Boston City Map Poster

About Boston

Boston was a small settlement until the arrival of the railways in 1847, which transformed it into a major port on the east coast. The town is also known as "Bosville" or "Bozburg". It is thought that Boston gets its name from an early settler named Boso, who had lived in Lincolnshire before moving to Suffolk and then to Northamptonshire. He became Lord of the Manor at Boston (in Old English 'tun' means farmstead) after his former landowner, St Botolph's Priory at nearby Houghton Conquest released him from his obligations there. The origins of this story are uncertain; there are no records with Boso's name attached to them except for one: according to William Camden's 1607 survey "Britannia", he was said by some sources—Camden did not specify which—to have been born under King Edward III and died during Richard II’s reign (1327–1377).