Unbelievably Old

Blackfriars Theatre is the oldest building in the UK to house a working theatre. In fact, Blackfriars is almost certainly, the oldest building in Boston, predating Boston Stump (St. Botolph’s Church) by around 80 years.

In 2026 we celebrate 60 years as a theatre. But the story begins much earlier. Dominican friars arrived in England in 1221 and established their friary in Boston – Blackfriars - around 1226, 800 years ago.

After a devastating fire in 1288, King Edward I (Edward Longshanks), helped rebuild the friary with money and oak trees from Sherwood Forest. He visited sometime after, and it is believed his accommodation was located in what is now our upstairs bar. So yes, when you buy a pint in the bar, you are quite literally having a drink in a king’s bedroom.

After the dissolution of the monasteries the building was granted by Henty VIII to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk who allowed the Corporation of Boston to buy it for a large sum sometime in the 1540’s. Eventually Blackfriars fell into ruin, becoming a scheduled monument and later, around the 1930’s, coming into the portfolio of heritage properties of Boston Preservation Trust.

In the 1960s, the Trust passed the building to local amateur dramatic groups, with the specific condition that it would become and remain a theatre, and Blackfriars as we know it was born. The theatre was quite literally squeezed into a medieval friary between cottages and the ancient, internationally significant Guildhall, which forms the back wall of our stage - a building that once held prisoners who would later become the Pilgrim Fathers – founding Fathers of America.

Today, visiting companies often call us “the theatre whose stage door that looks like a cottage”, a quirk that says everything about Blackfriars. Over the past 60 years the theatre has hosted remarkable companies, famous faces and even world premieres, including John Godber’s Blood, Sweat and Tears. Blackfriars is a thriving venue in Boston’s vibrant Cultural Quarter. We are now a proud National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England. Nearly 800 years after the friars first arrived, this is still a place full of creativity, performance, laughter and life. Unbelievably old. Unbelievably good theatre.