A tiny little English town shares its name with a much more famous American counterpart – but came centuries before its newer namesake.

Boston is a city in Massachusetts, USA, famous for films like Good Will Hunting, the Boondock Saints and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, and of course, its residents’ trademark accents.

But, what most people won’t know is that its British equivalent came some centuries before the US even earned its independence.

The little Lincolnshire town isn’t quite as famous but has just as many reasons to be loved.

Boston, Lincs, is also one of 35 Bostons that currently exist around the world.

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The first mention of Boston’s Midlands settlement was made in the 15th century, in 1460.

The town was “Botulfeston”, and given an alias of “Boston”, thought to be a contraction of “Saint Botolph’s town”.

Boston has spent its existence in association with Botolph of Thorney, otherwise known as Saint Botolph, an English abbot and patron saint of boundaries, trade and travel.

St Botolph’s Church is the town’s pride and joy and dominates the local skyline while serving as England’s largest parish church.

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Modern Boston owes its popularity to its abundance of country parks, nature reserves and other green spaces, and it sits on the English east coast.

The lush farmland gives the town a reputation for produce, specifically vegetables and meat, with the Boston sausage owing its name to the locality.

Boston’s marketplace is one of the largest in England and pulls in hundreds of patrons a week.

The community has proven highly inspirational over the years, with Lincolnshire’s Boston being one of dozens around the world.

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Over the centuries, 35 different communities have adopted the name Boston.

Of those 35, 16 are in the US, located in the following states:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Connecticut
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Missouri
• New York
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia

The remaining 19 are in South Africa, Uzbekistan, Ireland, Costa Rica and Colombia, which have two Bostons each, with the following nations each possessing one:

• Suriname
• Sweden
• The Philippines
• Peru
• Jamaica
• Italy
• Cuba
• Bolivia

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