Additional information
Terrain
- Surfaced streets throughout
Landscape
- Town centre streets and waterside paths
Dog friendliness
- On lead on streets, and use dog bins
Parking
- Numerous town centre car parks, including West End and South Square
Toilets en route
- Bus station and Central Park
About the walk
Just as Ely is dominated by its cathedral, Boston’s equally impressive religious landmark – St Botolph’s Church – is visible for miles around and is affectionately known as The Stump. It’s the largest parish church in England, standing at 272ft (83m) high, and it was built in the early 1400s with... profits from the lucrative wood trade which made Boston a wealthy and influential centre. St Botolph’s is also known as a calendar church, since its roof is supported by 12 pillars, it is lit by 52 windows and there are seven doors and 365 steps up to the top of the tower. A staple product Boston’s story begins with a Saxon monk called St Botolph, who is supposed to have founded a monastery on the banks of the River Witham in AD 654. It was this certainly this waterway that helped establish Boston’s position as a pre-eminent trading port, as the Witham is tidal up to this point. Boston was a designated a ‘staple town’, licensed to export wool, and this lucrative commodity helped to make Boston one of the richest towns in England by the 14th century. When wool exports began to decline, trade continued in grain, salt and lead, although shipping was increasingly hindered as the River Witham began to silt up. Puritan unrest and the Pilgrim Fathers The walk starts and finishes at the Guildhall, which dates from 1390 and was originally the Hall of St Mary’s Guild. It later became the Town Hall and is best known for its courtrooms and cells where the Pilgrim Fathers were tried and imprisoned in 1607. By that time Boston had become a hotbed for Puritan unrest and this small group of religious separatists, keen to break with the Church of England, were captured trying to sail to Holland to spread their message of dissent. They would later set sail aboard the Mayflower to emigrate for good and found a new settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts – and of course become the founding fathers of the United States of America. In 1630 these early settlers also went on to establish the city of Boston, Massachusetts. The Guildhall, apart from being an historic building in its own right, also houses the helpful tourist information centre and is open Wednesday–Saturday, 10.30–3.30. Maud Foster Windmill As well as the River Witham, there were other waterways constructed to facilitate the movement of goods in and out of Boston, as well as to drain the low-lying fenland. On the walk you will follow Maud Foster Drain past a working five-sail windmill, open to visitors on Wednesday and Saturday. It mills its own organic flour, which, together with porridge oats and other products, is on sale in the Mill Shop. Not to be outdone by The Stump, the windmill has seven floors and is one of the tallest in the country.
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