About Boston Preservation Trust

In 1935, the fate of Fydell House in South Street was in the balance. A Birmingham consortium were planning to demolish it in favour of a housing development. The loss of the “Grandest House in Town” so alarmed the Vicar of Boston, Canon A.M Cook and other concerned activists, that they launched an appeal to buy it. The outcome not only resulted in The House being saved, but in the creation of The Boston Preservation Trust, a limited company, whose aim to save other historic buildings in the town and bring them back into meaningful use continues to this day.

From research into The House’s origins by A.A Garner, it has been established that it was probably built around 1700 for the Jackson family, who had bought the land behind the site of The House for £20 from Boston Corporation. This land had been owned by the Corporation since 1554 and had been horticultural land attached to St Mary’s Guildhall.

The Jacksons were Mercers: dealers in textiles, silks, velvets and other expensive cloths. Prominent in Boston, one of the family, Edmund, had been Mayor of Boston in 1668 and 1678 but the decline of the cloth trade eventually led to The House being sold. The House then passed to Joseph Fydell. The ownership of such a fine house immediately raised his social standing although ultimately it proved to be an expensive investment.

Fydell House was thus given its name by Joseph Fydell (1687 – 1731), a merchant who could trace his associations with Boston back to William Fydell, an apprentice to Alderman Thomas Marcall back in 1676. Joseph began to establish himself as one of Boston’s more successful merchants around 1717 when he added to his warehouses a yard in Spain Lane. In 1726 when The House owned by Samuel Jackson became available, Joseph quickly made the purchase, and in work carried out following his acquisition had the date and his initials embossed on the lead work. The Fydells were granted a coat of arms in the same year. This used a pun on the surname “Esto Fidelis usque ad finem” (always be faithful and just).

Joseph Fydell only survived until 1731 and was buried at Freiston. He never married. Financial troubles had caught up with him and his executor John Browne had to pay off debts, probably with money from Robert Fydell, to whom with his son Richard, the property was transferred in 1733.

The House then passed on through several generations, including Robert who almost lost it when he was declared bankrupt in 1738 and his son Richard, a wine merchant (1710-1780), who served as Boston’s MP and three times Mayor of Boston from 1734-54. He was educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College Cambridge. After Richard died, his widow Elizabeth (nee Hall), to whom he was married in 1740, lived on in the house until 1783, after which the eldest son, Thomas (1740-1812), was increasingly in residence though he also had many other interests in Chepstow and Gloucestershire.

His business expanded to include banking, property and livestock. Gysor’s hall, opposite Fydell House, was leased first by Richard Fydell and later bought from the corporation by his son Thomas for wine storage etc. Eventually Thomas demolished and rebuilt Gysor’s Hall re-using some of the stone which cans still be seen. Richard also owned nearby various stables, granary, outhouses, counting-house, vaults, a scalding yard and coopery.

At about the time of Joseph’s acquisition in 1726, the garden was walled along the Beadsman’s Lane boundary. This lane, which runs between Fydell House and the Guildhall, has at different times been called Townshall or Beadsmans Lane and Guildhall Lane.

To the rear, part of the garden and pasture were once owned by the Greyfriars Monastery, extending to the Maud Foster drain and including a ropewalk and fishponds.

It was here that plain Mr Joseph Banks visited Richard Fydell when they were involved in the Witham drainage scheme and with the plans for the Grand Sluice, and the proposals for the fen enclosure. When Sir Joseph later became recorder for Boston in 1809, Thomas Junior, son of Thomas Senior became his deputy.

Fydell House remained the family home until 1816 when it was leased to tenants. These included Henry Rogers, a solicitor and Lord of the Manor of Freiston and Butterwick. In 1831 a mob broke some windows in Fydell House while rioting over the Reform Act. Francis Yeatman was a wine merchant whose skill as a gardener meant that the garden at the rear of The House was acclaimed to be “the finest garden in the borough”. He lived in The House from 1844-66. His widow, Caroline, continued as a tenant from 1866-75 with 8 children and 5 servants.

