The history and antiquities of Boston, and the villages of Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Freiston, Butterwick, Benington, Leverton, Leake, and Wrangle; comprising the hundred of Skirbeck, in the county of Lincoln. Including also a history of the East, West, and Wildmore fens, and copious notices of the Holland or Haut-Huntre fen ... sketches of the geology, natural history, botany, and agriculture of the district; a very extensive collection of archaisms and provincial words, local dialect, phrases, proverbs, omens, superstitions, etc. By Pishey Thompson. Illustrated with one hundred engravings.

242 ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
speed, and that there shall be weekly service there done by a minister, commonly called the Mayor's Chaplain; that is to say, on the Sunday, the Wednesday,
and the Friday in every week, and that there shall be a common assessment
made amongst the inhabitants of the borough for the charge of the same."
About this time the churchyard was rented for 10s. per annum. This repair
could not have been made, since nine years afterwards (in 1584) it was agreed
that the body of St. John's Church should be taken down to the chancel door,
and that the chancel should be repaired with the produce of the materials of the
part taken down, and that if that should be found insufficient, the Corporation
would defray the remainder. The lead taken from the part " plucked downe"
weighed six fodder and a half, and it "was laid up in the revestry of the
Church of St. Botolph."
In 1585, "the chancel was finished, as it had been begun, with the proceeds
of the timber, stone," &c.
In 1588, the churchyard is said to contain two acres of land, and to be part
of the parsonage ground.
In 1607, the churchyard was leased for ten years, rent not stated. In 1623,
the Mayor petitioned for leave " to take down the decayed chancel of St. John's
Church, and appropriate the materials in the repairs of the great church (St. Botolph's), and the church-staythl" This leave was obtained in 1626. The license
from the Bishop of Lincoln states, " There is in the parish of Boston a church or
chapel called St. John's, the body whereof is utterly destroyed, and only part of
the chancel standing, but very ruinous, and ready to fall; no manner of people
nor maintenance belonging thereto, nor means to rectify, repair, or support the
same." After reciting that St. Botolph's is in great want of repairs, and that the
Mayor, aldermen, and parishioners, have requested a license to take down the
ruins of St. John's Church or Chapel, and to employ the materials in the
repairs of St. Botolph, and that the said ruin had been viewed by a commission
appointed by the Bishop, who reported that the church or chapel of St. John
" had not been employed for any divine use for the space of 200 years, then last
past, or thereabouts," leave and license was granted to take the ruins down,
and use the materials as requested. The Corporation Records mention "two
long pieces of wood in the floor and roofs of St. John's, to be used in the repairs of
the bridge." Nothing further is recorded until 1827, excepting several rentings
of the churchyard. In 1827, an acre of land was taken from the Augustine
Friars' Pasture, and added to the burial-ground of St. John.
The church stood on the northern side of the churchyard. In digging graves
there, a pebbled pavement was discovered, leading, as has been conjectured,
from the road to the north door of the church. A black marble slab was also
found at the depth of three feet, which, from its situation, seems to have been
within the walls of the church.
On the west side of the churchyard, the foundations of buildings are found,
which are conjectured to have belonged to the old Poor-house.l
All that remains of the residence of the HuSSEY familv in Boston is the brick
Tower represented in the next page. It stands immediately north of St. John's
churchyard, and east of South End, in an enclosure in which may be traced
many ancient foundations. The wall of the enclosure is ancient.
The Corporation —to whom the estate of Lord HUSsEY in Boston was, not
long after his attainder, granted by Henry VIII.,-sold the Court-house belonging to the estate to John Wylkynson, alias Jackson, for 104 marks: this was in
MS. Collections of the late WILLIAM CHAPMAN, Esq.