I am blogging about "St. Bot's" as this is where my grandmother's ancestors are interred.
St Botolph's Church, Boston, Lincolnshire, England aka Boston 'Stump' is spectacular from outside and is described by Pevsner as a 'giant among English Parish churches' Boston Stump has been a landmark to both seafarers and people travelling across the flat fenland that surrounds the town.
Over its 700 years the church has played its part in both national and international history. It will be forever linked through the puritan emigrants who in 1630 followed in the wake of the Pilgrim Fathers and founded a new Boston in the USA.
History tells of the ghost of Sarah Preston, who was blamed for spreading the plague that resulted in over 400 deaths in Boston, is a recurring ghost that is said to be more active during the month of September at the Boston Stump (tower of St Botolph's parish church).The winds which whip and whistle around the Stump are said to be caused by the Devil. He was once cornered by St Botolph; the saint preached so intensely, the only thing the Devil could do was huff and puff, and the gasps have not yet subsided.
She believed herself to be responsible for the Black Death, which killed hundreds of people in Boston alone,and unable to live with herself jumped from the church tower in 1585.
It is said that Sarah contracted the illness by inviting a sailor to her home, which is currently the empty mock Tudor building opposite the standard offices in the city. At the time, her husband was away, which was considered as an adultery on her part. The sailor, on the other hand, gave her the illness, which in turn was passed on, since it was still a small community at that time.
As of the present, her ghostly figure can still be seen silently falling before disappearing. Others witnessed that she was holding onto a child while she jumped. On the other hand, some say that her cries of pestilence can be heard from the halls of the church.
It has lost of ghostly tales, such as the The Grey Lady, which you can see apparently if you walk around the stump twelve times at midnight and look up to the tower ...
The original church was first mentioned in 1305; in the “Black Book of Lincoln Minster” (but the church would have been founded some time before this). It was a Prebendary church (earning income for a Cathedral Canon), granted by King Henry I, to the bishop of Lincoln. At that time, the church was in a countryside location, outside of the (then) southern City boundary of Lincoln. In 1344, a Chantry was added to it, and the church had the reputation of being second in status, only to the nearby Cathedral, in terms of structural size and ornate decoration.
The original church was first mentioned in 1305; in the “Black Book of Lincoln Minster” (but the church would have been founded some time before this). It was a Prebendary church (earning income for a Cathedral Canon), granted by King Henry I, to the bishop of Lincoln. At that time, the church was in a countryside location, outside of the (then) southern City boundary of Lincoln. In 1344, a Chantry was added to it, and the church had the reputation of being second in status, only to the nearby Cathedral, in terms of structural size and ornate decoration. The tower was not begun until 1450, by excavation of a deep, wide hole. Indicating the architectural skill employed by the builders at the time, the tower remains structurally solid and has not required any restoration work to realign it despite the River Haven being only 33 feet (10 m) away and the original foundations built under water level.
It was completed between 1510 and 1520 in the perpendicular style that had become popular during much of the 15th century and features a walkway roughly at two thirds of the height of the tower that encircles the edges giving great views from the Wash in the east towards Lincoln in the west. Reached by 209 steps, this also provides access to the tower level with the bells.
Glover Genealogy
