Beverley is a considerable market-town, situated at the foot of the Wolds, about a mile from the river of Hull. The origin of this place is involved in great obscurity: however, it appears certain that St. John of Beverley founded in this place a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which was afterwards converted into a monastery previous to the year 721. In 867 this monastery being destroyed by the Danes under Inguar and Ubba, remained desolate three years.

After this, little is known of Beverley till it was taken under the protection of Athelstan in the tenth century. Beverley was favoured by William the Conqueror, but in the Civil Wars between Charles I. and the Parliament, it was by turns the prey of each party.

Beverley formerly contained four churches, at present there are only two, but the largest and finest parochial ones in the kingdom; viz. the late collegiate church of St. John the Evangelist, still called the Minster, and St. Mary’s.

John of Beverley, archbishop of York, afterwards canonised, is said to have founded, about the year 700, a society of monks in the choir of the parish church in the nave; a college of secular canons and clerks, in which he ended his days; and in the chapel of St. Martin adjoining, a convent of nuns: but about a century after, the church and buildings were plundered and burned, and the religious dispersed or murdered, by the Danes. Not long after, some of the seculars who had escaped, returned, and began to repair the church, which was completed and endowed by king Athelstan, for seven canons, and large privileges, to the honour of St. John of Beverley, under the patronage of the Archbishop of York, as abovementioned. This college flourished, and at the Dissolution consisted of a provost, eight prebendaries, a chancellor, precentor, seven rectors choral, nine vicars choral, with many chantry priests, clerks, choristers, &c. Most of the prebendal houses were granted by Edward VI. to Michael Stanhope and John Bellasize.

In the year 1708, the minster being very ruinous, Mr. Moyser, member of parliament for Beverley, procured a brief for the repair of it; and, by his sole solicitation among his friends and acquaintance, raised 1500l. to which he and his family contributed very largely. This sum, with 800l. the produce of the brief, being put into the funds, was considerably augmented by the rise of the South-sea stock, in the year 1720, which enabled him to complete his pious design in a most beautiful manner in his life-time: and he had the sole management and direction both of the money and of the application of it, being assisted by the advice of that able architect Nicholas Hawkesmore, esq. This work was encouraged by his majesty King George I, not only by a liberal donation of money, but likewise of stone, from the dissolved monastery of St. Mary’s in York. Sir Michael Warton gave in his lifetime 500l. and by will 4000l. as a perpetual fund towards keeping it in repair.

The choir is paved with marble of four different colours, lozenge-wise, appearing cubical to the eye. Over the altar is a large and magnificent wooden arch curiously engraven, standing upon eight fluted columns of the Corinthian order. The east window is of painted glass, collected out of the several windows about the church; but so artfully joined, that they make throughout one regular and entire figure. —The screen between the choir and the nave was rebuilt of Roche abbey stone, in the Gothic style, and is deservedly esteemed one of the chief ornaments of the church. The body of the church is paved with the same stone, intermixed with black marble. The pulpit, reading desk, and cover of the front, are of excellent workmanship, the galleries are beautifully finished, supported by columns of the Doric order. But the most curious thing in this pile, is the north-end wall of the great cross aisle, which hung over four feet, and was screwed up to its proper perpendicular by the ingenious contrivance of Mr. Thornton of York, joiner, made practicable by a gentleman of Beverley, and approved by Mr. Hawkesmore. The admirable machine for this purpose was engraved by Mr. Fourdrinier, and printed for the benefit of his widow in the year 1739.

Upon opening a grave, on the 13th of Sept. 1664, they met with a vault of square free-stone, fifteen feet long, and two feet broad: within which was a sheet of lead four feet long, and in that the ashes, and six beads (whereof three crumbled to dust with a touch; of the three remaining, two were supposed to be cornelian), with three great brass pins, and four large iron nails. Upon the sheet lay a leaden plate, with a Latin inscription in capital letters, thus translated:

"In the year of our Lord’s incarnation, 1188, in September, the night after the festival of St. Matthew the Apostle, this church was consumed by fire; and in the year 1197, on the 10th of March, search was made for the reliques of St. John in this place; and these bones were found in the eastern part of the sepulchre, and here again deposited; a mixture of dust and mortar was also found in the same place, and again deposited. "

Over this lay a box of lead, about seven inches long, and six broad, and five deep, wherein were several pieces of bones mixed with a little dust, and yielding a sweet smell: all these things were carefully re-interred in the middle aisle of the minster.

In the minster is an old stone seat, upon which was this inscription:

Haec Sedes Lapidea Freed-Stoole Dicitur. ie. Pacis Cathedra; ad Quam reus fugiendo perveniens omni modam habet securitatem.

That is: —

This stone seat is called Freed-Stoole, a chair of peace; to which if any criminal flee, he shall have full protection.

In this church are several monuments of the Percies, Earls of Northumberland, who have added a little chapel to the choir. On the right side of the altar-place stands the freed-stool, mentioned above, made of one entire stone, and said to have been removed from Dunbar in Scotland, with a well of water behind it. At the upper end of the body of the church, next the choir, hangs an ancient table, with the picture of St. John the Evangelist (from whom the church is named) and of King Athelstan the founder of it, and between them this distich:

Als free make I thee,

As heart can wish, or egh can see.

King Charles I. coming into the church, and reading these verses, is

reported to have added,

Even so free be.

In the body of the church of St. John stands an ancient monument, which they call the virgins’ tomb; because two virgins, sisters, lay buried there, who gave the town a piece of land, into which any freeman may put three milch cows from Lady-day to Michaelmas. At the lower end of the body of the church stands a fine large font of agate-stone.

Since Camden and Dr. Gibson wrote, this church of St. John of Beverley has undergone a thorough repair, with some alterations, and is now a most superb edifice. The west end is adorned with two lofty towers or steeples, and the whole building displays a magnificence equal to that of some of our cathedrals. The church of St. Mary is also a large and handsome structure.

The market is held on Saturday. The length of Beverley is more than a mile. The entrance from Driffield is remarkably fine; a handsome street with elegant houses terminates at an ancient gateway. The market-place is spacious and beautiful; the streets mostly broad, and the houses large and well-built; The number of inhabitants are about 7000. Added to the several fairs, the canal cut between this town and the Humber is very advantageous in a commercial point of view.

The principal trade carried on in Beverley, is making malt, oatmeal, and tanned leather. The clothing trade was formerly followed in this town; but even in Leland’s time was very much decayed.

There are four common pastures near the town, containing 1000 acres, in which every burgess or freeman may keep twelve head of cattle. There is a kind of spa in one of them to the east, called Swine-moor, said to be serviceable in sores, ulcers, &c. Several springs run through the town. The sessions are always held here, and here is not only a jail, but the office which has been established for the register of all deeds, wills, &c. that affect any lands, &c. pursuant to an act of parliament in 1780.

The common gaol about thirty years ago was re-edified at a considerable expence, and the windows well sashed; there are seven alms-houses in the town, and legacies left for two more, besides a work-house.

Beverley has an excellent free-school, to the scholars of which are appropriated two fellowships at St. John’s College in Cambridge, six scholarships, and three exhibitions.

Beverley is a borough, and sends two members to parliament, and the number of voters have exceeded 1200. Many persons have been induced to purchase their freedom on account of the advantages attached to the common pasture ground belonging to the town. The town is governed by a mayor, twelve aldermen, and thirteen of the principal burgesses.

