Boston Guildhall is a former municipal building in

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...

. It currently serves as a local museum and also as a venue for civil ceremonies and private functions. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

St. Mary's Guild in Boston was founded as a merchant guild by a group of individuals in 1260. The guildhall, based on evidence from

dendrochronology Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...

, was built in 1390, just two years before incorporation of the guild and probably in anticipation of that event. The guild became wealthy as a result of extensive gifts received in the 14th and 15th centuries and an inventory shows that it held various items of gold, silver and gilt, as well as the sacred relics. As a result of the dissolution of the chantries and religious guilds, imposed by

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

, the guildhall was confiscated by the Crown and passed to the Boston Corporation in 1555. In autumn 1607 a group of

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...

led by William Brewster, now known to as the

Pilgrim Fathers The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the ''Mayflower'' and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymo ...

, were brought before the magistrates in the guildhall, accused of seeking to travel to

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

without the King's permission. They were discharged by the magistrates and lived in Boston for several months before reaching Holland the following year by another route; they later sailed from

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

in the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

for the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

in 1620. As the building was increasingly used for civic purposes in the 18th century, ongoing changes were put in place which removed or masked much of the building's medieval fabric.

Pishey Thompson Pishey Thompson (1784–1862) was an English publisher and antiquarian writer, known as a historian of Boston, Lincolnshire. He spent the years 1819 to 1846 in the United States. Life Thompson was born at Peachey Hall, Freiston, near Boston, Linco ...

, writing in 1856, claimed that "the interior of the building is so completely modernised that nothing of the original but the construction of the roof is visible". After the new Sessions House in Church Close was completed in 1842, the guildhall ceased to be a place for the administration of justice, and after the new Municipal Buildings in West Street were completed in 1904, the guildhall ceased to have any municipal role. The guildhall operated a restaurant which served as a National Soup Kitchen in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and as a

British Restaurant British Restaurants were communal kitchens created in 1940 during the Second World War to help people who had been bombed out of their homes, had run out of ration coupons or otherwise needed help. In 1943, 2,160 British Restaurants served 600,0 ...

in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

but was forced to close after an outbreak of food poisoning in 1949. The whole building was expensively restored after receiving £1 million in support from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

in 2008.

Architecture

The walls consist of two faces of brickwork between which is a rubble core matrix. The bonding of the brickwork is characteristic of a late medieval date. Irregular shaped bricks are laid in a fairly thick mortar and in a haphazard bond consisting largely of rows of stretchers with the occasional header used to bond the two wall surfaces together. This construction pre-dated the widespread adoption of

English Bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by siz ...

(alternating courses of headers and stretchers) and

Flemish Bond Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks ...

(alternating headers and stretchers in each course) in England. The courses of brickwork are bonded together with a lime-based 'common mortar' which was originally pointed back flush with the wall face. It survives on the bedding planes and is exposed in several places on the north elevation.

Guildhall collection

Works of art include a portrait, painted by

Thomas Phillips Thomas Phillips RA (18 October 177020 April 1845) was a leading English portrait and subject painter. He painted many of the great men of the day including scientists, artists, writers, poets and explorers. Life and work Phillips was born at ...

, of

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

, recorder of Boston in 1813, who sailed with Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

aboard the '' Endeavour'' on the first great voyage to discover Australia. The guildhall also holds a copy of ''

Foxe's Book of Martyrs The ''Actes and Monuments'' (full title: ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church''), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant Engli ...

'' and artefacts from various archaeological excavations.

References

External links

{{wiktionary, guildhall
Boston Guildhall
– official site
Guildhall Boston, Lincolnshire
Museums in Lincolnshire History museums in Lincolnshire Grade I listed buildings in Lincolnshire Local museums in Lincolnshire Buildings and structures in Boston, Lincolnshire

History

Architecture

Guildhall collection

See also

References

External links