Summary
Shop, with accommodation above, C17 and early-C18 with early-C19 additions and C20 alterations.
Reasons for Designation
* Historical interest: It reflects the history of Boston’s social and commercial development from the late C17, its early-C18 and C19 alterations representing a period in the town’s history when it sought to re-establish its commercial pre-eminence as both port and market centre, a period illustrated by major Market Place developments such as the Exchange Buildings and Assembly Rooms, both listed at Grade II*.
* Group Value: It has group value with its immediate neighbour, the Grade I listed Guildhall, and with Nos. 3-9 Spain Lane, listed at Grade II*.
* Architectural interest: It is of special interest for its C18 west elevation which also contains a rare example of an early C19 shop front.
History
Despite some fluctuation in its fortunes Boston remained a prosperous port and market town from the middle ages into the C19, its social, economic and political history reflected in its town plan and buildings. From the C12 to the C15 it was one of the busiest ports in England, its wealth based principally on the trade in wool, cloth and luxury goods. Boston's market was first recorded between 1125 and 1135, and the annual fair was one of the great trade fairs of Europe. The medieval town grew around streets on either side of the River Witham, now the High Street to the west and South Street to the east. The latter opens to a wide market place to the north, from which narrow medieval lanes travel east and north to Church Street, St Botolph's Church and Wormgate.
The medieval period is represented by fragments of the Dominican friary surviving as the Blackfriars Arts Centre (Grade II*) on Spain Lane, the only visible evidence of the four friaries established in the town in the C12 and C13. Evidence of the town's thriving C14 and C15 engagement in the North Sea wool trade survives in the Guildhall (Grade I) of the Guild of St Mary, one of several religious guilds in the town at this period. Following the incorporation of Boston as a borough in 1545 and the dissolution of the religious guilds two years later, the assets of the Guild of St Mary, including the Guildhall, were transferred to the Corporation. Later C18 fen drainage and the construction of the Grand Sluice realised the value of the Corporation's estate, the increase in income funding significant building projects in the town, including the Exchange Buildings of 1770-1772 (formerly the Corporation Buildings) to the west of the Market Place (Grade II*). This renewed prosperity continued into the first half of the C19, when agricultural enclosure generated new wealth from a now highly productive rural hinterland. The corporation invested in further public building, notably the Assembly Rooms, completed in 1822 (Grade II*) to the north of the Exchange Buildings. The Grade II listed buildings that form an irregular terrace, 42-50 Market Place, also date to the first half of the C19, as do eight Grade II listed warehouses. Between the mid-C18 and mid-C19 the town's suburbs grew to the north-west and east of the Market Place, with limited development to the west of the river.
Boston continued to thrive economically until the construction of the railway in 1848; this brought a station and growth to the west of the town, but withdrew outgoing goods from the port. A new dock constructed by the corporation to the south of the town in 1884 renewed seaborne trade and brought development to an area of previously agricultural land. By the late C19 the town had reached almost its present extent. Although there was new building within the town in the C20, notably the construction of the inner ring road, John Adams Way, much historic fabric has been retained; this is reflected in the comprehensive coverage of Boston in the National Heritage List for England.
24, 26 and 28 South Street, immediately to the north of the Guildhall, is an early-C18 building with a possibly earlier wing to the east. The building is now a single shop, but the first and second edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1889 and 1906 respectively show it as three separate units, while its glazed, early C19 shop front has three entrances, one now blocked. A small lead sack hanging from a bracket and chain above the wide south door carries the legend CORN & SEED, suggesting that a corn and seed merchant once occupied all or part of the premises.
Details
MATERIALS: Red brick laid in Flemish bond with a slate and tiled roof.
PLAN: A rectangular street-side front range has two storeys with attics and a pitched roof with ridge stacks at both gable ends. The lower east wing at the north end of the building has a pitched roof.
EXTERIOR: The west elevation has three shop fronts to the ground floor, each window with glazing bars, the windows separated by doors, one blocked, one with a three-paned overlight, and with a third, double door at the south end. The shop windows and doors have reeded pilasters to either side with plain fascias above. There are five segmental-arched unhorned sash windows to the first floor. These are unevenly spaced and there is no window above the double door to the south, immediately above which, hanging by a chain from a metal bracket, is a small lead sack engraved with the words 'corn & seed'. Below the eaves is a dentilled cornice, and there are two dormer windows in the roof with segmental arched lead roofs over six-paned unhorned sashes.
INTERIOR: The front rooms of the ground floor now form a single shop space, with smaller rooms behind. Dado-height panelling survives, particularly on the east wall, and at either end of the shop are chimney breasts, that to the south with an early-C19 fireplace. Immediately behind the chimney breasts are the remains of staircases. In the south-east corner is a balustrade with stick balusters, while a door in the north-east corner opens onto a winder stair. A stair in the east wing provides access to the first-floor landing, partly within the wing's lower roof space. The stair rises to the south of a central stack, on the other side of which are two small first-floor rooms. The west, front, range is three steps higher than the east wing, and contains three rooms, all with fireplaces with basket grates. The south room fireplace has an C18 moulded wooden surround with decorative cast-iron grate, to the west of which is a cupboard and winder stair, both with two-panelled doors. The small central room has a corner fireplace with similar wooden surround and simple grate, while the north room has a basket grate with integral kettle holder. To the east of the fireplace is a six-panelled door, but most other doors have been removed. The attics are roughly plastered and the roof structure is not visible.