---

BEVERLEY, anciently “Biberlac” (the beavers’ lake), is a corporate borough, market and union town and head of county court district, in the Holderness division of the East Riding, of which it is the capital, with a station a little to the east of the town, on the line of the North Eastern railway from Hull, through Driffield and Bridlington to Scarborough, Whitby and the North; it has also a branch line to Market Weighton, Selby and Leeds, and is 8 miles north by railway from Hull and 9 by Toad, 35 from York by rail and 29 east-south-east by road, 10 east from Market Weighton, 11 south from Driffield by rail and 13 by road, from Bridlington 22 ½ south-west, Scarborough 45 ¼, Sheffield 84, Peterborough 145, Grantham 116, Doncaster 65, Normanton 56, Leeds 63, Halifax 76, Huddersfield 80 ½, Bradford 78 ¾ and 222 by rail from King’s Cross, London, in the Hunsley Beacon division of the wapentake of Harthill, North Hunsley Beacon petty sessional division, rural deanery of Beverley, archdeaconry of the East Riding and diocese of York.

The town is situated in an extensive and well-wooded plain, near the foot or termination of the Wolds and about 1 mile from the navigable river Hull, from which there is a canal to the town about three-quarters of a mile in length, and navigable for vessels of 80 tons. The length of the town from the canal to the site of the toll bar, a little beyond the sessions house, is about a mile and a half; it is amply supplied with excellent water from wells, which are sunk to a great depth in the chalk rock, and is lighted with gas.

The town received its first charter from Thurston, archbishop of York (1119-40), and this was confirmed in 1153 by Archbishop William. King John granted a new charter, at a cost to the town of 500 marks (£283 6s. 8d.), and in the reign of Queen Elisabeth the town was incorporated, the corporation receiving at the same time a portion of the property of the dissolved college for the support of the minister and the church of St. Mary: the charter of Elizabeth was confirmed in 1629, by Charles I. at an expense of over £400. Under the provisions of the “Municipal Corporations Act, 1835,” Beverley is divided into two wards called “Minster” and “St. Mary’s” wards respectively, and is governed by a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen councillors, with the usual assistant officers, the body corporate being styled the “mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Beverley.”

The borough has a commission of the peace, originally granted by Richard II. in 1397, and extended by the charter of Charles I. in 1629. The town sent two representatives to Parliament in the reign of Edward I. and for some time afterwards; but the privilege was allowed to lapse until revived by the charter of Queen Elizabeth, and from this date the borough continued to send two members till the year 1870, when it was disfranchised.

This place formerly gave the title of Marquess to the Douglas family, Dukes of Dover, but it became extinct in 1778; the title of Earl of Beverley is still borne by the Duke of Northumberland.

The Gas Works, on the Hull road, were erected by the late Mr. John Malam, of Hull, in 1824, but were afterwards purchased by the Commissioners for lighting and watching the town, and are now the property of and under the management of the Corporation.

The Water Works, a mile west of the town, and 125 feet above the level of the Market place, were built and constructed in 1881, by a company of shareholders, under the provisions of an Act of Parliament, and acquired by the Corporation in March, 1907.

In 1889 Beverley was selected as the seat of a suffragan bishop, and the Ven. Robert Jarratt Crosthwaite M.A. Archdeacon of York, was consecrated as first Bishop of Beverley, 11 June, 1889, and so continues.

There ware formerly four churches-St. John, St. Mary, St. Martin and St. Nicholais, but the two latter have wholly disappeared. The parishes of St. John and St. Martin and those of St. Mary and St. Nicholas have teen united by Act of Parliament.

Beverley Minster, one of the most magnificent and perfect structures of its kind in England, and exceeded by none in the elegance and beauty of its style, occupies the site of a church and monastery founded here A.D. 692, by John, 5th archbishop of York, in place of an ancient timber church which had previously existed on the same spot, and was dedicated to St. John the Evangelist; resigning his see in A.D. 718, he retired to this monastery, and dying May 7, A.D. 721, was buried in the church in the Chapel of St. Peter; miracles were afterwards said to have been performed at his tomb, and in 1037 he was canonized by Pope Benedict IX, and became one of the three great patron saints of Yorkshire; in A.D. 886 the church was destroyed by the Danes, but was rebuilt and subsequently reconstituted by Athelstan A.D. 928, as a collegiate church, with a body of secular canons, the King bestowing on the new foundation much land, and giving to the church the right of sanctuary, which it retained until the Reformation: Edward the Confessor was a benefactor to the church, and several of the Plantagenet kings made pilgrimages to the revered shrine of St. John of Beverley: in 1070, Thomas I. archbishop of York, appointed Thomas Junior, the first of the provosts, who had territorial as well as spiritual authority and were persons of rank and influence, and included eight archbishops of York and six other prelates; on the night of Sept. 21, 1188, a calamitous fire broke out which greatly injured the church; the work of reconstruction went on for about 200 years, but there can be little doubt that much of the original Norman walls remain within the later Gothic work with which they have been cased; statutes for the government of the collegiate church were made in 1320 by Archbishop Arundel: the college was surrendered 1 Edw. VI. 1547-8 by Reginald Lee, the last provost, who received in compensation an annual pension of £49, the revenues being then estimated at £598.

The present church, constructed throughout of New-bald and Tadcaster stone, consists of a nave (including the western towers) of eleven bays, with aisles and north porch, great transept with eastern and western aisles of four bays each, choir of four bays with aisles and beyond it a smaller transept with eastern aisles, lady chapel and a small chapel adjoining it on the north: the whole fabric east of the nave (except the north-east chapel, the great oast window and some others in the south aisle, all belonging to the Perpendicular period) is in Early English of the 13th century; the nave is mostly Decorated, c. 1330; the north porch and parts adjoining it on the west, together with the whole west front being Perpendicular: a new clock was provided in Feb. 1902, and strikes on bells in both towers; the quarters, which have an entirely new musical arrangement, being chimed upon the peal of 10 bells in the north tower, and the hour struck upon the great bell in the south tower. The great bell John, in G, weighs 7 tons 1 cwt. and there are also two ancient bells in the same tower. The tenor bell of the peal in C weighs 2 tons 1 ½ cwt.

The choir is separated from the nave by an elaborately carved oak screen, admirably executed by Mr. J. E. Elwell, of Beverley, from the designs of the late Sir G. G. Scott R.A. at a cost of about £3,000, and erected in 1880; it consists of a wide central feathered arch, flanked by two others of smaller size, filled in with rich diaper work; from the clustered shafts springs a groined projecting canopy supporting the organ loft, the front of which is adorned with panels of pierced tracery, relieved by crocketed niches inclosing statuettes of King Athelstan, St. John of Beverley and other saints, presented by six residents in the town: the organ, originally built by Snetzler in 1767, was enlarged and improved in 1824 and 1847, was thoroughly restored and remodelled in 1885 by Messrs. Hill and Son, at a cost of £3,000, and is now one of the finest in the country: there are 42 canopied stalls, with grotesquely carved misericords, the canopies themselves being in two stages, divided by a crested projecting moulding, in the niches of which small oak statuettes have been placed; 26 other stalls not canopied have also misericords and the whole series date from about 1520: the stone reredos or screen, reproduced in 1826, in facsimile of the Early Decorated reredos which had been mutilated during the Protectorate, extends completely across the choir and is also of considerable depth: the western front is panelled in two stages, the uppermost being enriched with tabernacle work and an open traceried parapet: in 1897 the 12 tabernacles were filled with statues, and the 36 panels with mosaics, as a memorial to the late Capt. H. O. Nolloth R.N.: a stone staircase at the north end leads to the platform of the screen, on which stood the watching chamber of the shrine of St. John of Beverley, and on the east side are memorials to the Warton family; next this screen on the north side and filling up the opening to the transept is the famous and superb tomb known as the “Percy Shrine,” one of the most perfect and exquisitely wrought monuments of the Decorated period now remaining in England, and erected in memory of Eleanor, daughter of John Fitz-Alan, sixth Earl of Arundel, and wife of Henry Percy, first Lord Percy of Alnwick; she died in 1328: it consists of an altar tomb, now without effigy, above which rises a lofty gabled canopy, from within which projects a doubled feathered ogee arch; both the gable and the inner arch are profusely crocketed and terminate in magnificently foliaged finials, and the spandrils of the arches and featherings bear figures of angels and knights with the shields of Percy, Clifford, Warren and Fitzalan; every part of this splendid monument is covered with enrichment, and the vaulting under the canopy displays bosses of leafage and figures of angels with musical instruments: on the south side of the choir are sedilia of wood and a credence table: the construction of the piers of the eastern transept is remarkable and probably unique, exhibiting instead of continuous clustered shafts a series of four overhanging stages, the last supporting a group of dwarf columns supporting the groining: the great east window, a Perpendicular insertion, is strengthened with interior mullions carrying a light gallery and is filled with fine ancient glass of various dates collected from different parts of the church: on the north side of the Lady chapel is the Percy chapel or chantry, also Perpendicular, and containing an altar tomb of marble, erected to Henry (Percy), 4th Earl of Northumberland K.G. who was slain by an infuriated mob in his house at Maiden Bower, near Topcliffe, 28 April, 1489, and here buried, his obsequies costing £1,510; in the north window are the quartered arms of Percy: in the north aisle of the choir against the north wall is an extremely beautiful double staircase inclosed by a trefoiled Early English arcading; the stair leads to a double arched doorway which is believed to have communicated with a chapter house built over an under croft, but now no longer extant; below the stair is a round-headed doorway; in this aisle is placed the Frith or Frid-stol, or seat of peace, a rudely formed stone chair in which criminals who sought sanctuary here were wont to be placed by the clergy of the minster, and were thenceforward regarded as inviolate so long as they remained within certain defined limits.

