big rattles and lanterns lit by tallow candles.

The watch house that stood on the old Town Bridge.

Boston had its fair share of young men who, with the absence of a modern Police Force, delighted in playing pranks under cover of the night and here are two examples.
On one occasion a ball was being held in the rooms above the old Butter Market (below) and a certain Miss Tunnard who lived in Wide Bargate was to attend.

The old Butter Market.

The house in Wide Bargate where Miss Tunnard lived.

She ordered a sedan chair and when the bearers arrived they were invited indoors out of the frost and snow. After a short interval the lady appeared, and the bearers, having refreshed, were prepared to resume their duty but to their amazement the sedan chair had disappeared! A search was made in vain, and the lady missed the ball. The chair was not discovered for many days until it was seen in a pond of the adjoining paddock (now the Central Park) where it had been thrown by the ‘Jokers’ and become covered with ice and snow.
But the best ever prank must be the following. A waggon laden with wool arrived opposite the Red House in the Market Place too late for delivery, and the horses were taken out and the vehicle left there for the night. Then the pranksters came along and saw their opportunity, the waggon was unloaded and taken to pieces, and both vehicle and wool were then carried through the narrow passage to Crown Courtyard, and there re-erected and re-loaded in the courtyard. Next morning when the waggoner and the residents of the locality found the waggon and its load standing in the back court they declared it was the work of the devil.

The brick building on the left below was known as the Red House and the passageway on the extreme left is the narrow passage that the dismantled waggon was taken down to be re-assembled in the courtyard at the bottom.

Homes of our Forefathers

I came across an old book entitled “Homes of our Forefathers” which was printed in 1889. It was written by an American called Edwin Whitefield from Boston Massachusetts who visited Boston U.K. for the special purpose of “sketching and hunting up whatever there might be of interest in the Boston which gave its name to our own city” Below are the 21 sketches he made.

An old house in Archer Lane, off Wormgate. Now demolished.

The Bell Inn, on the site of the present Stump and Candle pub.

Blackfriars, now a theatre.

Burton Corner is at the junction of Sibsey Road / Wainfleet Road.

At the end of Wormgate, opposite the Stump.

Near the Stump, building is now vacant, its last use was a shop called "Spooky's"

Now demolished.

The Grammar school.

The Guildhall.

Better known as Gysors Hall, was next to the Magnet Tavern in South Square. Now demolished.

Formerly stood on the west side of the road leading to the sluice near the west end of North Street.
Tradition reports this building to have been erected with the stones taken from the church of St. John of Jerusalem; a stone in the northern gable of the house bore the date 1659, and the initials W.E.R.
Heron's Hall was taken down in 1811.(Pishey Thompson). Now demolished.

or HusseyTower as it is better known.

The caption for this picture said, "This is a portion of a large house which is believed to have been built by a Flemish merchant in the reign of Edward I. The initials E.R. (Edward Rex) are plainly marked on the gable."
I think this may be Pescod Hall.

Pishey Thompson says "The site of the hospital of St John was on the west side of Maud Foster or Bargate Drain, immediately opposite to Hospital Bridge. There is nothing remaining of the hospital, except an old house, called Jerusalem House, but which appears to have been built from the materials of the ancient hospital, rather than to have formed a portion of the original buildings". Now demolished.

Rochford Tower.

Shodfriars Hall.

The caption in the book said this house belonged to the Robinson family and Pishey Thompson says "There are several ancient brick houses in Stanbow Lane among others one which belonged to the Robinson family, formerly of great distinction and influence in this place. An immense open fireplace, and other marks of antiquity, yet remain in a room at the back of this house". Now demolished.

The Stump.

The ThreeTuns in the Market Place, Oliver Cromwell is said to have slept here the night before the Battle of Winceby in the English Civil war. Now demolished.

The old Town Bridge.

The White Horse, White Horse Lane, Now demolished.

Castle on the The Town Bridge

This unique picture of a busy shipping scene near the Town Bridge was the work of William Brand and was published in 1795. The Corporation Buildings on the right were erected in 1772 and the Assembly Rooms had not yet been built. It also shows the old wooden bridge with its lamp standards, but the most remarkable thing about the picture is the appearance in it of the castle like tower at the West end of the bridge , from which Stanbow, or “Stonebow” Lane probably derived its name. This is the only known picture to show this structure. On page 251 of Pishey Thompson's History of Boston he writes "The bridge being in a very ruinous state, and in danger of falling, was taken down in 1629, and a new one erected. This bridge had a stone gateway standing across it, and it is probable from this circumstance, that the lane called Stanbow Lane, which would be very near the western extremity of the bridge, has derived its name."

The Privateer

The Privateer, an iron built paddle steamer was 96.5 ft long and was registered first at Swansea.

In 1895 she came to Boston owners and made trips up the River Haven and out to The Wash.

In 1913 she helped demolish the old Town Bridge.

 She lasted until 1916 when she was lost at Bolougne on war work.