Flour and cake dealers on Station Road.

Two of the entries in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 read :-

"Smithson & Son, farmers

Smithson Williamson & Sons, corn & flour dealers"

DB 14 February 2019

"House now shop. Early C18 and mid C19"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1061922 

Village history map states "was started by John Burt, a Quaker who went into business as a draper and grocer in 1760". 

DB 20 April 2018

Spar shop building formerly the Co-op.

Entry in Kelly's Directory 1909 reads "Lincoln Equitable Co-operative Industrial Society Limited (No. 16 branch) (Arthur Bates, manager)"

Village history map states that it was built July 1892.

DB 20 April 2018

General Store & Post Office, Gauntlet Road. Unfortunately displaying a sign reading "closed until further notice".

OS 25 inch map published 1889 shows the post office being located on High Street near the former White Horse public house.

Kelly's Directory 1913 has " Post, M. 0. & T. Office. - Philip Lambert, sub-post-master. Letters through Boston delivered at 6.-15 a.m.; dispatched at 6.55 p.m. & on sundays 6.5 p.m"

DB 8 August 2022

Closer view of signage.

DB 8 August 2022

Listed in Kelly's Directory 1919 "Harrison Henry Christopher, miller (steam), High street. T N 5"

Now residential accomodation. 

DB 7 November 2020 

The warehouse was originally in public ownership and lettering which described its functions has survived.

March 2013

"36-39 Market Place (the Exchange Buildings) built by Boston Corporation as a fish market with dwellings above, now shops and offices; designed by Thomas Lumby and completed in 1772; C19 and C20 alterations"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388941 

DB 21 May 2019 

Viewed from Town Bridge to the rear.

DB 9 April 2022

Blue plaque placed by the Boston Preservation Trust.

https://www.bostonpreservationtrust.com 

DB 21 May 2019

This 5-bay late Georgian house was built for William Garfit (1700-81), founder of Lincolnshire’s first private bank – in this house – in 1754.

It remained in use as Garfit’s Bank until 1890 when the business moved to the Market Place.

The house passed through several owners in the 20th century but was derelict from the mid-1980s.

March 2013 

Postcard view of the market dating from 1935.

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states "The principal market is on Wednesday, but a smaller one is held on Saturday.

A fat and store stock market is held every Wednesday, which is well attended.

The market for corn is held in the Market place, and the cattle market and fairs are held in the open space in Wide Bargate.

The fairs are on the 4th of May for sheep, and the day following for cattle; first Wednesday in August for fat cattle; September 15th for foals, cattle and general merchandise; November 18th and the following day for horses, and December 11th for cattle only"

No.15 Market Place viewed from the tower of Boston Stump.

"Pair of shops and offices. c1880, altered C20 ... the building stands between Dolphin Lane and Bonners Lane, and was built by Sherwins of Boston as Smalls Emporium"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1388928?section=official-list-entry 

Now occupied by the Nationwide Building Society. An entry in Kelly's Directory 1913 has "Small J. H. & Son, linen drapers, silk mercers & house furnishers, 15 Market place".

No.16 also visible in this image listed in 1913 as "Hurst Saml. Jn. Chemist, 16 Market pl.& 40 Skirbeck rd"

DB 20 April 2022

This boat is moored at Packhouse Quay which had been the heart of the port of Boston until the Dock, south of the town, was opened in the 1880s.

Some of the warehouses remain in the town centre but they have been converted to other uses.

Three warehouses, dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, front the river Witham close to the centre of Boston.

On the extreme right is Packhouse Quay, a building converted by the County Council into the Sam Newsum Music Centre in 1978.

Wide Bargate was the heart of Boston's livestock fairs and markets until the second half of the twentieth century.

This picture from the Edwardian period shows pens full of sheep in the area close to the junction with Pen Street.

DB 8 July 2019

Original ashlar plaque inset in a modern wall.

DB 8 July 2019

This fine brick warehouse is on the site of the former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway line and part of the station complex at Bourne.

The M&GNJR line between Saxby (Leicestershire) in the west and Bourne was opened in 1893 to link up with the company's earlier cross-country line to Sutton Bridge and Kings Lynn.

