The New International Encyclopædia/Boston (Lincolnshire)

BOSTON, bôs′ton or bŏs′- (‘Saint Botolph's town’). An ancient English borough and seaport in Lincolnshire, on both sides of the Witham. 28 miles southeast of Lincoln (Map: England, V 4) . Boston is supposed to be the ancient Icanhoe, the site of the abbey founded by Saint Botolph in 654. After the Conquest it became an important trading town and the home of a Hanseatic guild. Henry VIII. granted it a charter of incorporation. The ancient Guildhall is interesting historically as the place of trial of Brewster and his companions. The parish church of Saint Botolph (1309), 290 × 98 feet, is one of the largest without cross-aisles in England, and has a fine tower 290 feet high, surmounted by a lantern visible 40 miles out at sea. The church was partially restored in 1857, at the expense of the inhabitants of the town's American namesake. Boston returns one member to Parliament. The town owns extensive docks. The clearing of the river of silt and the closing of the adjacent fens have greatly promoted the trade of Boston. Population, in 1891, 14,570; in 1901, 15,700.