![]() Around the same time, the decline of the local guilds and shift towards domestic weaving of English wool (conducted in other areas of the country) led to a near-complete collapse of the town's foreign trade. Apart from wool, Boston also exported salt, produced locally on the Holland coast, grain, produced up-river, and lead, produced in Derbyshire and brought via Lincoln, up-river.Ī quarrel between the local and foreign merchants led to the withdrawal of the Hansards around 1470. Edward III named it a staple port for the wool trade in 1369. In the thirteenth century it was said to be the second port in the country. Thus, by the opening of the 13th century, Boston was already significant in trade with the continent of Europe and ranked as a port of the Hanseatic League. That year or the next, he levied a "fifteenth" tax ( quinzieme) of 6.67% on the moveable goods of merchants in the ports of England: the merchants of Boston paid £780, the highest in the kingdom after London's £836. In 1204, King John vested sole control over the town in his bailiff. It lay on the left bank of The Haven.ĭuring the 11th and 12th centuries, Boston grew into a notable town and port. It subsequently came to be attached to the Earldom of Richmond, North Yorkshire, and known as the Richmond Fee. The Town Bridge still maintains the preflood route, along the old Haven bank.Īfter the Norman conquest, Ralph the Staller's property was taken over by Count Alan. ![]() The predecessor of Ralph the Staller owned most of both Skirbeck and Drayton, so it was a relatively simple task to transfer his business from Drayton, but Domesday Book in 1086 still records his source of income in Boston under the heading of Drayton, so Boston's name is not mentioned. The River Witham seems to have joined The Haven after the flood of September 1014, having abandoned the port of Drayton, on what subsequently became known as Bicker Haven. This route was much more thoroughly developed, in the later Medieval period, by Bridge End Priory ( map).
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