Boston and the Church of St Botolph - The Stump

Just a few minutes away from our village of Kirton is the town of Boston, one of our main destinations for this holiday. The town is famous for having possible the largest parish church in the UK - The Stump, as it known. It`s actually St Botolphs.

It has been referred to as "Boston Stump" since it was constructed.

The current main church building was started around the year 1309. The main body of the church was complete by 1390, but at that time the church had no tower.

The famous tower was built in stages between 1425 and completed by 1510. It rises to a height of 272 feet and is topped by a superb octagonal lantern, somewhat reminiscent of that at Ely Cathedral. The effect of the tower architecture is breath-taking at first viewing.

Whenever you are near Boston, and obviouly while you are in the town, the church dominates the skyline - it is magnificent. So to start with, here are a few images of the beautiful building.

A couple of riverside image of the Stump

As you can see, even in the market square it towers over the town

The town square on a non market day.

A view of the sanctuuary showing the miserycord seats and the reredos.

The High Altar at St Botolph's with an ornately carved wooden reredos behind it. This reredos is a Victorian embellishment, but much of the woodwork in the church, particularly the misericords are far more ancient, dating from the C14th.

One of the many roof bosses

The 17c Cotton pulpit

The church has many interesting pew ends, such as this one

Two Green Man carvings found on pillars outside the south porch

A fourteenth alabaster tomb in a recess of the south aisle, believed to be that of Dame Margaret Tilney, who laid the tower foundation stone in 1309. (There is some uncertainty about this tomb).

The memorial to St Botolph. It is thought by modern historians that the connection to St Botolph may be incorrect as the general consensus nowdays is that St Botolph was linked to the church of St Botolph in Iken where he came ashore and built a monastary

The Boston church is particularly well known for its close ties to the Pilgrim Fathers and the foundation of America. In 1612 John Cotton became vicar of St Botolphs. His radical puritan views made him many enemies among the established church hierarchy.

Eventually, Cotton found the religious intolerance he faced too much of a burden. He gathered a number of like-minded followers, and sailed to the New World on the Griffin, following the earlier Mayflower and Arbella pilgrims to America.

John Cotton is commemorated in the bottom left of the above stained window.

Bearing in mind the above mention of John Cotton, Pilgrim Woman (see above) is a new statue commemorating the story of women and families who were also arrested as Puritan separatists during the 17th Century. This group of separatists have a large historical significance and this work commemorates Boston's important role in the story of the Pilgrims.

The installation comes as preparation for the 2030 Puritan anniversary 'Boston 400' which celebrates 400 years since the formation of Boston, Massachusetts.

The sculpture features two 50cm stone women on a large plinth, you can view this installation on Church Close across from St. Botolph's Church and Boston Library.

The old Custom House, now offices, dating from 1725 and part of (on the left) Pilgrim House which is a Grade II Listed building and dates back to 1668.

The town of Boston has had an important conection to the wool industry in the past. The wool trade was what made Boston rich and between 1279-1288 37% of all wool exported from England went out through the port. The Wool Staple moved from Lincoln to Boston in 1369 and by 1377 Boston was the tenth largest town in the country. By the 1380s the cloth trade in the town was dominated by the Hanseatic merchants, (a medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe) who accounted for 89% of cloth exports through Boston and King’s Lynn. The figure from 1377-1427 was 98%. Boston also traded in wax, dried fish and fish oil, furs and goatskins.

These two images refer to the Hanseatic merchants and were seen in the church.

And then onto the statue below, seen near the church.

Herbert Ingram (27 May 1811 – 8 September 1860) was a British journalist and politician. He is considered the father of pictorial journalism through his founding of The Illustrated London News, the first illustrated magazine. He was a Liberal politician who favoured social reform and represented Boston for four years until his early death in the shipwreck of the Lady Elgin

He played a major part in supplying fresh piped water to the town, a move that was met with rejoicing and brass bands when the taps were turned on for the first time.

The allegorical figure at the base of the monument (above) is a reference to Ingram's efforts to bring the first piped water to the town.

The first day that we visited Boston was a maket day and the bagpipe `busker` was trying to make some money from the visitors. I must say I thought he was awful! Apart from that, a great and interesting day.

  Index of posts 

Great medieval churches - Woolpit

The church of The Blessed Virgin Mary in Woolpit is one of the great medieval churches of Suffolk, a county blessed with some of the finest country churches in England. Like so many other Suffolk villages Woolpit owes its superb church to the wealth of the medieval wool trade, but there was a church on this spot centuries before Suffolk wool merchants gained their wealth.

Woolpit became a destination for pilgrims during the medieval period, when it held a richly decorated statue of Our Lady in its own chapel. No trace of this chapel now survives but it was probably on the north side of the chancel, where the vestry now stands. Alternatively, it may have stood at the east end of the south aisle. Pilgrims began arriving at least as early as 1211 when the Bishop of Norwich ordered that their offerings be given to St Edmundsbury Abbey.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Woolpit became extremely popular during the 15th and 16th centuries. Henry VI visited twice, and Queen Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII, ordered that a pilgrimage be made on her behalf in 1501.

How old is it? 

Victorian tower apart, this is a medieval building and the original church went back even further to before the Norman Conquest. The chapel and statue of Our Lady of Woolpit was popular with pilgrims in medieval times, which accounts for the expensive detail, and records go back to 1211 when the church was still in the hands of the St Edmundsbury Abbey. The present nave and chancel date back to the 14th century; the pews and chancel screen 15th century, although considerable renovation took place to the screen in 19th century. 

The magnificent tower / spire of St Mary`s in Woolpit

St Mary's is worth visiting for its superb double-hammer beam roof, decorated with carved figures of angels.

Iconoclast William Dowsing did his best to destroy the angels in 1644. His deputy found 80 'superstitious Pictures' some of which he destroyed and others he ordered to be taken down. Many of the angel's heads were defaced but these were sensitively restored in the 19th century.

Other highlights include beautifully carved medieval bench ends decorated with a wide variety of carved figures. These figures probably survived because the Puritans considered them heraldic symbols rather than religious. Eye-catching figures include griffins and a very mournful looking dog.

Another highlight is a finely crafted south porch dating to 1430-1455. Over the porch arch is a parvise, a small chamber possibly used for storing important documents. The porch roof is vaulted with exceptionally detailed lierne vaulting and decorated bosses.

The eagle lectern is a rare early Tudor relic, made around 1520 and one of just 20 surviving examples made to accept a chained Bible. A local tradition suggests that Elizabeth I gave the lectern to the church, though there is no proof of this. The queen did visit nearby Haughley Park in 1600 and sent one of her knights to visit Woolpit on her behalf. It is certainly possible that he gave the parishioners money that was used to buy the lectern.

The screen is 15th century, though the gates are Jacobean. The screen is painted and gilded, and retains the medieval beam made to hold the rood, or crucifix. The base of the screen is painted with figures of saints including St Withburga, St Edmund, St Etheldreda, and St Felix. The face of St Felix is actually a portrait of Henry Page, the serving rector at the time of the Victorian restoration. 

Over the arch is a beautifully vaulted painted dedication board, decorated with figures of angels.

Each end of the chancel choir stalls has a bench end with an intricate figure of a Green Man. Set against the wall is a fascinating carving of a woodwose, a wild man of the woods figure found throughout East Anglia.

 Index of posts