She was followed by Mrs Jane Collins, widow of the vicar of Freiston, from 1875-85. Then Samuel Waddington from 1890-1905. He was a trader, president of the Liberal Club, Alderman and Mayor. Tom Kitwood followed from 1906-23, then Fred Miller, a Customs Officer and artist who lived there from 1926-35.

Since its purchase from the Fydell-Rowley family in 1925 for £1600 by The Boston Preservation Trust, Fydell House has served a number of uses, including being the base for the WVS during WW2. Stencilled messages for bomb raid assembly in the cellars can still be found today. The roof and second floor were extensively damaged by a fire bomb in April 1941, but no-one was hurt. Miss Phoebe Rennell was the resident caretaker at that time.

Fydell House has also helped strengthen Boston’s connection with the United states on a number of occasions, most notably with US Ambassador Joseph Kennedy, father of President JF Kennedy, whose visit to Boston in 1938 included Fydell House where he dedicated the American Room.

From 1946-2003, The House and some of the buildings in Spain Court were occupied as an outpost of Nottingham University, providing adult education alongside the Workers’ Education Association. The residential flat on the second floor was, throughout this period, occupied by successive Wardens of Pilgrim College, as it was known.

Close to Fydell House are smaller noteworthy grade 2 listed buildings which provide income for The Trust. The member ship, volunteers and trustees have recently set themselves afresh to providing a well maintained, beautiful and relevant building which can be used as a community asset and as a place for lectures and events or for interest groups to meet. A place where Boston’s history can be displayed and explained, with a tranquil walled garden of outstanding merit which can be shared with others as a place for enjoyment and celebrations.

Sir Nikolas Pevsner commented that “few buildings in the area show the ‘swagger’ of Fydell House in Boston”

(many details from Brenda Lane and others)

Join BPT

Membership of Boston Preservation Trust (BPT)

We are always looking for new members.   As a member you would be adding a little financial support to our charitable aims, and gaining influence over the way the Trust works and in the activities of the Trust.   The covid emergency has had a temporary dampening effect on many of the things which normally happen in Fydell House, but this is now recovering as we look forward to seeing members again in greater numbers. 

 We will be returning to our programme of activities which include lectures, historical tours, field trips and visits to local places of interest.   Members enjoy reduced entrance fees for much of this.   We also look to our membership for their input into the Annual General Meeting of the Trust, at which the business is approved and trustees are elected.

We welcome any interested person,  but would especially like to recruit younger people and new arrivals in the town.   It is one of our aims to involve more people who haven’t until now considered Fydell House to be a local asset or who haven’t been involved with us before.   Please come in and see us if you want to know more, or e-mail us on manager@fydellhouse.org.uk

We are also eager to welcome new volunteers for as many or as few hours as can be spent. There are several roles within the volunteer group.   Training will be provided where necessary, and health and safety and the wellbeing of our volunteers is very much in mind. Volunteers can help with the running of the office, or in the kitchen or catering operation, or with explaining the history and the building to visitors, or meeting and greeting, or with wedding and events in the house, or in the garden.   Details and role descriptions are available at the same e-mail address, or from the office at Fydell House.   Our phone number is 01205 351520.

The aims of Boston Preservation Trust (BPT) are to improve and protect the architectural heritage of the town and local area.  Fydell House is the central focus of our efforts, both the building and the uses to which it is put.   The house is a community asset and is used for events of all kinds, weddings, exhibitions, displays, room hire for interest groups, and as a base for small businesses.   We aim to improve the wellbeing of our users, and welcome volunteers who may be looking for a purpose or just a period of support or adjustment.   Without our volunteers, we could not exist.

BPT also has a Civic Group which carries a wider remit of observing, documenting, rewarding and commenting on aspects of the local area relating to our heritage, architecture or local environment.  Planning applications are inspected and comments are agreed for submission to the planners. You are very welcome to join this. The trust also involves itself with Blue Plaques to identify notable buildings or inhabitants.

We are supported by the National Heritage Lottery Fund.

