Summary
29 Market Place, a shop with accommodation above, C15 or C16 with later C17 or C18 and C19 additions and alteration.
Reasons for Designation
* Historical interest: It reflects the history of Boston’s social and commercial development over three centuries. Its early C19 frontage signifies the evolution of the east side of Boston's historic Market Place, forming part of a the late C18 and early C19 remodelling that marked a notable period in the town’s history when it sought to re-establish its commercial pre-eminence as both port and market centre.
* Architectural interest: It retains significant elements of its historic fabric, as well as internal and much of its external detail and continues to form part of the varied architectural frame to the Market Place.
History
Despite some fluctuation in its fortunes Boston remained a prosperous port and market town from the middle ages into the C19, its social, economic and political history reflected in its town plan and buildings. From the C12 to the C15 it was one of the busiest ports in England, its wealth based principally on the trade in wool, cloth and luxury goods. Boston's market was first recorded between 1125 and 1135, and the annual fair was one of the great trade fairs of Europe. The medieval town grew around streets on either side of the River Witham, now the High Street to the west and South Street to the east. The latter opens to a wide market place to the north, from which narrow medieval lanes travel east and north to Church Street, St Botolph's Church and Wormgate.
The medieval period is represented by fragments of the Dominican friary surviving as the Blackfriars Arts Centre (Grade II*) on Spain Lane, the only visible evidence of the four friaries established in the town in the C12 and C13. Evidence of the town's thriving C14 and C15 engagement in the North Sea wool trade survives in the Guildhall (Grade I) of the Guild of St Mary, one of several religious guilds in the town at this period. Following the incorporation of Boston as a borough in 1545 and the dissolution of the religious guilds two years later, the assets of the Guild of St Mary, including the Guildhall, were transferred to the Corporation. Later C18 fen drainage and the construction of the Grand Sluice realised the value of the Corporation's estate, the increase in income funding significant building projects in the town, including the Exchange Buildings of 1770-1772 (formerly the Corporation Buildings) to the west of the Market Place (Grade II*). This renewed prosperity continued into the first half of the C19, when agricultural enclosure generated new wealth from a now highly productive rural hinterland. The corporation invested in further public building, notably the Assembly Rooms, completed in 1822 (Grade II*) to the north of the Exchange Buildings. The Grade II listed buildings that form an irregular terrace, 42-50 Market Place, also date to the first half of the C19, as do eight Grade II listed warehouses. Between the mid-C18 and mid-C19 the town's suburbs grew to the north-west and east of the Market Place, with limited development to the west of the river.
Boston continued to thrive economically until the construction of the railway in 1848; this brought a station and growth to the west of the town, but withdrew outgoing goods from the port. A new dock constructed by the corporation to the south of the town in 1884 renewed seaborne trade and brought development to an area of previously agricultural land. By the late C19 the town had reached almost its present extent. Although there was new building within the town in the C20, notably the construction of the inner ring road, John Adams Way, much historic fabric has been retained; this is reflected in the comprehensive coverage of Boston in the National Heritage List for England.
29 Market Place seems to represent at least three phases of construction. The earliest phase is the back wing, which may date to the C15 or C16, and is a rectangular building with a gable end facing the market place, belonging to Boston's early period of prosperity. A third storey added to the west end, changing the roof orientation and creating a more fashionable double fronted building, may date to the late C17 or C18, with a late-C18 or early-C19 refronting. The back wing was also modified in the later C18 or early C19, with the addition of sash windows.
Details
MATERIALS: Red brick with tiled roofs.
PLAN: The building consists of a three-storey front range orientated north-south, with a two-storey back wing, the same width as the front but with its roof orientated west-east.
EXTERIOR: The main west elevation is symmetrical, with two twelve-paned unhorned sash windows to both first and second floors above a shop front with panelled pilasters and fascia (largely concealed behind modern signage) with plate glass windows either side of modern double doors. The south elevation faces Craythorne Lane. The gable end of the front range is blank, but there are four regularly spaced twelve-paned unhorned sash windows to the first floor of the back wing, with four boarded openings to the ground floor, the latter under segmental arches.
INTERIOR: The interior has been largely modernised, but there is an early-to-mid-C18 dogleg stair from the second to the third floor with turned balusters and plain square newel post. The back wing has a collar rafter roof. The present collars are modern replacements. An additional length of timber has been clamped to a tie beam in the front range, presumably in order to extend the roof span over the later front.