The low central tower, erected at the beginning of the 18th century, is supported on four massive piers of clustered columns 30 feet 4 inches in girth, rising from an octagonal base, and about 21 feet apart, and until 1824 was surmounted with a lead-covered dome terminating in a gilded ball; at the time this tower was built, extensive repairs were undertaken, materials for which, by a grant of George I. were brought from the ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey at York, and the north gable of the great transept, which overhung four feet, was replaced; the architectural arrangement in this transept is similar to that of the choir, the triforium, though without a passage, being enriched by an arcading: the clerestory retains a passage and the roof is Early English; the walls, both of the choir aisles and the transepts, are arcaded; near the south door of the transept is an ancient painting on wood representing King Athelstan presenting to St. John of Beverley a charter of privileges for the church.

The nave, owing to the height of the vaulting shafts, which rise considerably above the clerestory, seems extremely lofty, its actual height being 65 feet, and though less graceful, perhaps, than that of Lichfield, which is 57 feet in height, it exceeds it in sublimity and impressiveness; the triforium, treated not as a principal feature, but as an arcade, consists of four trefoil arches in each bay, with a lower arcading behind these, and the passage, as in the transepts, is in the clerestory: both the aisles have an arcading of trefoil ogee arches, on Purbeck marble shafts, running below the windows, richly ornamented with foliage work and grotesque figures: the font, placed in the south aisle, seems to be older than any part of the church, and consists of a basin of dark marble adorned on the outside with a continuous ovoid ornament, and set on a shafted pier with a square base; the font cover is of oak: the pulpit, a modern work, is octagonal, and there is a brass eagle lectern, presented in 1880, at a cost of £180, as a memorial to the Rev. John Burton Birtwhistle M.A. 35 years vicar of Beverley Minster and canon of York, who died September 17, 1879.

Besides the east window already mentioned, the stained glass in the church includes a number of modern windows of much interest and high merit; the greater part of the west window of the nave was filled in 1859 with an elaborate design illustrating the principal events, civil and religious, in the early history of York and Beverley, and of the district generally; and contains figures of twelve Northumbrian kings, early archbishops, and ecclesiastics connected with the minster: in the south aisle is a memorial window, erected in 1877, to Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Canon Birtwhistle, late vicar; another, placed in 1884, to Mr. Thomas Gardham, formerly churchwarden; also one to Elizabeth, his widow, d. Aug. 20, 1888, erected by her sisters; a fourth, by the same ladies in memory of their father, Mr. John Woodcock; and another given by Miss Woodcock in memory of her sister; there is also a memorial window erected by the officers and men of the East Yorkshire Regiment to their comrades who fell in the South African war, underneath which are five tablets of gun metal on which the names are recorded: the west window of this aisle represents “Gregory the Great and the Saxon youths at Rome,” and was erected in 1870 in memory of Mr. John W. Cleaver: in the north aisle is a memorial window, placed in 1885, to Sir James Walker bart. M.A. of Sand Hutton, d. October 8, 1883, and to Mary, d. 1830, and Maria (Thompson) his wives, d. 1878; another to Admiral the Hon. Arthur Duncombe, erected by Jane Maria, his second wife, and one representing the meeting of Ethelbert and St. Augustine, erected by Mrs. Cleaver in 1871 to the memory of her husband and son: the six lancets in the gable of the south transept were filled in 1857 by Mr. Thomas Clarkson, churchwarden, with stained glass representing a Jesse tree; in the north transept is a window, partly stained, inserted in 1880, to the Rev. C. M. Long, 19 years archdeacon of the East Riding, d. 6 Oct. 1875; and the north choir aisle has a memorial window to George Lambert, 41 years organist of the minster, d. 1818, and to George Jackson Lambert, 57 years organist, d, 1880: in 1899 the five windows at the south end of the choir transept were filled with stained glass, in memory of Mrs. Nolloth, mother of the vicar.

In addition to the monuments already referred to, there are various others, some of which possess exceptional interest: in the nave, under a square slab of black marble, are interred the relics of the founder, St. John of Beverley; the shrine in which these were first deposited stood probably in front of the high altar, but was destroyed, it is assumed, in the fire of 1188, the relics being saved; on March 10, 1197, they were recovered and placed in a new feretory, and when at the Reformation this too perished, the remains of the saint were carefully buried, and remained undiscovered until 1644, when they were found where they now lie, inclosed in a small leaden chest, placed within a vault of freestone, the chest bearing an inscription in Latin recording the fire, and the recovery and re-interment of the relics by order of Archbishop Frewen; in 1726, on the repaving of the church, they were again taken up and replaced in the same spot on March 25, an arched brick vault being erected over them; on that portion of the roof immediately above the vault is an inscription indicating the spot, discovered during some repairs in 1868: between two piers on the south side of the nave is an Early Decorated altar tomb with panelled sides on a high base, and over it a lofty gabled canopy, richly carved, and flanked by tall octagonal panelled shafts, profusely crocketed: in the eastern aisle of the north transept are some remains of a panelled altar tomb, once enriched with brasses; here also is another tomb with a recumbent bearded effigy, and a third, of the 14th century, surrounded with crocketed arched niches, formerly assigned to George, 6th son of Henry (Percy), 2nd Earl of Northumberland, a priest canon of Beverley, but now ascertained to have been the monument of another canon, of the family of Scrope: the south aisle of the choir retains on the floor a stone inscribed with an invocation for the soul of William, sometime bishop of Kildare and prebendary of Beverley; in the eastern aisle of the great south transept is a monument to Maj.-Gen. B. F., Bowes, who fell at La Mercia, Salamanca, June 93, 1812; and in the north transept is a brass to Lieut.-Gen. Sir Harry David Jones R.E., G.C.B. d. August 2, 1866.