If you would like to become a member of Boston Preservation Trust you can do it by contacting the Operations Manager at Fydell House on 01205 351520.  Or by e-mail on manager@fydellhouse.org.uk  giving the following information-:

Your name………………………………………………………………………………….

Your address, including postcode……………………………………………….

Your phone number……………………………………………………………………

Your e-mail address…………………………………………………………………..  

You will be asked to sign our standard form giving permission to store your e-mail address securely on our database and to use your data to inform you about trust events but not for other purposes.

Subscriptions

Annual membership………………………….£10.00 payable on joining and once a year on January 1^st.

Life membership……………………………….£150.00

Junior membership……………………………£1.00

Couple life membership…………………….£200.00

Please return this information by e-mail to the e-mail address above or by post to Operations Manager, Boston Preservation Trust,  Fydell House,  South Street, PE21 6HT or contact us for our bank details to make payment by standing order or BACS.

HF Bid

Project Update, September 2024

Thanks to everyone who buys lottery tickets!

Delivery Grant

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) awarded Boston Preservation Trust (BPT) a Delivery Grant of £1,416,689 on 28.3.24.  This is 64% of the total Project cost of £2,229,468.   The Project Board (PB) of BPT then applied for “Permission to Start” on 10.4.24.      It was then pointed out by the NLHF that full Permission to Start would be unlikely before we had closed the gap in match funding.

The Trustees were extremely pleased with this success of course, but the NLHF applied their usual rule that an announcement should not be made until full Permission to Start had been granted.  We were, however, free to share the news of our grant with the volunteers and staff of BPT and immediate associates.    Unsurprisingly, the local press got wind of this and a story about our NLHF award appeared in the Target.

Permission

The possibility of “Partial Permission to Start” (PPTS) was therefore raised.  This would enable the preparatory work for RIBA Stage 4 to continue and for us to appoint a Project Manager for the Delivery Phase.  We therefore applied for PPTS on 26.6.24. and after several exchanges of information and points of detail this was granted on 14.8.24

Legal Charge

A requirement of our award from the NLHF is that we agree a Legal Charge on Fydell House.  This could be called in if, for example, the grant were used for illegal or fraudulent purposes.  The Legal Charge is still in progress with solicitors for BPT and the NLHF.

PPTS

Our PPTS allows us to spend a proportion of the Lottery award on certain agreed items.   The effect is that we can continue to employ our Lead Architect Carl Andrews, who has advised on all stages of the Project so far.  He and his Design Team provide detailed professional advice about the technical side of the work.   This work will take us to “RIBA Stage 4” in the process by January 2025 and will get us ready to go out to tender for the actual work.   PPTS also lets us appoint a Project Manager for the next stages.

The remaining difficulty is that we will not be able to go out to tender until we have the vital full “Permission to Start” and this depends on the NLHF.   They require us to close the gap in the required funding for the entire Project.

Match Funding

A few words about this gap.   It comes about because of the NLHF rule that they will normally award only a proportion of the costs of a project.   In our case, the proportion is 64%.    We have spent several years reaching this point, in the course of which we have established the likely cost of renovating Fydell House, improving access for people with disabilities and ensuring a future use for the building though many activities.   This development work put the estimated cost of the entire project at £2.2 million.   The NLHF award is for 64% of that figure, ie: £1,406,689.  We have to make up the difference by fundraising.  This is called Match Funding.

The original Match Funding target was £812,779.   We have had terrific support so far but we still have to raise £419,052.

Donations 

So far we have received money or assurances of awards from many organisations including the Medlock Trust, The Garfield Weston Foundation (£150,000), The Pilgrim Trust (£27,500),   The Bernard Sunley Foundation (£40,000), Friends of Fydell House, The Sylvia Waddilove Foundation, The Blakemore Foundation, Crowdfunding, and other donations which have helped close the gap.

There is a good prospect of an award of £120,000 from the Boston Town Deal Fund.   But even if this is confirmed we are still £300,000 short of our target and continue to work towards it.

