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This is the name given to the special peal of bells, rung out from Boston Stump to warn the townsfolk and those in the surrounding countryside of approaching danger, whether of pirates, flood water bursting open sluice gates, of high tides breaching the dykes.

Supposedly, the name commemorates the womenfolk of Mavis Enderby. How, I am not sure of the connection, as Mavis Enderby is on higher ground, out of earshot of Boston Bells, even with a carrying wind. On the other hand, many of the upland parishes of Lindsey did have land allocation in the marshland and fen, used mainly for summer grazing, so there may be some connection here. Mavis Enderby had land to the South west in Wildmore Fen, that edged up the River Witham. These inner fens at the southern edge of the Wolds were not drained until the beginning of the 19th century.

During the reign of Queen Mary many of the church bells in Lincolnshire were broken up and the metal sold nine bells totalling 761 lbs., were sold at Boston in 1554. One must assume they were replaced in Elizabethan times, for the High Tide poem to be true.

Godfrey Chatfeld
Lincolnshire, 1999