The exterior is at once stately and elegant, its principal features being the west front with its towers, the transepts and the north porch: the west front, the design of which was probably suggested by that of York, though less than two-thirds its width, is imposing in effect, and affords one of the finest examples of pure Perpendicular work to be found in this country: the whole front, including the buttresses, is covered with panelling, but nearly the whole of the central division is occupied by the great west window, which has Perpendicular tracery and ogee head, richly crocketed: below it is the western doorway, which is deeply recessd and has an ogee head, and over this a finely crocketed canopy rising into the lower compartment of the window: the gable, somewhat depressed, is embattled, and has light crocketed pinnacles rising from the merlons: the towers, which are oblong in plan, and therefore wider on the north and south sides, have a total height to the battlements of 162 feet 7 inches; the buttresses, enriched to about half their height with canopied niches of great variety and beauty, run to the top of the parapet, and support crocketed pinnacles at the angles: the battlements of each have three small pinnacles on the north and south, and two on the east and west sides: the north, or Galilee porch, also Perpendicular, is a lofty and beautiful structure rising above the aisle, the upper stage forming a parvise; it was repaired in 1828, and has a splendidly panelled front, flanked by buttresses rising into graceful pinnacles: the doorway has a feathered pyramidal canopy over one of ogee form, both crocketed, and the centre is crowned by a tall pinnacled niche: the principal niches of the west front and those on the north side of the north-west tower, together 49 in number, were filled with statues during 1897-1900, as a memorial of the 60th year of Queen Victoria’s reign: 20 figures were placed on the north porch and the adjoining buttress in 1901, and 36 more round the great west portal in 1908: the clerestory of both nave, transepts and choir is strengthened by flying buttresses springing from pinnacles rising above the aisles: both transepts have high pitched gables, flanked by large octagonal arcaded pinnacles with conical capping: the great transept is lighted on the north and south by two tiers of lancet windows in triplets, and elegant wheel windows in the gables, and has double arched doorways, under a recessed circular arch of several orders: the east front, though retaining its Early English buttresses and pinnacles, corresponding with those of the transepts, appears to have been extensively rebuilt during the Perpendicular period; like the west front it is panelled, and the great window has 8 lofty ogee-shaped canopy, the finial of which reaches to the gable; at the base of the south-west tower are some of the vaulting shafts of a charnel house, above which was the Church of St. Martin; a portion of the west window of this church still remains; the interior dimensions of the church are as follows:-Length, 332 feet 4 in.; length of great transept, 167 feet 2 in; eastern transept, 106 feet 4 in.; width of nave and aisles, 63 feet; height, 65 feet: the restoration of the minster was begun in 1866, under the direction of the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A. and the work in the nave was completed in 1868: in April, 1877, during the restoration of the choir, an Early English well, approached by muchworn steps, was discovered in the choir, on the south side of the site of the original high altar; when found it was filled to a depth of 9 feet with fragments of carved stonework belonging to the original reredos, the water being nearly 13 feet deep; various relics were recovered from the well, and have been preserved; the minster is surrounded by a graveyard inclosed by a stone wall, and containing numerous memorials, and three ancient stone coffins: the limits of the sanctuary of Beverley extended to a radius of about 1 ¼ miles from the minster, and was marked by several stone crosses, three of which still remain: there are 1,500 sittings, all of which are free and unappropriated. The register dates from the year 1558. At the Reformation the Crown took all the property and paid a fixed salary to the clergy instead-£16 to the readers and £21 6s. 8d. to the vicar; but from other sources the stipends are now £120 a year each to the perpetual curates, and £327 net, including 28 acres of glebe with residence, to the vicar. The whole of the three clergy must, by Act of Parliament, be Masters of Arts of Oxford or Cambridge. The patronage is in the Simeon trustees, who purchased it in 1835 from the old corporation of Beverley, to whom, with much of the property of the collegiate establishment, it had been given by Queen Elizabeth. The royal benefaction, together with a bequest of £4,000 by Sir Michael Warton kt, in 1724, expended, in land, now produces an, income of £2,000 yearly, chiefly for the repair and maintenance of the church, which is now the parish church of the united parishes of St. John and St. Martin. The vicarage, net yearly value £327, with residence, in the gift of the Simeon trustees, has been held since 1880 by the Rev. Henry Edward Nolloth D.D of Worcester College, Oxford, rural dean of Beverley, surrogate and canon and prebendary of York, who is also incumbent of St. John’s chapel; the perpetual assistant curacies, each of £120 yearly, are now held, since 1891, by the Rev. William Elliott Wigfall M.A. of Queen’s College, Oxford, and since 1893 by the Rev. Arthur Ellam M.A. of Queen’s College, Oxford.

The church of St. Mary, now the parish church of the united parishes of St. Mary and St. Nicholas, is a magnificent cruciform structure, chiefly in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, but containing portions of Norman and Early English work, and consists of a choir of five bays with aisles, north transept with a large eastern chapel of three bays, south transept with an eastern aisle of two bays, nave of six bays, south porch, and a central embattled tower with 16 crocketed pinnacles, and containing a clock with three dials, erected in February, 1884, and 10 new bells, hung in 1900, at a cost of £1,250, of which £850 was contributed by Mrs. Crust, in memory of her husband, Mr. John Crust, sometime churchwarden: it was originally a chapel of ease to the minster, and was in charge of one of the prebendaries till 1325, when Archbishop de Melton and Robert de Northburgh, both canons of the collegiate church, made it a separate vicarage.

The choir has Early Decorated arcades, the fourth bay on the north side retaining a fine canopied niche: the clerestory is Perpendicular; the low-pitched ceiling of wood, dating from 1445, is divided into forty panels, painted with portraits of British, Saxon and English kings, from Brutus to Henry VI., A.D. 1422, and under each a label giving in Latin particulars (not invariably correct) relating to his reign and place of burial: there are twenty-eight oak stalls, with carved misericords and desks, but without canopies: the ancient altar slab, still bearing its consecration crosses, now forms the base of the present communion table: the reredos of carved oak, executed by Mr. J. E. Elwell, of Beverley, from designs by Mr. J. Oldrid Scott, architect, was presented in 1881 by the late Mrs. Marten, of Beverley, at a cost of £500, and includes paintings on panel of “the Last Supper,” and of the four Evangelists: behind the reredos is a retro-choir or ambulatory, which includes the fine stained east window, erected in 1867, at a cost of £630, and forming a memorial to a number of persons connected with the parish: the north choir aisle, or chapel of St. Michael the archangel, is Decorated, and its three eastern bays are vaulted, the groining being of varied and unusual character, enriched at the intersections with bosses of foliage finely wrought: the stained east window of this aisle, erected in 1877, is a memorial of the incumbency of the Hon. and Right Rev. Edward Carr Glyn D.D. vicar here 1872-5, and now bishop of Peterborough: in the south wall is a piscina, and on the north side a small chantry, called “the Corpus Christi chapel,” with Flamboyant tracery in the windows and retaining a piscina; this chapel was in 1901 fitted for divine service at the cost of Mr. Arthur Hobson, in memory of his father, who for over 50 years was official and churchwarden: above this chantry and the aisle are two rooms, reached by a newel staircase, with groined roof, in one of the octagonal turrets at the east end of the church: the south choir aisle, also Decorated, was previous to the Reformation the chapel of St. Catherine, and still has a piscina; its stained east window was erected by his relatives and friends to the Rev. A. B. Knight Campbell, curate here 1874-6; and the aisle also contains a memorial window erected by Mrs. Hudson to her parents and sister.

