Boston Guildhall Museum

St. Mary's Guild in Boston was founded as a merchant guild by a group of individuals in 1260. The guildhall, based on evidence from dendrochronology, was built in 1390, two years before incorporation of the guild and probably in anticipation of that event. The guild became wealthy as a result of extensive gifts received in the 14th and 15th centuries; an inventory shows that it held various items of gold, silver and gilt, as well as the sacred relics. In the 16th century, it established one of the country's richest trades in indulgences (in direct competition with Austin Friars). As a result of the dissolution of the chantries and religious guilds, imposed by King Edward VI, the guildhall…

The walls consist of two faces of brickwork between which is a rubble core matrix. The bonding of the brickwork is characteristic of a late medieval date. Irregular shaped bricks are laid in a fairly thick mortar and in a haphazard bond consisting largely of rows of stretchers with the occasional header used to bond the two wall surfaces together. This construction pre-dated the widespread adoption of English Bond (alternating courses of headers and stretchers) and Flemish bond (alternating headers and stretchers in each course) in England. The courses of brickwork are bonded together with a lime-based 'common mortar' which was originally pointed back flush with the wall face. It survives…