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The Misericords and history of the Boston Stump,
St Botolph’s.
St Botolph’s has an extraordinary array of carvings, including 62 late 14th century misericords.
Click to launch a description of St Botolph’s misericords
Please click on the thumbnail misericords for larger images.
There may have been a church or monastery founded by St Botolph as early as 654 AD, but there is very little proof of this. There is no doubt that there was at least an earlier Norman foundation as 19th century excavations revealed the remains of some Norman pillars in the current South Aisle, and earlier burials. The current church was founded in 1309 and the main body of the church was completed by 1390.
Although the tower, often referred to as The Stump, was started in 1425, no real work happened until 1450, and it took a further 65 years or so to complete. Incredibly, even though the river is less that 15 yards from the tower, and the foundations are below water level, the tower has remained sound, and not required any restoration - a testament to the skill of the architects and builders! Up until the 19th century, St Botolphs had the highest roof of any building in the world and it remains, to this day, at 272’ 6”, not only one of the largest parish churches in the UK, but the tallest non-cathedral church in the world.
Restoration work on the main body of the church was carried out in the late 17th and early 18th centuries to recover from Civil War damage, and later between 1851 and 1853 Sir George Gilbert Scott and later George Pace carried out a more intensive restoration, including replacement of the tower ceiling with a stone vault as was originally intended. In 1853 Augustus Pugin donated the font.
During the 20th century, the peal of bells was restored and augmented, so that it now includes a carillon of 36 bells and a further 10 bells hung for full circle ringing.