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.

TUXFORD AND SON.

William Wedd Tuxford was a miller and baker. He designed and produced a reeing (corn screening) machine, which led him into engineering. It is said that the engineering business started in 1826, but it is most likely to have been somewhat later than that (the patent for the reeing machine is dated 1830).
From these beginnings a fairly large business grew based at the Boston and Skirbeck Ironworks alongside Tuxford's windmill (the milling and baking business was continued by the Tuxfords).

Tuxford's, with Mount Bridge in the foreground and Skirbeck Church in the distance.

Above: A steeple engine of 1850. 

 Tuxfords were among the pioneers in the development of agricultural steam engines. Weston Tuxford (W. W.'s son) was probably influential in this. Their first portable engine was made in 1842, and they made a traction engine in 1857, following that with an improved design in 1861.

Above: One of Tuxford's traction engines. Below: Tuxford's exhibiting a portable steam engine at the Royal Agricultural Show at Newcastle in 1864.

The firm employed about 300 at its height, but faced difficulties as agricultural depression from the 1870s onwards reduced demand from British farmers. When Weston Tuxford, sole surviving partner, died in 1885 the business was closed. Much of the ironworks was taken over by a new firm, Collitt & Co., who seem to have continued making some of the Tuxford products. But that only lasted until 1891. The eight sails from Tuxford's mill were later taken and put on the mill at Heckington (a village between Boston and Sleaford) where they can still be seen today.

Below: Heckington mill, where Tuxford's sails ended up.

THE GLIDERDROME

The Gliderdrome was opened in 1939 as a skating rink and the management began holding Wednesday night dances but it wasn’t until the 1950s that it became a top spot for big bands such as Joe Loss and Ted Heath. The Gliderdrome moved with the times, and when the rock’n’roll era arrived it continued booking the big names of the day. Among these were rock’n’rollers such as Billy Fury, Johnny Burnette, Joe Brown, Marty Wilde, and John Leyton. It was re-built after a fire in 1959 and was refurbished in November 1964 when the Starlight Rooms were opened with its celebrated revolving stage. Guests were Juke Box Jury presenter and DJ David Jacobs, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders (who failed to appear in time to play), Heinz and the Wild Boys and London band The Federals and the evening was even topped off with a drum roll from the then Boston Mayor Councillor Bert Eyre!

Above:  After the fire of 1959 it was dancing again by the time this photo was taken in Jauary 1960.

Above: The building of the Starlight Rooms.

Above: The opening night of the Starlight Rooms, November 1964.

Additions to the Gliderdrome included the now famous revolving stage, a coffee bar on the balcony a 50ft by 70ft sprung dance floor and 24,000 minute fairy lights in the ceiling.
For the next ten years or so Boston was the destination of everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Otis Redding and Elton John to Stevie Wonder and only a few big names slipped through the net.
These included The Beatles. Brian Epstein phoned the Glider in 1962 asking for a booking for his new band and agreeing a date. He then wanted to re-arrange the date, but with the contract still unsigned and with little response from the public, the management decided to cancel. It was quite ironic that in the meantime Beatlemania had hit Britain and it would have been the biggest coup
Boston had seen, especially as they were booked for the bargain price of £50, and the week they were due they were number one with ‘Love Me Do’.

Above: Otis Redding performing at the Glider.

The biggest attendances were for Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and Elton John, while T.Rex
broke all attendance records with an ecstatic 5,000. The concert, on 15th January, 1972,
attracted the national press for the fact it was a one off, following the band’s successful tour of the previous year. It was also filmed for an ATV documentary,‘Whatever Happened to Tin Pan Alley?’,
which included a backstage interview with Marc Bolan. T.Rex were at the height of their success and fans travelled and hitchhiked from all over the country to see them. Reports said there were sixty policemen on duty, and T.Rex manager Tony Secunda said thirty-three girls fainted.

Above: T. Rex on stage.