The central tower and the piers and arches supporting it are fine and massive Perpendicular; both transepts have been rebuilt in the same style, but retain portions of old material, and have clerestories lighted by large Perpendicular windows: the north transept has a panelled wood ceiling, made by one W. Hall, and restored by Mr. Brodrick, architect; it is much enriched with bosses and inscriptions in Latin, and the beams at the east side bear a quaint admonitory legend carved in old English characters: on the same side, but separated by two arches of early date, is a large raised space, probably indicating the site of former chantries: in the south transept is a memorial window to Christopher Scott Machell esq. d. 1869, erected by subscription; on April 29, 1512, the upper stage of the tower fell during divine service, killing a number of persons and destroying part of the church, but the whole was rebuilt before 1530; the space below the tower is now occupied by the choir stalls. The Perpendicular nave has quatrefoil shaped piers and large and lofty clerestory windows, and the nearly flat panelled roof, erected in 1428, is supported on angel corbels; on the north side, at the junctions of the hood-moulding, are figures of angels with shields, bearing the names of the donors of the pillars, viz. John Croslay, merchant, and Johanna, his wife, the goodwives of Beverley, and the minstrels, who formed a fraternity here from the Saxon period; and the capital of the pillar they gave is adorned with five figures of minstrels, in the costume of the period: the aisles exhibit portions of various styles, the south doorway being Norman and Early English, and the aisles themselves, as well as the fine south porch, mixed Decorated and Perpendicular: the great west window and the west window of both aisles are filled with glass designed by Augustin Welby N. Pugin esq. and his son, Edward Welby Pugin esq. that in the north aisle being the gift of the ladies of Beverley and the neighbourhood: the other in the south aisle was presented by the late Mr. Thomas Crusty sometime churchwarden and town clerk; and both aisles also contain several memorial windows. The font, a fine work in marble, with an octagonal basin, is apparently of the Decorated period, but has a marginal invocatory inscription, recording its presentation at the cost of William Ferefax, draper, and his wife, 10th March, 1530: the pulpit, of stone, coloured marbles and alabaster, was designed by the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott, and presented to the church by the late Mr. Crust, mentioned above; the brass eagle lectern was given by Mrs. Rachel Myers, in memory of her husband, Mr. John Myers, d. Jan. 3, 1851: the organ was erected in 1869 at a cost of £1,100, its case being from designs by the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A. Below the vestry, in the north-east part of the church, is a noble groined crypt, with circular arches, but only a portion of the interior, with three of the piers, is now visible, the rest having been built up.

The west front is a fine example of the transition in style from Decorated to Perpendicular; the central division is almost wholly filled by a large window of seven lights; the gable is panelled and embattled, and from the apex rises a crocketed niche, inclosing a figure of the Virgin Mary: the west doorway is much enriched: flanking the centre on either side, and rising considerably above the roof, are octagonal turrets, three stages of which are canopied; the upper stage is open and is finished with a pierced embattled parapet; the western angles of the aisles have double buttresses, canopied in two tiers and rising into groups of crocketed pinnacles: the whole exterior is embattled, the outline of the parapets being relieved by pinnacles rising from the buttresses which divide the bays; the flying buttresses supporting the south transept were added by Mr. E. W. Pugin about 1856, and at the east end are two octagonal buttress turrets with crocketed cappings. Francis Drake, physician and antiquary, who wrote a history of the city of York, and died c. 1770, is buried here, and there are monuments to the Warton family. The restoration of the west front and south transept was effected in 1853, under the direction of Mr. E. W. Pugin, who also designed the vane on the south-west pinnacle of the tower: the rest of the church, including the interior of the nave and choir, with their aisles, was thoroughly restored during the period 1863-76, under the direction of the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott R.A. the choir being altered and rearranged. The west side of the oak screen, the remains of which were found in the church, has been carefully restored by Mr. J. E. Elwell, of Beverley, under the direction of Mr. Bilson, of Hull, and placed in its original position. In 1908 a new three-manual organ was provided at a cost of £2,500. There are 1,300 sittings. The church is surrounded by a churchyard, and there is also a burial ground belonging to the church in North Bar within, opened in 1829, but both, except in certain cases, were closed to interments May 11, 1858. The register dates from the year 1561. The living is a vicarage, to which the rectory of St. Nicholas was added in 1667, net yearly value £480, with two acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Archbishop of York, and held since 1905 by the Rev. William Hale Savile M.A. of Keble College, Oxford. The patronage was in the hands of the provosts of Beverley till the dissolution of the collegiate establishment, and then fell to the Crown.

The church of St. Nicholas, a chapel of ease to St. Mary’s, standing in Holme Church lane, was erected in 1877-80, at a cost of about £8,000, wholly defrayed by the first Lord Wolverton, who died July 24, 1873, and by members of his family, and forms a memorial to four of his lordship’s deceased sons. It is a building of Bradford stone and brick, with Whitby and blue Mansfield stone dressings, and consists of chancel, nave, south aisle and a tower at the west end of the aisle containing one bell, dated 1530, brought from Norwich and hung in 1881; the chancel is fitted with oak; the stained east window was presented by the Hon. Miss Georgina Mary Glyn and the Hon. Mrs. Pelham; the brass eagle lectern by Marlanne, Lady Wolverton, in memory et her husband: the pulpit of stone and marble by the Hon. Mrs. Ashley Carr Glyn, in memory of the Hon. Ashley Carr Glyn, d. Sept. 12, 1875; the communion table cover by the late Vice-Admiral the Hon. H. C. Glyn C.B., C.S.I. and the plate by Capt. the Hon. S. C. Glyn: the font, which belonged to the ancient church of St. Nicholas, dates from about 1450, and was given to this church by Mr. Robert Stephenson, of Beverley, who had purchased it from a local collector. The church affords 350 sittings.

The former church of St. Nicholas, which stood nearly opposite, and was called from its insular position, “the Holme church,” was originally built by St. John of Beverley, and rebuilt after its pillage and destruction by the Danes, but subsequently fell into decay; and in 1693 its tower was taken down and the material used in repairing the churches of St. Mary and St. Martin: no remains now exist.

The chapel of ease of St. John, in Lairgate, erected in 1840, is an edifice of white brick, partly in the Gothic style, consisting of nave only: the three east windows display the royal arms of all the Protestant sovereigns since the Reformation, together with those of the see of York and the town of Beverley: there are sittings for about 850 persons. The Rev. Henry Edward Nolloth D.D. vicar of Beverley Minster, has been incumbent since 1880. The curacies of St. John and St. Nicholas are in the appointment of the vicars, for the time being, of the Minster and St. Mary’s respectively.

The Catholic church, without the North Bar, dedicated to St. John of Beverley, was built in 1897 upon the site of the old schools, and will seat 300 persons; the old church, erected in 1846, is now used as a day school.

The Convent of Our Lady of Mercy is in Norfolk street. New Walk.

The Baptist chapel, in Lord Roberts road, erected in 1910 at a cost of about £4,000 has 400 sittings; the Scotch Baptist chapel, in Wilbert lane, is an edifice of red brick with stone dressings, erected in 1888 at a cost of about £800, and affords 200 sittings; the Congregational chapel, in Lairgate, founded in 1700 and rebuilt in 1886, has a large Sunday school of brick, in Landress lane, erected in 1879; the Shepherd Memorial Congregational Mission chapel, in Grove Hill road, was erected in 1904, and the United Methodist chapel, in Trinity lane, in 1856; the Primitive Methodist chapel, in Wednesday market, is a structure of brick with stone dressings, erected in 1867, on the site of an older chapel, built in 1825; it will seat 850 persons and has a Sunday school and an institute at the rear; the Primitive Methodist chapel in Norwood, opened Nov. 1901, has 260 sittings, and attached is a Sunday school; the Wesleyan chapel in Flemingate, built in 1882, will seat 285 persons; the Wesley chapel, in Toll gavel, erected in 1891 at a cost of about £4,000, seats 930 persons; the Mission chapel, in Keldgate, was built in 1899, and has sittings for 120 persons.

The Salvation Army Barracks, in Wilbert lane, erected in 1886, will hold 1,200 persons.

The cemetery of St. Mary and St. Nicholas, in New Walk, contains 5a. 20p. given by Mrs. Rachel Myers, who died 25th May, 1867, and is buried here. The old cemetery is in North Bar within. St. John's cemetery, in Queensgate, comprises an area of 1 ½ acres, and was formed in 1860, and is superintended by a burial board of twelve members. St. Martin's cemetery, in Cartwright lane, was formed in 1860, at a cost of £3,000, and comprises an area of 4 ½ acres, with two mortuary ‘chapels and a keeper’s lodge. It is under the control of the Beverley Town Council.

