Boston
This ancient town derives its name from 'Botolph's Town', after St Botolph, who is said to have founded a monastery near this site on the banks of the River Witham in 654.
The 14th century church of St Botolph dominates Boston, and the land about. The church has an enormous octagonal tower, rising to a height of 272 ft, and is known locally as the 'Boston Stump'. The upper section of the tower is constructed in the form of a lantern, and has long been a landmark for shipping in the nearby Wash, it being visible for miles across the flatness of the Fens - in fact, the Stump can even be seen from distant Norfolk. Visitors are permitted to climb to the base of the lantern, on certain days, and enjoy a most spectacular view; on a clear day one-third of the county is visible, including Lincoln, 32 miles north-west. Although many of the fittings inside the church are Victorian, there is among them a pulpit dating from 1612, some wrought-iron communion rails from the Georgian period, a collection of fine medieval brasses and misericords dating from 1390.
Boston obtained its charter from King John in 1204, and a number of historic buildings remain to the present day. One of these is the 15th century Guildhall in South Street, which still retains the original cells wherein the earliest Pilgrim Fathers were imprisoned, in 1607, for trying to emigrate illegally to Holland. Close by the Guildhall is the elegant Custom House, built in 1725. The charming Blackfriar's Theatre in Spain Lane was built in the 13th century as the refectory of a Dominican friary.
Fydell House built in 1726 by William Fydell, three times Mayor of Boston, has a room permanently reserved for visitors from Boston, Massachusetts. This latter city was given its name by founding emigrants from the Lincolnshire town, who left their motherland in 1630. The interior décor of Fydell is in the Rococo style of the mid 18th century, and includes delightful panels of plasterwork on the stairway, and a marvellous frieze in the corridor. The external façade incorporates tall Doric pillars, and an equally imposing Doric columned doorway, with a scrolled open pediment.
The Maud Foster Mill, in the centre of Boston, is a five-sailed windmill dating from 1809. Constructed to include seven floors, it remains the tallest working windmill in England, and is commercially operated, with a shop located on the premises where visitors may purchase freshly baked bread.