The Great Northern Railway also ran a north-south line (Sleaford to Stamford) through the town.

Postcard view of Market Place in 1923.

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states "The weekly store stock and general market is held on Thursdays, and is very well attended; a fat stock market is held fortnightly on Tuesday, and a fair on the 5th of August for cattle and general commodities; there is also a hiring for servants on the Friday before Old May-day"

Undated view of Brigg market.

Postcard by Harrison Photo, Lincoln.

Former NatWest bank branch which closed 13th June 2018.

Ghost sign states "National Provincial Bank Established 1833"

The K6 type telephone kiosk visible in front of the bank is a listed structure.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1346768 

DB 16 December 2018 

This octagonal brick butter cross was built c1700.

The building was later adapted for use as a dovecote, and more recently has been used as a village hall.

It stands uncomfortably close to the busy A16.

Frank Robinson, January 2015

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 states :-

"The town contains many neat houses, and commands extensive views. The market is held on Thursday, but is of trifling consequence. Here are five fairs for cattle and merchandise, on Ash Wednesday, Palm-Monday, May 12th and 13th, Thursday after old Michaelmas day, and Nov. 22nd"

DB 14 April 2012

Jean Howard, 12 January 2022

Advert appearing in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919.

The image shows Chambers shop at 10 High Street. The premises are now 2019 occupied by Yorkshire Bank.

Grantham's Market Cross dates from around 1300. Demolished first in 1779 & then again in 1884, it was restored through public pressure.

It was the traditional point for the proclamation of important news.

Unposted and undated Jackson & Son of Grimsby card

"Mid C19. Bank architecture"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1288964

Now The Old Bank public house. 

Barclays Bank was at 55 High Street and Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1930 has "Barclays Bank Ltd. (branch) (Herbert John Bullivant, mngr.) ; open daily 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. except thurs. 9 to 12 noon & sat. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 55 High st. (T N 14) ; Head office, 54 Lombard st E C 32"

And

"On the site of the old Town Hall, which formerly stood in High street, are now the premises of Barclays Bank Limited"

DB 12 June 2019

"Rain-water Head 1852, former Corn Exchange"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062439 

One of two corn exchanges in the town. 

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states "The Westgate Hall, 66 feet by 40, was erected in 1852, at a cost of about £6,000, in £10 shares, and became the property of the Exchange Hall Company in 1872, but now belongs to Lord Dysart and is let by him on lease, together with the market tolls, to the Town Council.

The building has a good front towards the Market place, and the upper storey is occupied as offices by the Customs and Excise department : the hall is used as a butter hall, that in the Market place being now closed, and also for sales, public meetings &c" 

DB 29 October 2019 

Former York County Savings Bank.

"1841. Designed by Salvin"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062480

Premises now occupied by South Lincolnshire Blind Society.

DB 12 December 2018

Former bank branch, on Cleethorpe Road - Inscription over the door on the corner states 

"LINCOLN BANK

GRIMSBY DOCKS BRANCH" 

On the corner of Cleethorpe Road and Riby Square. 

"1899-1900 by HC Scaping for the Union of London and Smiths Bank Limited"

"Edwardian Classical style"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1379416

DB 10 November 2018 

Red brick, green tiled front of Heighington Post Office, the double-fronted building on the left.

Its stone front had been demolished in the early 1920s when "The cart got away with the "oss" coming down the hill opposite.

The Robinson family moved from their Monks Road shop and re-built the front and ran it as the Post Office and general store for two generations.

The adjoining cottage now has the left hand side door blocked up.

The former grain warehouse of Harrison and Son is almost the last surviving structure connected with the nearby terminus of the Horncastle Railway Station which was closed in 1971.

The warehouse has 3 stories and retains hoists and a wooden canopy.

John Turner, 2002

Postcard dated 1906.

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1909 states "The market, held on Saturday, is well supplied with fish, poultry and other provisions; and five annual fairs are held"

Binns' Department Store (House of Fraser Group) on the corner of High Street and Corporation Street.

November 2019 

Much of the St Giles' estate was developed in the 1920s and 1930s, though a small section had been built near the Wragby Road just before the First World War.

The shopping centre, dominated by the Lincoln Co-operative Society's grocer's, butcher's and chemist's shops, was built in the 1930s.