The East Riding of Yorkshire County Council Hall and offices, in Cross street, Beverley, erected at a cost of about £6,000, on the site of the old Mechanics’ Institute, are of brick and stone in the Renaissance style, from designs by Messrs. Smith and Brodrick, architects, of Hull; in 1900 the buildings were enlarged, at a cost of £6,000, and further enlarged in 1908 at a cost of £11,000, and now comprise a suite of offices for the clerk of the County Council, four offices for the officials, a large committee room, registry office for deeds, weights and measures offices and a caretaker’s residence. The Council chamber, on the first floor, is 56ft. by. 36ft. with deeply recessed windows and fire places; the whole of the fittings are of oak, and the ceilings and walls are relieved with enriched panels and pilasters. Upon the same floor is a large committee-room, and on each side of the landing are members and retiring rooms &c. The public gallery is upon the second floor, and is reached by a side entrance opening into Register square.

The Guildhall, in Register square, on the site of the ancient Guild Hall, is a building in the Italian style, erected in 1602, and has a portico supported on four columns of the Doric order; the interior contains a spacious court-room and council chamber, with jury rooms and other suitable offices, as well as offices for the superintendent of police and rate collector; the courtroom has a fine stuccoed ceiling. The borough sessions were formerly held here, but prisoners are now sent to the East Riding sessions for trial: a wing of this building is used as the Borough Police Station and Lock-up.

The Municipal insignia comprise a great mace, two silver sergeants’ maces of the Stuart period, a mayor’s chain and badge, waits’ collars, a silver-headed staff, 6 ft. 7 in. long, and dating from 1820; a silver snuff box, presented in 1710, and five seals, the oldest of which dates from the 13th century. The great mace, of silver-gilt, is a ft. 11 in. long, and of the usual late type: the shaft is encircled with knops, and on the foot knop is an inscription recording the gift of the mace in 1714 by John Moyser esq. M.P.; scrolled brackets support the head, which is surmounted by a crown. There was once an earlier mace, existing in 1650. The mayor’s chain, provided in 1862, is of gold, and consists of a triple series of twisted links; the suspended badge, bought in 1891, displays the borough arms on an oval, with a scrolled frame; a silver chain of some antiquity, formed of three minstrels’ chains, is worn by the mayoress: the silver waits’ collars of much interest, are formed of displayed eagles, and couchant beavers, united by small rings, and from each hangs an escutcheon, bearing the same figures quarterly: these collars probably date from 1573.

The old minstrels’ chain has been purchased at a cost of £50 by the Corporation; this chain formerly belonged to the minstrels’ guild in Beverley, and dates back to about 1570.

The Register Office, now in Well lane, was established in 1708, by an Act passed in the reign of Queen Anne for the registration of all deeds, conveyances, wills and mortgages for the Riding, and for Kingston-upon-Hull; the present building is a fireproof structure, rebuilt in 1898.

The Post Office is in Register square.

The East Riding Sessions House, in New Walk, North Bar without, and erected between 1805 and 1809, at a cost of about £50,000, is a large and fine edifice of stone in the Classic style, and has a lofty pedimented portico, with four columns of the Ionic order, approached by a flight of steps; the pediment is adorned with the royal arms, and on the apex is an allegorical statue of Justice. The Quarter Sessions for the East Riding and the fortnightly Petty Sessions are both held here.

The East Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum is about 1 mile west from Beverley and in the parish of Walkington, under which place it is described.

Barclay and Company Limited and the Yorkshire Penny Bank Limited have branches in North Bar within; the London Joint Stock Bank Limited, Beckett & Co.’s, York and East Riding Bank and the York County Savings Bank are in Market place. The London City and Midland Bank Limited has a branch in the Market place.

The Assembly Rooms, in Norwood, erected in 1763, form a large red brick building, with stone dressings in the Classic style: the rooms are spacious and convenient, and were much improved in 1840 by the addition of a very large and lofty room, capable of holding about 1,000 persons: the rooms belong to the shareholders, now consolidated into a single body, and are chiefly used for public meetings, concerts, balls, &c.

The Temperance Hall, Well lane, is a brick building, erected in 1845, at a cost of about £380, and will seat about 300 persons.

The Constitutional Lodge of Freemasons No. 294, to which is attached a Royal Arch Chapter, was founded in 1793, and meets at the Masonic hall, Register square, monthly, on the 1st Thursday in the month, excepting July and August.

The subscription news and billiard rooms in Cross street, erected in 1831, is a building of stone in the Doric order.

The Oddfellows’ Hall is in Toll gavel.

There are two reading rooms, one in Flemingate and the other in Keldgate, built and maintained by Rear-Admiral C. F. Walker, for the use of the adult inhabitants of the Minster parish.

A rifle range, in Lord Roberts road, the gift of Rear-Admiral C. F. Walker, was opened Oct. 25, 1909; in 1911 an extension was built consisting of a billiard room and caretaker’s residence.

The Public Library, Art Gallery and Museum, in Well lane, opened 8 Aug. 1906, form a handsome edifice of red brick, with stone dressings, presented to the Corporation, at a cost of £5,000, by John E. Champney esq. of London, and formerly of Beverley, the site being the gift of William Spencer esq. a former mayor. The Institution was endowed by the late William Spencer esq. The interior is fitted in oak. On the ground floor are the news and magazine room, the reference library and the lending library, comprising nearly 7,000 volumes: on the first floor is a picture gallery and museum. Mr. Lockwood Huntley is librarian and secretary.

The Market place, or Saturday market, which has an area of 4 acres, is surrounded by good houses and shops: towards the north end stands the market cross, an open octagonal structure, erected in 1714 by Sir Charles Hotham bart. and Sir Michael Warton kt. and consisting of a basement of three steps, with eight stone columns, each hewn from a solid block and supporting a cupola roof, ornamented with the royal arms of England and France quarterly, the arms of the town and of the founders, and eight stone urns, and surmounted by a turret terminating in a gilded ball and cross: in the centre of the market place is a large block of houses, on the north side of which stands the new Corn Exchange, butter market, and swimming bath, contained in a single building of brick, with stone dressings, in the Queen Anne style, erected in 1886, at a cost of £3,000, from designs by Mr. Musgrave, architect, of Hull. The market is held on Saturday, and is abundantly supplied with meat, poultry, fish, butter, eggs and vegetables, and the business done in corn is important. The Wednesday market, at the south end of the town, is an open triangular area planted with trees, in the centre of which is a large ornamental gas standard. The market for beasts and sheep is in Norwood, and was formed in 1864-5; and on every alternate Wednesday it is well suppied with horned cattle and sheep.

Great cattle fairs are held on the Wednesday before the 5th of April, the Wednesday before May 12th, the Wednesday before September 14th, and on the Wednesday after Christmas Day. There are four annual fairs for horses, cattle and sheep, viz. Thursday before February 25th, Holy Thursday, July 5th, and November 5th, and on the 6th of November there is a statute, or hiring for servants; that on the 5th July, called Midsummer Fair, is a large pleasure fair. The fairs are held in the Market place, and the cattle fairs and markets are held in Norwood.

There is a large tannery, a manufactory of agricultural implements, established by Mr. Crosskill, iron founder, and now carried on by the East Yorkshire and Crosskills’ Cart and Waggon Co. Limited, the works of Messrs. Collison & Co. Tigar's chemical manure works; several whiting manufactories, a linseed cake factory, and a bone-crushing mill; besides a large brewery and several malthouses and shipbuilding yards. The corn trade is another important branch in the traffic of Beverley.

Three local newspapers are published in the town.

Beverley is the Depot of Regimental District No. 15 the East Yorkshire Regiment, comprised of the 1st and 2nd Battalions (15th foot) and the 3rd Special Reserve Battalion. The Victoria Barracks, on the Queensgate road, a mile south-west from the town, were erected in 1876-8, at a cost, including site of 10 acres, of about £52,600; the buildings, of red brick with stone dressings, were enlarged in 1885, and afford room for 320 men, with officers’ quarters; here is the armoury of the 3rd Special Reserve Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment, and a stand of 1,000 arms and sets of equipment are always kept here in addition for mobilization requirements. A detachment of the Royal Army Medical Corps is stationed in the barracks.

