Shodfriar's Hall

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, and 34ft wide, with a flat floor and a fretted-fronted gallery at one end. A timber quadrantal roof cove rose to support a long clerestory lantern, the cove itself being intersected at intervals by vaults over the hall’s gothic windows. Iron rod ties completed the trussing of the roof. There were big open fireplaces.

A proscenium was inserted in 1905 and replaced by a presumably more permanent one in 1915 when the hall was also reseated and the public entrances improved, making regular theatrical presentations possible. It finally closed as a performance centre in 1929 and became a billiards hall. Since then, its continuing uses as snooker hall, night club, restaurant and shops, have been conducive neither to architectural restoration nor theatrical revival.

Shodfriars Hall is an historically interesting building and its massively tall auditorium has the potential to be an architectural ornament to Boston, but it can never have been a satisfactory theatre. The stage, which is housed in a projection at one end, has a lower roof than the hall and is unsuitable for flying. It also has a poor get-in, placed more than 16ft above street level. The balcony, now disused, still has turned and twisted wooden balusters.

A proposal to convert Shodfriars into an arts centre in 1944 proved abortive. The town is, in fact, infinitely better served by the Blackfriars Theatre.