The Walker Brothers appeared three or four times, and it seems many other bands were happy to return. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich used to come a lot, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer came twice. The Equals came about once every two months and Alvin Stardust, who was originally Shane Fenton and the Fentones were regulars and Amen Corner gave their farewell performance here.
The soul-oriented Glider crowd were privileged to witness appearances from the likes of Smokey Robinson, Ike and Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and Otis Redding. When Stevie Wonder appeared people queued all the way along Shodfriars Lane (in those days John Adams Way was not there) and into the Market Place, people stood on chairs, tables everything.
The golden years came to an end on 25th May, 1973, just months after Elton John’s show.
Issuing a press statement the management laid the blame with the mindless minority
with the comment that audiences ‘are unwilling to accept reasonable disciplinary rules and ordinary standards of behaviour’ the Gliderdrome became a bingo hall and the big-name artists disappeared
from Boston’s entertainment scene. What a sad day for Boston.

BUTCHERS OF OLD.

Many, many thanks to Robin Smith for these lovely pictures of some of the old butchers of West Street in days gone by when we ate Australian and New Zealand meat or Canterbury lamb. What a contrast to the food that's for sale in West Street today!!

Above and below: The Boston Meat Co.

Stanwells.

Stanwells.

Stanwells.

J.F. Allin. 63, West Street.

Charles Fleet.

SOME PHOTO ODDMENTS.


Here are a few pictures that I can't find stories for at the moment, I hope you enjoy them.

In 1978 this lorry got stuck when the driver tried to get out of Mitre Lane in Bargate.

One of the many sets of cards given away by Beaulahs of Boston with their food products.

The Railway Mission Hall was in Fydell Crescent. Marriots Motors offices were built on the site and thankfully Marriotts kept this stone and built it into the new property.

The sixties group The Animals, on stage at the "Glider"

The last commercial sailing vessel to leave Boston Dock.

Some Boston nick nacks for the tourist trade.

An old Vesta case (match case) showing the Boston Coat of Arms.

An old picture of Carlton Road School.

Houses that were pulled down in Duke Street.

Looking out onto the Market Place from the Peacock and Royal window, note the Rum Puncheon in top right corner.

The Peacock and Royals curved window on show at the Guildhall.

Lord Nelson's Field in about 1966, built on its place now is the Nelson Way Industrial Estate.

Buildings on the corner of Pen Street and Main Ridge, demolished when John Adams Way was built.

The building of John Adams Way in the 1970's, with The Ram pub at centre right.

An old potato weighing machine used in the old hand-picking days.

The demolition of the Regal Cinema in West Street.

This is the Zion Church which was itself demolished and the Regal built on its site.

An old Lincolnshire Road Car bus and below an old Sharpes bus.

And finally some more nick nacks.

Memories of Boston.

In 1914, Mr. James Faunt (then over eighty years old) of 10, Cornhill Lane looked back and told us of West Street in the old days.

West Street he said was largely a residential street and was one of the main arteries of the town but it also had the offices and warehouses of a great many of the business firms of Boston. The dwelling houses were frequently of great age and almost the last of them (a row of particularly old houses pictured below) were demolished and the Municipal Buildings built on the site in the early 1900's.

An old mansion house stood on the present site of the Co-operative Stores and nearby the business establishment of Mr. Norris had, in its rear, a garden forming part of a paddock from which the name of Paddock Grove arose. The paddock provided a feeding space for sheep and cattle but was also used by the children of the town as a playground.

Mr.William Mumford of 9, Tunnard Street who was 82 years old in 1914 also left us some good descriptions of the town. He was born in the neighbourhood of the Workhouse in Skirbeck Road and a few years later in about 1844 moved with his parents to West Street to a house at the rear of the shop of Mr. J.H. Clarke, a fruiterer, near the Primitive Methodist Chapel (below, near present day P.C. World).

Here his father had five acres of garden, a portion of which was destined to be the the site of the present railway of which he went to the opening of in 1848.

He also remembered seeing Queen Victoria passing through the town on a train, there were some pear trees near the station and he put a ladder against one of them and climbed it to get a good view. Passing on, he remarked that we should have seen the market when all the country lads came in the town in smock frocks or slops on, and with their braided waistcoats.

He remembered a time when there used to be dancing booths open all night, there was one at the Little Peacock he said, and they had a fiddler and a cornet player. He also said that there were some good boxers in those days recalling the names of Joe East and three of the Holden family. "Tom Holden was a little fellow of about 9 stones" he continued "and I once went down to the Scalp Marsh to see a fight between him and Joe East"

"I think Joe East had the hardest head of anyone, I have often seen him run butt at a wall with his head." He would shout "You can't hurt my head, I don't care how you hit it" "I have often seen him do it where the Rum Puncheon is (below, the present day Stump and Candle)."