Undated postcard

James Weighall and Sons, hay and corn dealers, occupied this building (Nos 469 and 470, High Street) from 1890 to the late 1930s.

After the Second World War it was used by Robert Pearson and Company, leather belting manufacturers.

Lincoln architect, William Mortimer, was responsible for the original building; the decorative woodwork on the frontage is though to have been added later.

DB 4 February 2019

Jean Howard

Market Place view of Eve & Ranshaw Ltd Department Store pictured before its announced closure on 4th March 2023.

Information from Eve & Ranshaw's website :- 

"Eve & Ranshaw Ltd. in Louth Lincolnshire is one of the oldest independent, family run department stores in the UK, having traded continuously through nine successive reigns. 

The store was established in 1781 by Adam Eve, a local farmer's son with a shrewd business acumen. He later bought The Louth Carpet & Woollen Factory Ltd., helping the town become one of only three centres in England making flat weave and reversible carpets. The shop soon became the rendezvous for the gentry of Louth and the surrounding district.

It originally traded in grocery, wool and linen goods, but expanded over the years under several owner partnerships (including that of Thomas Ranshaw who started as a 13-year old apprentice in the shop), to include high-class tailoring and fashion, and a wide range of home furnishing products and services.

Christopher Sandwith and his son, David, purchased the store in 1977 and David's son, Marcus, took the helm earlier this year. The Sandwith family, having first opened their own Draper's shop in 1891 (RT Sandwith), has therefore traded continuously in the town for 128 years"

DB 28 January 2023

Eve & Ranshaw Ltd Department Store viewed from Eastgate.

Information from Eve & Ranshaw's website :- 

"Eve & Ranshaw In Victorian Times. Did you know that: 

In 1871, there were sixteen assistants, apprentices and servants living above the shop

Younger employees, such as the page boy, would sleep under one of the shop counters

No assistants were allowed to go upstairs with their boots on. Slippers had to be worn, or the house boy had to run and fetch anything required

The tailoring, millinery and dressmaking department employed more than forty women

The shop used to make their own coffins and offer complete funeral services"

DB 28 January 2023

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states

"The Market Hall and shops, erected in 1866-7, form an extensive pile of buildings, in the French Gothic style, from designs by Messrs. Rogers and Marsden, and include a clock tower rising to a height of more than 100 feet:

the Market Hall is 100 feet long and 60 feet wide, and has a semicircular arched iron trussed roof, supported parted partly by the walls and partly on carved stone corbels:

there is a market keeper's office on the west side, and the whole area under the hall is cellared in eight divisions:

the clock was purchased by subscription, at a cost of about 100 guineas"

DB 21 March 2017 

A second view of the Market Hall, with its characteristic clock tower, from the tower of St James Church.

DB 22 September 2015 

Mr Chips an iconic fish and chip restaurant owned by three generations of the Hagan family to December 2015.

https://www.louthleader.co.uk/news/goodbye-mr-chips-louth-restaurant-set-to-close-1-7094398 

Reopened August 2018 under new management.

https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink/take-tour-mr-chips-louth-1830152 

DB 22 September 2015

Once one of several post offices in Louth, this branch at 181 Eastgate closed on 10 August 1991. The post box in the wall was made by James Ludlow & Son of Birmingham.

Postcard published 1993 by David Shaw. 

Ludford is made up of the parishes of Ludford Parva and Ludford Magna.

It is twinned with Voué in France where a Lancaster bomber from RAF Ludford Magna crashed during the Second World War.

In February 2008 the village was the epicentre of an earthquake. Needless to say, it no longer has a post office cum garage (earthquake not to blame).

undated postcard

"Corn Exchange 1854 by H Goddard"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1309121 

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 states :-

"Market cross. C14.Stone. Octagonal stepped base topped with much weathered octagonal shaft."

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1317180 

DB 22 April 2019

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 states :-

"An ancient Cross, which stood in the village, was replaced by a new one in 1835, at the cost of about £25, and a market is now held round it on Saturday evenings"

Spalding Cattle Market Auction Hall was sold for £1 and moved to Birchgrove Garden Centre and Bulb Museum, Pinchbeck, in 1995.

