Boston is a port and market town in Lincolnshire, England. It was once settled by the Romans before the end of Roman rule in Britain, and, in 654 AD, Saint Botolph founded a Roman Catholic monastery on the River Witham in 654 AD; the town came to be known as Botolphston in his honor. After the Norman conquest of England, Ralph the Staller's lands in Lincolnshire were taken over by Count Alan Rufus, and Boston grew into a notable town and port of Medieval England in the 11th and 12th centuries. Boston became a staple port for the wool trade in 1369, and the Hanseatic League was active in the city until 1470, when tensions with the local merchants forced their ouster. King Henry VIII granted Boston its charter in 1545, and Boston's status as a trade hub led to the importation of Calvinist Protestantism, and, in 1607, a group of Pilgrims from Nottinghamshire, led by William Brewster and William Bradford, emigrated to Holland via Boston, eventually making their way to North America in 1620. These settlers founded the Plymouth Colony in New England, and they named the region's chief city "Boston" in honor of their port of departure. The railroad reached Boston in 1648, connecting Boston to London, 100 miles to the south. The first cinema opened in 1910, and a new town bridge was built in 1913. In 2011, Boston had a population of 35,124 people, and Boston's "Boston and Skegness" constituency in Parliament (created in 1997) was won by the Conservative Party in every election following the constituency's creation (although the 1997 election saw them win a narrow victory over Labour 42.4%-41%).
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