There used to be some fine does at the Queens Head (just over Bargate bridge) and the London Tavern (opposite the present day Waterfront pub and both pictured below) he said.

They had a free and easy at the London Tavern every Thursday night and some good singers there were too, there was "Diggery" Pearson, he used to sing some queer songs, he was a comical card.

Finally Mr. Mumford tells us that years before he used to go down Tattershall Road to the race meeting, there were many flat races and for one event "trays" were put down for the horses to jump. He had seen hundreds of people on the high bank on one side of the course, where drinking booths were erected by various publicans.

WORMGATE IN 1842 and 1854.

Mr. Victor Fox was born at 18 Wormgate in 1842.

He tells us that before the railways came to Boston in 1848 a lot of the trade with other places was done mainly by river navigation so many goods were landed near the Grand Sluice and brought into town through Wormgate making it a very busy street. He even remembered the grass growing between the pebbles in West Street while Wormgate flourished.

The chief business hotel down there was the Dog and Duck (later to become the Wormgate Inn and now Goodbarns Yard) and its smoke room was in much demand as a meeting place for the tradesmen from the Market Place. A bit further down the road the Packet House Inn was another favourite establishment.

Colley Street, one of the little lanes off Wormgate, was once the home of Tommy Howden who in his time was considered to be the best all round prize fighter in the locality. He was a lightweight and glaringly thin but although barely scaling ten stones he was a terror for many miles around. One of his memorable successes was against a giant of over six feet who answered to the name of Kiss Tebbs but who for all his length and breadth was brought down by the youthful Howden.

An unknown source left a description of Wormgate in 1854 from which I have been able to present the following.

Starting at the top end near the Stump where the present Vicarage stands was the Seven Stars Inn, the adjoining premises were occupied by Mr. Harvey a butcher and next came Miss Harvey a dressmaker.

The next building (now Goodbarns) was the Dog and Duck which in those days had the nickname of The Hotel Cecil and next door to that was Ernest Brown a bookbinder. The next place on the list is filled by Tom Ashby a baker and next to him was Miss Bucks Boarding School.

In quick succession now come Mr.Fox a dyer and shoemaker (Father of Mr. Victor Fox above), Mr. Fossett another baker, Mr. White a Tailor, Mr. Billiard a Butcher, Mr. Banks a shoemaker, Mr. Edward Spikins wood-turning workshop, Mr. Dring a shoemaker, Mrs. Harrison a sweet shop, James Reuten a barber, Mr. East a ropemaker, Mr. Fothergill a slater, Mr. John Baker a builder and paver, Mr. Massam a butcher and Mr. Wain a Tailor and General Dealer.

That side of the street finished we return to the Stump end and the opposite side where the Blenkin Memorial Hall is now.

The corner building was occupied by Mr. Atkin and next to him was Mrs. Swinn a confectioner known for her gingerbread and home made ginger ale. Next was Mr. Jay's Hat Emporium and next to him was Mr. Grantham a Tailor. A door further down was Mr. Ranyell a Joiner and Builder and then Mr. Julian a Butcher and Builder and at the Fountains Lane corner was Pickering's General Stores. On the opposite corner of Fountains Lane was Mr. Phillips a basketmaker. Next came in order of mention Messrs. Teesdale (tailor), Richardson (butcher), Peter Kitwood (grocer) John Peck (grocer and baker), Tuxford (watchmaker), The Packet House (Inn), Christopher Sewell (chemist), Edward Spikings (woodturner).

HERE IS COLLEY STREET.

At the opposite corner of Colley Street Sam Wells (carpenter), Milson (tailor), and Rainford (baker and miller)

HERE IS RED LION STREET

On the opposite corner of Red Lion Street was Miss Fox's high class boarding house and next door Mr. Harrison (brazier and tinker), the next property was taken up by the Laughton's Schools then Mr. Routen (painter) was next. The last few on the list are Mr. Barnes Milson (auctioneer and valuer), Chas. Kennigton (cabinet maker), and finally The Little Peacock Inn.