Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
The red brick 2-storey guildhall is located in South Street facing the River Witham.
Renovated and partly rebuilt over the centuries, the hall still retains some original features.
Performance History
Although surviving records are sporadic, performances by touring entertainers were recorded in the guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary accounts in the1520s and again, a century later, payments to perform or not to play appear in the council minute books in the 1620s and '30s. As the principal hall of the guild and subsequently the seat of civic government, Boston's guildhall was likely the centre for festive occasions and the principal performance venue in town.
Current Status
History of the Venue
ca. 1450 Hall of the wealthy guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary built, with kitchens and a buttery.
1546 St Mary's guild dissolved and the guildhall granted to the town corporation for use as their common hall. Kitchens designated for use as a prison.
1583 Inner chamber converted for use as a council house.
1717 Renovations included a new chimney.
1722 Sash windows added.
1835 Town council ceased their meetings in the guildhall.
1843 Holland quarter sessions relocated to a new sessions house though the guildhall continued in use for business and social events.
1909 Purchased by Frank Harrison who gave it to the corporation for use in perpetuity.
1915 Restored.
Record Source
REED Lincolnshire 1.35--8, 42--3
Patrons who owned this venue
[No data found.]
Bibliographic Sources
- Allen, Thomas. The History of the County of Lincoln, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. London & Lincoln: John Saunders, Junior, 1834
- Bagley, Geo. S. Boston: Its Story & People. Boston: G.S. Bagley, 1986
- Cook, A.M. Boston (Botolph's Town). Boston: npub, 1934
- Harden, Gillian. Medieval Boston and its Archaeological Implications. Sleaford: South Lincolnshire Archaeological Unit, 1978
- Lambert, M.R. and R. Walker. Boston, Tattershall & Croyland. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1930
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, and John Harris. Lincolnshire. 1964. London: Penguin Books, 1998
- Platts, Graham. Land and People in Medieval Lincolnshire. Lincoln: History of Lincolnshire Committee, 1985
- Thompson, Pishey. The History and Antiquities of Boston. Boston, London and Boston, Mass: John Noble; Longman and Co, and Samuel G. Drake, 1856
- Tittler, Robert. Architecture and Power: The Town Hall and the English Urban Community c. 1500–1640. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1991
- Turner, Thomas Hudson, and John Henry Parker. Some Account of Domestic Architecture in England, from Richard II. to Henry VIII. 3 vols (vol 3 in 2 pts). Oxford: John Henry and James Parker, 1851--9
- Wright, Neil R. The Book of Boston. Buckingham: Barracuda Books, 1986