Hildred Brothers.

Mr. David Foreman sent me these pictures of his old Hildred Brothers (Boston) piano which is still in good condition but he is giving to a friend and replacing it with a new one.

Hildred Brothers shop was at No. 6, Market Place, Boston and was the middle property of three that once stood on the site of the present Marks and Spencers store.

Below: The makers name on Mr. Foreman's piano.

 

The Boston Tank.

The First World War tank that once stood at the end of Bargate Green opposite the main Post Office was formally handed over to the town in August 1919. The tank drove through the town on its own power to the spot where it stood and thousands of people watched its uncanny and noisy journey through the streets. It was handed over by Captain Farrar, the tank Commander, because Boston and District had subscribed thousands of pounds to the various war loans.

The gift to Boston in 1919.

 

In the course of his remarks Captain Farrar revealed that Boston's tank was a female!! There were two distinct types of tanks, he said. The male carrying two six pound Hotchkiss guns and the female carrying six Lewis guns and about 24,000 rounds of ammunition - and the female of the species was deadlier than the male! He went on to say that there had been a lot of criticism about the distribution of war-torn tanks as war relics, people said they did not wish to be reminded of the killing and ruthlessness of the greatest war the world had ever known, in the form of an old tank. He respected their view but wanted to point out the other side.
The tanks, he said, stood as an emblem of British ingenuity, British resourcefulness and British brains. The tank, some people thought, was made as a life taker. It was not. It was made primarily as a life saver. The Boston Corporation hoped that it would be a memorial, not only for the present generation, but for generations to come too, but in 1937 Thos. W. Ward, Ltd., of Sheffield, bought the tank and a German field gun from the council as scrap metal at the price of £56.

Search for "tank" to see Goodbye to the tank on a previous story.

Mishaps.

Yesterday (Monday 25th March 2013) an articulated lorry driver took a wrong turn into Powell Street Boston, a narrow street  which is also a dead end. As he tried to reverse out he got caught up in overhead wires, which were attached to a chimney on one of houses, this pulled the stack off the roof and on to the residents caravan causing damage. No-one was hurt in the incident and the driver can take comfort to know that he is not the first to suffer in Boston's streets.
I remember in the 1980's when C.B. radios were popular, one driver was asking for directions and someone just for a laugh (Boston sense of humour?) sent him completely out of his way and he ended up in the narrow road that is at the side of the Stump.
Another two incidents were caught on film, the first happened round about 1978 when the lorry below got stuck in Mitre Lane off Strait Bargate. This in itself would be bad enough but remember this is now a pedestrian area and in those days had two way traffic running through it!!

The picture below was taken in 1993, what a place to have a crash!! Right on the West Street railway crossing!!

 

 

 

The Pop Shop.

In 1978 the owners of the Pop Shop snack bar in West Street, Les Harris and his wife Alice, retired after 30 years in the catering business. Mr. Harris attended Park School as a boy and for ten years before World War Two he had worked for Fisher Clark's. During the war he joined the Royal Marines and served on H.M.S. Victorious. The couple took over the premises, which had previously been a pawn shop, in 1948. It was a very popular cafe not only for snacks, meals and tea and coffee but as a meeting place too.



The building before it was the Pop Shop, the pawnbrokers three balled sign clearly visible centre right.

The new owner was Mr. Shelton Goonewardena (a Sri Lankan who married a Boston girl) who had previously worked for Boston Corporation as a clerical officer and said at the time that he planned to run it on the same lines as the previous owners.

The building which was nearly opposite the Regal Cinema, along with many others, was demolished (above) and replaced (below) with a beautiful piece of architecture that is Wickes D.I.Y. store (sarcasm)!!!

March Oddments.

Eight-day longcase clock with rolling moon c.1800 by Thomas Dickinson of Boston, in oak.

 

An advert for Willer and Riley's peas.

 

 

Roller and Harrow made by C & C Wright of Boston.

 

 

Strait Bargate.

 

 

The London warehouse stood near the Sam Newsom Music centre.