The Territorial Force stationed in the town comprise the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry headquarters and B Squadron of the Regiment, F Co. 5th (Cyclists’) Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, and C Co. 5th Battalion Alexandra (Princess of Wales’s Own) Yorkshire Regiment.

Beverley Dispensary and Hospital, Morton lane, erected in 1885-6, at a cost, including site, of about £2,500, is a structure of red brick, from designs by Messrs. Smith and Brodrick, architects, of Hull, and consists of three blocks, the central portion containing the dispensary, apartments for the medical and nursing staff and consulting, operating theatre and waiting rooms; there are two wards, each containing six beds, and three smaller wards with one bed each. The dispensary was first established in 1823, and the hospital in 1878. The Corporation Almshouses, four in number, and the “Maison de Dieu,” comprising 17 dwellings, are in Lair-gate. Routh’s Hospital, in Keldgate, was founded and endowed by Mrs. Ann Routh in 1740, for 12 poor widows, and enlarged in 1809 for 20 more, there being now (1913) 16 widows and 2 nurses in residence; Warton's Hospital, in Minster Moor gate, was founded by Charles Warton esq. in 1712, for 19 poor widows; Sir Michael Warton kt. in 1724 bequeathed £1,000 to enlarge the foregoing, and this benefaction provides dwellings for 6 poor widows. Tymperon’s Hospital, in Walkergate, was founded and endowed by William Tymperon, of Beverley, who died in 1729, for 7 poor widows, each of whom receives 5s. weekly, and there are three almshouses at Aldbrough, the inmates of which each receive 5s. weekly, the surplus being applied to the day and Sunday schools of the borough; the income is now (1913) £250 yearly. Parker's Almshouses, in Woodlands, of which there are four, were erected and endowed by William Parker esq. in 1868; the inmates each receive a weekly allowance; the benefactions for the relief of the poor amount to about £37 10s. yearly.

On the south side of the Minster stands the old manor house, or Hall Garth, some years the Admiral Duncan inn: the building still retains portions of the court-room and gaol, and there are traces of a moat; here the courts of the Provosts of Beverley were formerly held; the courts leet of the lord of the manor are now held twice a year at the Holderness hotel, in Toll gavel: south of the house is the ancient park of Beverley, which until 1545 belonged to the Archbishops of York.

The North Bar, the only remaining gate out of five which formerly led into and protected the town, is an embattled structure of brick, two stories in height, with a wide groined central archway, flanked by tall gabled buttresses and two posterns; it retains a portcullis groove and massive oaken gates, and was restored in 1867; the destroyed bars were South Bar, adjoining Eastgate; Keldgate Bar and Newbegin and Norwood Bars.

In Eastgate, near the Minster, are some remains of the monastery of the Dominicans, or Black Friars, established here before 1240, on a site given by “Master Stephen Goldsmith,” and with the sanction of Walter Gray, archbishop of York; Edward I. in 1299, Edward II. in 1310, and Edward III. in 1328, on visiting the town, bestowed alms on the fraternity; in 1440, the dormitory and library being destroyed by fire, they received from Henry VI. a sum of 10 marks (£6 13s. 4d.) towards the rebuilding; and amongst other benefactors was Thomas, first baron D’Arcy of D’Arcy K.G. executed on Tower Hill, June 20, 1537, for his participation in the “Pilgrimage of Grace.” The Convent was surrendered to the Crown, February 26, 1538-9, by Robert Hill, prior, and the friars then resident; the lands attached, and consisting of churchyard, gardens and orchards, being about 4 ½ acres; the whole was sold September 26, 1544, to John Pope and Anthony Foster, gents, of London. The site of the priory is still surrounded by brick walls, with two ornamented gateways, one in Eastgate and the other in Chantry lane; and a part of the monastic buildings, now converted into dwelling houses, is still standing, and retains some interesting timber work and oak carving.

In Keldgate was a house of Franciscan or Grey Friars, founded by W. Lyketon in 1297; and there are several hospitals, one dedicated to St. Giles without Newbegin bar, and near Westwood road; another to St. Nicholas, founded before 1286 and situated near the Dominican priory; and outside Keldgate, a lepers’ hospital, existing in 1437; on a space of ground, now partly occupied by the railway station, and still retaining part of the moat, once stood a Commandery of the Knights Hospitallers, dedicated to the Holy Trinity; in 1610, during the visitation of the plague, a hospital was erected on its ruins, and a portion of the site was used as a cemetery.

There are four public pastures in Beverley, in which certain inhabitants, called pasture freemen, depasture cattle, and in which the public have the right of walking or riding. Westwood and Hurn, which have a park-like appearance, adjoin each other, Westwood containing 504 and Hurn 110 acres, Figham 297 acres, and Swinemoor 263 acres.

On Swinemoor is a mineral spring of intense coldness, and once in some repute, but now only used for bathing purposes.

The Old Recreation Ground, Wilbert lane, opened in 1884, is a walled inclosure of about 2 ¾ acres, and is now used as a bowling green and tennis club.

The New Recreation Ground, Norwood, opened in 1908, comprises about 6 ½ acres, and has a bowling green and cricket ground; there is also a pavilion, containing dressing and refreshment rooms.

On Westwood is an excellent cricket ground, and golf links were laid out and a good club house erected in 1891 by the Beverley and East Riding Golf Club.

Races are held here annually in June on the Hurn pasture, about three-quarters of a mile west of the town: the ground is in the form of a pear, and is exceedingly favourable for gratifying the spectators, the distance round being about 100 yards short of a mile and a half: the straight run in, with a gradual rise, is nearly half a mile: a grand stand was erected in 1747 at a cost of £1,000, obtained from the gate money, and in 1887 a new grand stand was erected by subscription, to which a jockeys' room, weighing room, reporters’ room, and a stand above for owners and trainers were subsequently added.

The soil to the south and east of the town consists of a mixture of marl, clay, sand and gravel; and the north and west of a chalky nature.

Arthur John Wise esq. of Nafferton, who is lord of the manor, holds a court leet twice yearly: viz. in April and October, at the Holderness hotel, Toll gavel, Beverley.

Beverley Hall is the residence of Rear-Admiral Charles Francis Walker J.P.

The population in 1911 of the borough was 13,654.

The population of the municipal wards in 1911 was:-Minster, 8,158 and St. Mary, 5,496.

The population of the ecclesiastical parishes in 1911 was:-St. Mary and St. Nicholas, 7,988; St. John the Evangelist and St. Martin, 7,281.

Head Verger of the Minster, Thomas Norton, 38 Highgate.

Head Verger, St. Mary, Edward Binnington, Hengate.

Petty Sessions are held at the Sessions House in Beverley every alternate Saturday, at 12 noon. The following places are included in the North Hunsley Beacon petty sessional division:-Aike, Beswick, Bishop-Burton, Cherry Burton, Eske, Etton, Holme-on-the Wold, Leconfield, Lockington, Meaux, Molesoroft, North Newbald, Scorborough, South Dalton, Storkhill & Sandholme, Thearne, Tickton & Hull Bridge, Walkington, Wawne, Weel, Woodmansey.

BEVERLEY RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL

The townships in the District are the same as in the Union, with the exception of Beverley.

Council meets at the Workhouse on every 4th Saturday, at 12.30 p.m.

MILITARY

(For Military purposes Beverley is in the Northern Command (head quarters, York) & in No. 5 District (head quarters, York) & is the depot of the East Yorkshire Regiment.)

Head quarters 15th Recruiting area, Victoria Barracks, Queensgate road.

ROYAL ARMY MEDICAL CORPS.

Special Reserve.

Commanding, Capt. Wilson Ranson F.R.C.S.Edin.

