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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Lincolnshire => England => Lincolnshire Lookup Requests => Topic started by: Yellabelly on Tuesday 13 October 09 21:01 BST (UK)
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On a recent visit to Boston my daughter and I had the thought "we could look up family headstones" at the stump, bit sad to see there were only a couple left outside and few more on the inside covered with mats. Nothing to show where the burial places were bit sad really. You would have thought that they could have at least done a plan of the gravesites and made it available to visitors. In St Clements church yard at Skegness lots of headstones were laid out for a path! and others have been moved to the side walls so we have no idea where our ancestors are buried.
You can't look at the burial site plan anymore at skegness church "it is all probably at the archives" was what I got from a local minister when I asked about it. I remember viewing it 30 odd years ago but things have changed so much in St Clements church yard without a map you would get lost !! sad really
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I doubt that there have been any burials in the Stump graveyard for very many years.
My great-grandfather is in the burial register in 1869 but he was actually buried in Boston cemetery. I think that a lot of Stump burials prior to the cemetery opening in 1855 may have taken place in St John's churchyard near the top of Skirbeck Road and St Johns Road which is the one that goes down to the dock. That is no longer a graveyard. Last time I was in that area it was a childrens' playground. I know that in the library there used to be a list of the MIs from St John's.
If you have some names and dates from the Stump registers (and there aren't too many!) I can check to see if they're buried in the cemetery.
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As a former Bostonian and keen amateur archaelogist, I would be interested to know where, given the highly urban nature of the surroundings of the Stump, Market Place, Wormgate etc,, the graveyard of the Stump was. I would guess that services were held in the church, and burials took place at a remote location, except those buried within the church. Can anyone confirm this please?
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Hi Roger,
Try e-mailing the Stump offices.
If you get a reply, don't forget to tell the rest of us. :)
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Thanks for the suggestion Pam, Will do this, but first I think I have a very old map of Boston in a book. Will keep you all posted anyway.
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Ooh yes, I've got an old map too. (Several actually. :P )
Hall's Plan of Boston dated 1741 shows the churchyard covering approximately the same sort of area as it does today.
Also clearly marked is St John's churchyard.
According to the book containing the maps 'An atlas of Boston' published in 1974 as part of the History of Boston project, Pishey Thompson in his book 'History Of Boston' gives a population figure of 3008 in 1709 but reckons that the figure is too high.
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According to the book containing the maps 'An atlas of Boston' published in 1974 as part of the History of Boston project, Pishey Thompson in his book 'History Of Boston' gives a population figure of 3008 in 1709 but reckons that the figure is too high.
Figures from Genuki http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/Boston/#Population
1801 5,926
1831 11,240
1851 15,132
Lincoln in the same years was
1801 7,197
1831 11,217
1851 17,536
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hi all ive visited boston on a good few times my mam and dad had friends there this topic has brought loads of good memories back climbing all them stairs to get to the top of the stump,the pilgrim fathers exibits and the cold outdoor swiming pool how cold just out side of the town we would borrow bikes to go.What we all found funny was the B.R.S.A. club (british rail staff asociation club) on the railway station in a old station building. my dad wotked on the railway so was a member the club at sunderland did look over the railway but is a bigish modern building.
neil
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I know it's very off-topic but Neil, you obviously never had the pleasure of swimming in the indoor swimming pool down the Bath Gardens. I can assure you that the outdoor pool was like a hot bath compared to that. ;D (Makes me to shiver to even think about it!)
Getting somewhat back on-topic, it's interesting to note that although the population of Boston was well on the way to trebling between 1801 and 1851 in the next fifty years it barely grew at all, being 15,667 in 1901.
In the same 100 years Skirbeck showed an almost ten-fold growth from 368 to 3644, and even the little old 'hamlet of Skirbeck Quarter' went from 171 people in 1801 to 975 in 1901.
(Figures from 'An atlas of Boston', as previously mentioned.)
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Getting somewhat back on-topic, it's interesting to note that although the population of Boston was well on the way to trebling between 1801 and 1851 in the next fifty years it barely grew at all, being 15,667 in 1901.
I'm not familiar with the parish boundaries around Boston, but could it have been that Boston itself was "full" by 1851 and that overflow into Skirbeck and SQ was the outcome?
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Thanks for the title of the book Pam, the 1974 publication, only problem is I can't find my copy. Think you solved the mystery of the graveyard. I have a copy of Pishey Thompson, but clean forgot about it. Think I must be having too many senior moments!
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Geoff; By the size of the graveyard quoted by Pam, and the population figures given, I would have expected it to have been full by 1651!!
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I know where Michael is buried in St Clements churchyard and have visited it in recent times
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Re-reading this topic and Pishey Thompson's book i am minded to ask whether there has ever been confirmation of his statements that the Stump seems to have had a Norman foundation. Interesting as Boston not in Domesday
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In 2005 I went to Boston and went in the Stump and was given a booklet with an appeal on it for donations for restoration works (£3,000,000) in time for the 700th anniversary of the stump in 2009 on the article it gave the following info on its history.
St Botolph's Church is one of the largest parish churches in England.And its tower,popularly known as the Stump,is the tallest church tower in England.The church was founded in 1309 with building completed,apart from the tower in 1390.The tower was begun c.1425-39 and not completed until c.1510-20.The church is a striking example of the development of architecture over this period and needs to be safeguarded for the enjoyment of future generations.
Kathy
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How many older churches in Britain do not have an appeal running? I believe it important that our historic heriotage should be preserved, but at what cost? I think that almost every church of this and earlier periods is worthy of prteservation, but where does the money come from, and perhaps more importantly what proportion of the national product should be devoted to heritage preservation? We have ominous portents with the cancellation of Stonehenge visitors' centre.
Unless I missed it does anyone know whether Pishey Thompson was correct about there being Norman work in the stump? I think also that the country could do with a joined up heritage policy, but one that takes in the whole of the UK if it ever comes about.