Description

BOSTON

TF3343SE FISHTOFT ROAD
716-1/16/277 (West side)
27/05/49 Parish Church of St Nicholas

GV II*

Parish church. C13, C14, C15, C17, C18, additions 1869-75 by
Sir George Gilbert Scott. 1899 restoration of tower, 1933-5
chancel by LT Moore.
MATERIALS: squared limestone rubble, ashlar, red brick, lead
and plain tile roofs.
PLAN: western tower, nave with clerestorey, aisles, chancel,
north chapel, south vestry.
EXTERIOR: tower of 3 stages, with large corner buttresses,
double moulded plinth, chamfered string courses, battlemented
parapet replaced in C18 brick, with crocketed ashlar corner
pinnacles. Stair tower on south side. To the belfry stage on
each side a C15 2-light louvred opening with cusped lights,
hollow moulded surround and hood mould. The south and north
sides have plain lower stages, and a simple 2-light C17
opening beneath the belfry stage. A sundial on the south side.
The west side has C19 double doors in moulded surround with
hood mould and above a C19 5-light window in Perpendicular
style in hollow moulded late C14 surround.
The north aisle has a continuous sill band, plain moulded
parapet concealing a lead roof and 2-light C19 window in the
west end. The exterior of the nave and aisles has been refaced
in the Gilbert Scott restoration. The south side of the aisle
has plain gabled buttresses between pairs of C19
trefoil-headed lancets with plain surrounds. The 2 windows at
the west end are 2-light and in a decorated style. The north
door is a simple low pointed arch.
The nave clerestorey has a plain parapet with corbelled
support, and 5 circular windows. The C19 vestry is low, with a
moulded parapet and a 2-light and 3-light window to the north
side and 4-light window in the east end, all in C16 style. The
pointed door has a hoodmould. Set in the north wall is part of
a C13 gravestone with a human head beneath a trefoil, and part
of a stiff leaf capital. At the rear end of the nave is an
ashlar octagonal stair turret.
The chancel is in ashlar with a 2 and a 3-light window on the
north side. In the east end is a 5-light lancet east window in
thin C13 style. A stone at the base of the chancel records
that it was destroyed in 1856 and restored in 1933. On the
south side is a reused 3-light C17 window with cross mullion
and cusped heads.
The south chapel is in ashlar, and has a flat 3-light window.
It is in line with the south aisle which is in square rubble
and is similar to the north aisle. The clerestorey matches the
north side.
INTERIOR: late C13 6-bay nave arcades, with square piers with
hollowed-out shafts in the 4 main directions, into which are
set a slender shaft with stiff leaf capitals. Some of the
shafts are in Purbeck marble. Circular abaci and bases on the
north side, square bases on the south side. Double-moulded
pointed arches, with roll-moulded outer moulding. The circular
clerestorey windows are set above the spandrels. C19 roof to
nave and aisles with plain exposed timbers.
Tall continuously moulded late C14 tower arch, with 3 steps up
to tower floor. Narrow door to tower stair in west wall of
nave. C19/C20 arch to east end of aisles. Upper door to rood
loft on north side and small piscina on north side of chancel
respond.
Broad pointed C19 chancel arch on C13 half round shafts on
human head corbels. Chancel with plain arch to south chapel.
Inner shafts to east window. Rood beam and crucifixion.
FITTINGS: include font of 1901, octagonal with carved
quatrefoils, by JO Scott. Tall elaborate wooden font cover,
partly C17. Earlier font dated 1660 now used as communion
table base. Octagonal Jacobean pulpit, with flat cut-out
cockerels supporting the reading ledge. On a northern window
sill are the remains of a stone crucifix. 2 commandment and 2
deed boards in the tower.
STAINED GLASS: in north aisle of 1927 by Morris and Co.
Stained glass in south aisle of 1896 by Swaine, Bourne and Co.
The church is set by the bank of the River Witham, and is
thought to predate the foundation of St Botolph's Church in
Boston. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

Listing NGR: TF3378943104

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17542942

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)