Boston (England)

Boston town (1991 pop. 26,495), E central England, on the Witham River. Boston's fame as a port dates from the 13th cent., when it was a Hanseatic port trading wool and wine. Having recovered from a decline in the 18th and 19th cent. caused by silting, Boston now exports coal, grain, agricultural machinery, potatoes, and cattle; it imports timber, grain, fruit, vegetables, and fertilizers. It is also a shellfishery center and a market for a rich lowland farm area. There are food-processing plants and other light industries. Puritans under John Cotton sailed in 1633 from Boston to Massachusetts Bay (renamed Boston). St. Botolph's Church is on the site of a 7th-century monastery, founded by St. Botolph, for whom the town is named (Botolph's tun, or town). The 288-ft (88-m) tower (called the Stump, because it does not come to a point) is a landmark. The guildhall, begun in 1545, was restored in 1911 and is now a museum.

Boston Lincs. Botuluestan 1130. ‘Stone (marking a boundary or meeting-place) of a man called Bōtwulf’. OE pers. name + stān. Identification of Bōtwulf with the 7th cent. missionary St Botulf is quite probable.

Boston, on the river Witham in Lincolnshire, was once one of the greatest English ports. It became a town only after 1066, but rapidly flourished by exporting wool. In the 13th cent. it paid more tax than any port except London. It is still dominated by the medieval church of St Botolph (‘Boston stump’) with its 272–foot tower.