UK Urban ExplorationDocumenting the Decay

Aug
2ndShodfriars Hall, Boston – Lincolnshire

Shodfriar’s Hall comprises two conjoined buildings of different dates and styles, a fifteenth century L-shaped structure and a substantial red brick extension of 1874. The older of the two (described by Pevsner as ‘the ghost’ of a timber framed building) was heavily restored or, more correctly, reconstructed and much altered by J Oldrid Scott in 1874. Taken for what it is, it is still an impressive and evocative building with jettied storeys at first and second floor levels and broad gables. Scott also designed the new building in contrasting gothic style, with a high pitched roof. The old building housed the Boston Conservative and Constitutional Club and a few shops, while the new contained a great hall at first floor level. The hall was employed for much the same mix of uses as an old circuit theatre, that is, dances, public meetings and concerts, with occasional theatricals, the main difference being that touring theatre companies usually played for only a few nights on each visit. There were no seasons of greater length. Shodfriars is now in a multiplicity of uses, a sad fate for any building of distinction and, whilst the hall is still physically present, alterations that have occurred have obscured its character and made it difficult to judge whether restoration to Scott’s designs could be a practical possibility. It is, in any case, unclear whether the hall was ever as elaborately decorated as a contemporary view suggests. As completed, it was 62ft long, plus a small stage extension, [...]