Castle celebrates America's 250th birthday

A tiny castle on a hill overlooking acres of British industrial landscape is an unlikely place to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States.

But to mark the Fourth of July, a crowd will gather at Boston Castle in South Yorkshire to do just that - and many will be in period dress.

Boston Castle is a small, square, two-storey building, built as a hunting lodge by Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham, in 1775.

It was renamed to commemorate the Boston Tea Party, an act of protest during the American Revolution in 1773 where hundreds of chests of tea were dumped in Boston harbour to rebel against taxes from the British government.

The castle has views across Rotherham and Sheffield, a vista some 3,183 miles (5,123km) from its namesake city in Massachusetts.

"There are many Rotherham people who don't know where their little castle got its name from, and some who don't even know it exists," says Bernard Fletcher, treasurer of Rotherham District Civic Society.

Janet Worrall, secretary of Friends of Boston Castle and Parklands, says Lord Effingham was a soldier but "when they were sent to fight the colonists in America, he wouldn't go and resigned his commission."

"News of the Boston Tea Party reached London during the construction of the building, up to that point it was known as the house upon the common.

"It's a very tongue-in-cheek name for a building, but he was a very eccentric man so he decided to call his shooting lodge Boston Castle."

As part of the event, a play written by Worral will be performed at the castle - telling the story of Lord Effingham.

Worral will play his wife, Lady Effingham.

Lord Effingham's admiration for the colonists' cause and the Boston Tea Party also had an impact on any guests who came to visit him at his lodge.

"From that point on, the earl's shooting guests were not allowed to drink tea on the premises," says Fletcher.

The castle, which is now a small visitor attraction, stands on one of Rotherham's highest points between Canklow and Moorgate.

It is part of the wider Boston Park complex, which itself was opened on 4 July 1876 to mark America's centenary.

"During its heyday, from 1876 to the turn of the century, people came from miles around and it was described as one of the beauties of England," says Worrall.

To mark both the park's anniversary and America's birthday, the South Yorkshire Police Band will play "God Save the King" and US-born local resident Lisa Wentworth will sing the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner.

A union jack from the 1700s and the Betsy Ross Flag, an early flag of the United States from the period, will both be raised as part of the event.

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