The plans

A few more words about the building plans.   The assessment of Fydell House revealed defects in the brick and stonework, wear and tear in the roof and lead flashing, defects in some of the windows and other woodwork,  problems with the North staircase and the Rococo decoration.  Problems with heating and plumbing, and a number of other things.

In addition, we have been increasingly aware of the problems for some people of getting into the building, navigating the floors, and getting into the garden.   An expert assessment of these problems led us to solutions through our architect which were approved through the Planning process.   This was not quick or easy, because of the need to acknowledge and work with the Grade One listed status of the building.   The agreed solutions involve careful installation of gentle ramps at the front, and a slight re-positioning of the semicircular limestone steps to make the area at the top big enough, and level enough for wheelchair access.    Also a new way through the south side of the building into the paved area on that side and into the garden, with widened Yorkstone paths leading around the existing lawn.   The former pottery building will be converted to provide toilets for events in the garden (for example weddings), including disabled access toilets.  There will also be improved toilets in the house itself, improvements to the kitchen, and a totally revised electric heating system.    The garden will have access to a new wooden construction at the Eastern end which can be used for volunteers and skills training.

The building work

There is no escaping the fact that the work itself will cause disruption to the normal life of Fydell House, and that to get it over and done with quickly we will need to close the building for a time.  We are planning ways to minimise the inconvenience this will cause.  We are particularly concerned to provide for our usual visitors and our volunteers and staff, but some discomfort is inevitable.  We hope you will bear with this.

The future activities in the house will be expanded to appeal to a wider range of new visitors including people of all ages and those with disabilities who might have been discouraged form enjoying Fydell House until now.

M J Fairman,   Chairman Boston Preservation Trust. 

Civic Group

The Civic Group of Boston Preservation Trust was established to protect and promote high standards of planning, civic amenity, and architecture in the Borough of Boston.

Particular attention is given to ensuring that Boston’s amazing heritage is preserved and nurtured for the benefit of its citizens, tourists, and future generations.

We promote civic pride in Boston and regularly identify special examples of best practice which are acknowledged by the award of a “Certificate of Excellence”. The Annual Awards Reception and Ceremony recognizes the best examples with the “Pride of Boston Winners Shield”.

The Civic Group co-operates with the Council’s planning department by discussion, comment and recommendations on individual planning applications endeavouring to ensure best practice and consistent standards relating to heritage.

The Civic Group meets at 2pm on the second Monday of each month at Fydell House and new members are always welcome to work with us. Please contact us to discuss if you are interested in helping.

Members’ Update

Volunteers

We are incredibly lucky to have such dedicated volunteers on board, and our most longstanding volunteer has been coming to Fydell House in one way or another for 60 years! We couldn’t be more grateful to them all.

Spain Court

You will know that we own the lovely grade 2 houses in Spain Court.   In 2021 we spent about £30,000 doing up number two for letting.   Last year we completed exterior painting of all the houses, with the Spain Lane houses to follow.   They will also need work to improve energy efficiency as soon as the latest regulations are finalised.

Costs of running Fydell House

Everyone is aware that energy costs have rocketed.   We keep a close eye on this and of course look for ways to save electricity and gas.   We hope to balance increased costs by increasing our income from all sources, but this will be a struggle.

Repairs

As for Fydell House itself, we know that there are areas of damage caused by water.  The leadwork, spouting, pointing, stonework and brickwork all need attention.  The decorative work in the north stairway, and the arching in the cellars all need attention.   Heating the building relates to the insulation and energy efficiency as much as the method of heating, all of which concern us in the Project.  

 Many of the members of BPT are fully aware of much of the above, but these reports may help fill in some of the detail.   If anyone wishes to become more involved or to ask about any aspect of our plans, we will welcome that.

Bookings

Activities in the House are on the up and we have had more interest in weddings for this year than last.  This is something we welcome but it throws extra work on the volunteers.  We really do appreciate the efforts and the time which our volunteers give us.   Thank you all so very much.  The volunteers are the lifeblood of what we do