Mark Acton, 2014

Former Co-op shop now Weldricks Pharmacy.

The idea of Co-operation was first brought to Scunthorpe by Mr Enoch Markham.

He had previously helped set up Mexborough Co-operative Society and moved to Scunthorpe to work at Trent Iron Works.

Cottages had been built for him and other workers of the Iron Works and he began spreading the idea of setting up a Co-operative Society among them.

The first official meeting took place on 29th Apr 1874 at 1 Chapel Street, Scunthorpe"

"In Sep 1908 the Crosby branch was opened"

https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/2f23085e-cb54-39f2-b6bd-78a683d06522?component=9882f7aa-fe5b-3680-ae16-d0de1728e67c 

DB 19 February 2019 

Inscription on side of building.

DB 19 February 2019 

Auctioneer's particulars for a sale on May 2nd 1932 :-

"This outstanding property undoubtedly occupies the key position, the most valuable and prominent site in the Resort, situated facing the two main roads leading in to the Town, and within a short distance of the new arterial Lincoln Road, now nearing completion. 

Facing are two of the principal Hotels, the London and North and Eastern Railway Station, and the Head Post Office. 

The Property is admirably suited for conversion into three or even four modern shops on the ground floor, or a Departmental Store, in brief, it is adapted for almost any trade.

There is a frontage to Lumley Road of 30 feet, to Lumley Square of 46ft. 8in., to High Street of 33ft. 3in., and the whole occupies an area of approximately 178 square yards.

The Business of Grocers and Provision Merchants has been carried on by Messrs. J. Barlow in these premises for upwards of 50 years, who have also enjoyed a full and clean OFF LICENCE for the Sale of Wines and Spirits, Beer and Cider, for over 46 years"

As of 2019 the building 2-6 Lumley Road is occupied by Alisons Department Store.

"Early C20 in early C18 style"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1062119 

An entry in Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1930 reads "Barclays Bank Ltd. (branch) (Arth. Lewis Bird, mngr.), Market pl. (TN 55); head office, 54 Lombard st E C3"

DB 23 February 2019

The Corn Exchange in Sleaford was completed in 1887.

From the Illustrated London News

"Southern part is late C17 ...  Modern building adjoins to North, dated 1904 on rain-water-head to Market Street. Somewhat similar style" 

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1168531

Sessions house projecting beyond the bank to the right hand side of this image.

DB 24 July 2018

Station Road warehouse early C20 viewed from the railway station.

Charles Sharpes Seed Warehouse No.4. has now been converted to flats.

DB 24 July 2018

Another of Sharpes Seed Warehouses next to the railway station.

DB 23 February 2019

This interesting long thin building on Churchgate is now a Chinese Restaurant.

The restaurant's website states :-

"It was originally built as a rope making factory"

https://www.crystalinn.co.uk/ 

DB 2 October 2019

"Early C19. 4 storeys in brick, rather like a former warehouse"

"Late C19 shop front to ground floor"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1064000 

Elderkin & Son (Gunmakers) Ltd were established in 1880.

http://www.elderkinguns.co.uk/index.asp 

DB 2 October 2019

"Early C20. Modified Jacobean"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1359543 

DB 2 October 2019

The circular sale ring at Spalding animal market was covered by this complex steel structure.

Following closure of the market, the ring was moved to The Bulb Museum in Pinchbeck at Birchgrove Garden Centre.

Ken Redmore, 2010

Old Lincoln Co-operative Society building.

Welbourn Neighbourhood Development Plan 2015 states :-

"the former Co-operative Stores building of 1883 in brick and slate is also of historic considerable community value as the first rural Co-operative venture in Lincolnshire and possibly within the United Kingdom"

Parish Council Website states:-

"Welbourn branch of the Co-operative Society which made deliveries of bread, groceries, meal, paraffin and coal by horse and cart throughout the district. using up to 6 draught horses"

DB 26 March 2018 

Wrangle's Post Office is still in the building shown though it has been extended & is also a Costcutters store (as at Nov 23). The tree & lamppost in front have gone. The far end of the original building contains an Indian takeaway.

Unposted postcard by C. Hall, Post Office Stores, Wrangle