 

 

The Sluice Bridge signal box.

 

 

Some old street names,

Thanks to Harry Fountain, a lover of local history, for the following.

When Swineshead Abbey (5 miles from Boston) was in its palmy days the Abbot is said to have been "rowed in his barge to the ford at the entrance to Boston, where the Abbey owned a house and garden near the mill." This street became Ford End Lane, then Forthe End Lane, Farthing Lane, Fir Dale Lane and ultimately West Street as it is still known today.
Carlton Road was an old road formerly known as Butt Lane. Towards the close of the 15th century King Edward IV issued an order that archery butts should be provided on the borders of each township. The Boston butts were situated on the west bank of the river, Butt Lane leading to them. The butts on the east side of town were situated near Bargate Bridge on the town side of the stream known as the Scyre Beck, now the Maud Foster Drain.
George Street, King Street, Queen Street and Innocent Street (top of King Street) are said to have been named as a result of the trial of Queen Caroline, the wife of George IV, who was tried for adultery and found to be innocent.
Liquorpond Street was once called Walnut Tree Pastures, a road called Water Lane connected it with High Street (once called Gowt Street} via what is now Victoria Place.

Some old industries in Boston.

Boston was a hive of industrial activity throughout the 1800's. It made, among other things, hats and caps, mattresses, chairs, rope, boots and shoes, pipes and cigars. It also grew woad and tanned leather. Around the 1850's there were at least three makers of clay pipes, and the industry thrived for many years, their little factories were sited in Pinfold Lane, West Street and Pipe Office Lane.

Pipe Office Lane, off West Street.

It wasn't surprising therefore that it attracted people bent on the idea of filling them at a profit. The first possibly (in 1842) was a George Hartley of Silver Street who was described as a tobacco manufacturer and cigar maker. By the 1890's there were at least two or three cigar makers. There was Thorns cigar factory which ran to a staff of about 200, Whittle and Cope's in Norfolk Street and another was in Bond Street whose premises were later to become the Boston Steam Laundry.

Inside Whittle and Cope's cigar factory, Norfolk Street.

Hat and cap making was also a flourishing trade, and it appears to have been highly competitive too, for records reveal that a certain Mr. Waterfield used to make them while his wife and daughter sold them on the local markets. It is said that they walked as far as Spalding every week to take up their pitch. One of the last local survivors in the trade was a Mr. Jay of Wormgate.
One of the oldest crafts, rope-making and twine-spinning, was carried on in several parts of the town and there were at least eight still in existence as late as the 1890's, one of them was sited opposite the Central Park where Tawney Street and Hartley Street now are. Rope of all thicknesses were produced, mainly for agriculture and fishing.
We also had a "whiting" industry, this was ground chalk that could be purchased at any grocer's or chandler's shop and was much in demand for hearths, outside steps, silver cleaning and other domestic purposes. Mr. Walter Whyers, a local historian, said in 1934, "As a boy I would go to watch the old horse going round and round as he turned the mill that ground great lumps of chalk to powder, It made me feel giddy to watch the movements of the horse, and I thought it cruelty to the poor animal until they showed me the blinkers that it wore which, they said, prevented the horse from realising that its journey was limited to the ambit of the mill shaft." Among those who made this commodity were Matthew Booker of Wide Bargate, Isaac Trolley, and Mr. Bentley.
Woad growing, for dyeing cloth, once a profitable crop, was an important agricultural sideline and was discontinued only because it was superseded by synthetic dyes.
Boston also made some furniture and in the 1870's there were six chairmakers  and 18 cabinet makers, of whom one was described as a bed pole turner.
The leather producing trade was centred in White Horse Lane, where the washing and tanning was carried out. Curing and dressing also took place at a tannery in Bargate End.
The very old craft of boot and shoe making which was once widely practised in the town was slow to die because even as late as 1850 there were no fewer than 50 manufacturers.
Boston in those days was virtually self sufficient and the men of Boston produced almost all the goods required.