TERRITORIAL FORCE.

Yeomanry.

East Riding of Yorkshire; head quarters, 4 Railway street.

Territorial Force Reserve.

East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry.

Commanding, Capt. A. S. Wilson.

Infantry.

5th Battalion Alexandra Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire Regiment) (C Co.); head quarters, Grayburn lane.

5th (Cyclist) Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment (F Co.); head quarters, Grayburn lane.

CEMETERIES

St. John's, Queensgate, Thomas Barnard Hodgson, Beck-side, clerk to the burial board.

St. Martin’s, Cartwright lane, J. Willis Mills, Lairgate, clerk.

St. Mary & St. Nicholas, New walk.

BEVERLEY UNION

The Union comprises the following parishes & townships:-Aike, Beswick, Beverley (St. Martin, St. Mary, St. Nicholas), Bishop Burton, Brantingham, South Cave, Cherry Burton, South Dalton, Ellerker, Elloughton-with-Brough, Eske, Etton, Holme-on-the-Wolds, Kilnwick, Leconfield, Leven, Lockington, Lund, Meaux, Molescroft, North & South Newbald, Routh, Rowley, Scorborough, Skidby, Storkhill, Thearne, Tickton-with-Hull Bridge, Walkington, Wawne, Weel & Woodmansey-with-Beverley Parks. The area of the Union is 80,132 acres; rateable value in 1912, £171,264; the population in 1911 was 25,281.

Board day every alternate Saturday, at 11 o’clock at the Workhouse.

The Workhouse, near Westwood, in St. Mary's parish, opened in 1861, at a cost, including site, of £5,500, is a building of red brick with stone dressings, in the Tudor style, & consists of a central block with a turret containing a bell & a clock, added in 1902, & two wings, & will hold 189 inmates. A new infirmary, with 60 beds & casual wards for 41 inmates (29 males & 12 females), with work cells attached & 6 stone breaking cells in the yard, porter’s lodge & archway over the road at the entrance, were completed in 1895 at a total cost of about £8,000.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

The Minster (St. John’s), Rev. Canon Henry Edward Nolloth D.D. vicar & rural dean; Rev. Wm. Elliott Wigfall M.A. & Rev. Arthur Ellam M.A. perpetual assistant curates; Rev. John Edleston Farrar B.A. & Rev. Hugh Robert Williams, curates; Organist & Choir Master, John Henry Norrison Camidge; Head Verger & Acting Clerk, Thomas Norton; Vestry Clerk, G. E. Whitehead; 10.30 a.m. & 3 & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 8 a.m. & 5 p.m.; Wed. 11 a.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

St. Mary’s, North bar within. Rev. William Hale Savile M.A. vicar; Rev. Thomas Henry Marston B.A. & Rev. Francis William Holmes B.A. curates; 8 & 10.30 a.m. & 2.30 & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 10.30 a.m. & 5.30 p.m.; except Wed. 7.30 p.m.; head verger, Edward Binnington; sexton of St. Mary’s, John Robert Skinner.

St. John’s Chapel of Ease to the Minster, Lairgate, Rev. Canon Henry Edward Nolloth D.D. incumbent; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Nicholas’, Rev. Thomas Henry Marston B.A. curate in charge; 8 & 10.45 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7 a.m.; Thur. 7 p.m.; Fri. 7 a.m. & saints’ days, 7 a.m.

St. Paul’s Chapel of Ease, Tickton; Rev. Arthur Ellam M.A. curate; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

St. Peter’s, Woodmansey, Rev. Hugh Robert Williams, curate.

St. John Catholic Church, North bar without, Very Rev. Canon James Griffin, priest; mass, 9.30 (for military) & 11 a.m. & evening service, 6.30 p.m.; holidays of obligation, mass, 9 a.m.; devotions & benediction, 7.30 p.m.; mass, Mon. Wed. & Sat. at 8.30 a.m.

Baptist, Lord Roberts road. Rev. William Henry Davies; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Mon. & Thur. 7 p.m.

Baptist (Scotch), Wilbert lane; 10.45 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational, Lairgate, Rev. W. Douglas Reid M.A., B.D.; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Mon. & Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Shepherd Memorial Congregational Mission, Grove Hill road, Mr. H. W. Abba, pastor; 10.15 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. & Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Wednesday market; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Tue. 7 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Norwood; 10.30 a.m. & 6p.m.; Tue. 7 p.m.

Rev. Geo. Edward Lloyd (superintendent) & Rev. William Woodley.

United Methodist, Trinity lane. Rev. John William Mold; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Toll gavel; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Methodist, Flemingate; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; alternate Thur. 7 p.m.

Rev. J. Wesley Davies (supt.), Rev. Andrew Ingleson Wharton & Rev. Arthur F. Wolton.

Wesleyan Mission Chapel, Keldgate, Beverley (in connection with the Wesleyan chapel in Toll gavel); 2.30 & 6.30 p.m.; Tue. 7.30 p.m.

Salvation Army Barracks, Wilbert lane.

SCHOOLS

Grammar School, Queensgate (formerly the Foundation School & dating probably from the 10th century), was revived under a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, dated Feb. 8th, 1890, & removed from Grayburn lane to its present site in Queensgate in 1902, & is now a Secondary School in Div. B of the Board of Education, The new building, which cost £3,000, has excellent class rooms, lecture room, laboratory &c. with playing fields of some 4 acres adjoining, open directly upon the Westwood: attached to the school are 9 entrance scholarships: the whole of the endowments of the foundations are now administered by a governing body, consisting of 12 representative governors & three co-optative; four being elected by the Town Council of Beverley, three by the Trustees of the Municipal Charities of the Borough, one by the Council of the Yorkshire College at Leeds & two by the East Riding County Council; Rev. Canon H, E. Nolloth D.D, chairman: the school is adapted for 80 boys, & there are now (1913) about 50; Charles Henry Burden B.A., B.Sc. University of London, head master, with several assistant masters; clerk to the Governors, Frederick G. Hobson, Newbegin.

Beverley High School for Girls, opened in 1909, is in Norwood & stands in 12 acres of ground & includes an old Georgian mansion used as a boarding house & residence of mistresses. There are 12 governors; clerk to the governors, J, R, Procter, County hall, Beverley.

Public Elementary Schools

The Beverley schools are under the control of an Education Committee of 15 members, elected by the Borough Council & consisting of two aldermen, eight borough councillors & five co-opted members. Meeting on the Thursday before the first Monday in the month at 3.30 p.m.

School Medical Officer, John Philip Park M.D., M.Ch. R.U.I. 31 Lairgate.

School Attendance Officer, Robert Needham, West terrace, Holme, Church lane Health Visitor & School Nurse, Miss B. F. Ingles.

Spencer Council, Walkergate (mixed), erected in 1840 & enlarged in 1900, for 340 children; average attendance, 340.

Walkergate Council (infants & junior), erected in 1905, for 258 children; average attendance, 196.

Minster (boys), Lurk lane, erected in 1848 & enlarged in 1902, for 289 boys; average attendance, 285.

Minster (girls), Minster yard north, enlarged in 1900, for 261 girls; average attendance, 272.

Minster (infants), Minster Moorgate, for 177 children; average attendance, 151.

Minster (infants), Flemingate, for 136 children; average attendance, 120.Stolen from Fore-bears

St. Mary’s (boys), Cross street, built in 1879, at a cost of about £1,000, for 276 children; average attendance, 262.

St. Mary’s, Norwood (girls), erected in 1875, for 310 girls; average attendance, 210.

St. Mary’s (infants), Lairgate, built in 1842 & enlarged in 1899, for 180 children; average attendance, 138.

St. Nicholas, Holme Church lane (infants), erected in 1880, for 157 children; average attendance, 144.

Catholic (mixed & infants), North bar without, conducted by the Sisters of Mercy, for 98 children; average attendance, 82.