Historic Beverley

Beverley Minster

Though St John of Beverley is the traditional founder, the dedication is to St John the Evangelist. King Athelstan re founded the monastery in the 10^th century as a collegiate church served by secular canons: ‘Minster’ is a usual name for such a church, often of royal foundation. The Minster was built in 3 stages: the chancel, transepts and part of nave (1220-75, Early English); nave (1308 on, Decorated); followed by the west front and towers and the east window (1390-1420, Perpendicular). Largely built of Tadcaster area limestone with Purbeck marble, the different styles blend harmoniously. Guide Books are available and of the many things to note of particular interest are: the reputed resting place of St John’s remains; Athelstan’s rhyming charter (though it dates only from the 14^th century); Norman font; statues of St John and Athelstan; Georgian west doors; Percy Tomb (magnificent 14^th-century carving); entrance to Chapter House (demolished 1550); Frith stool (older than the Minster); misericords; choir screen (designed by GG Scott, carved by J Elwell).

58 Flemingate

Traditionally the birthplace of St John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, executed in 1535 for his opposition to Henry VIII’s religious policy. It is, however, a 17^th-century house. An earlier Fisher home may have stood on the site. John Fisher’s father, Robert, had connections with St Mary’s Church. The name, Flemingate (street of the Flemmings: ‘gata’ is an old Scandinavian word for ‘street’) is an indication of the trade, which medieval Beverley attracted.

Sun Inn

A neat timbered building containing 16^th-century work, a reminder of the appearance of Beverley before its Georgian ‘face-lift’.

Friary

A rare survival: the friars (‘the Salvation Army of the Middle Ages’) lived in centres of population and their houses have usually been lost in later building developments. This was a house of the Dominicans (Blackfriars) who came to Beverley c.1240. The visible part was probably the dormitory and library, restored with help from Henry VI after a fire in 1449. Much of the Friary foundations are under nearby railway lines. The Friary Trust rescued the Friary from its dilapidated state and undertook a successful programme of restoration. It is now a Youth Hostel.

Friary Gateway, Old Vicarage

In 1964 a 16^th-century gateway from the Friary on the opposite side of Eastgate was moved across the road and incorporated in the garden wall of the Old Vicarage (1703-9): once the home of the Rev. Joseph Coltman, said to have been the largest man then living in England, whose silhouette showing him with a dandy horse is famous.

38 Highgate

At right angles to the street and to the new Vicarage is the Bluecoat School, founded 1710, which moved here c. 1808 and closed 1890. The Minster, never a cathedral, has no ‘close’, but Highgate provides a very attractive route to and from the fine north porch, an important entrance. Some dignified Georgian houses. At the rear of ‘The Monk’s Walk’ (formerly the ‘George and Dragon’) is the surviving part of a former Warton residence.

Ann Routh’s Hospital

An Almshouse, built 1749 by the bequest of Ann Routh. An example of philanthropy in Georgian Beverley. Keldgate means ‘spring-street’. Some good houses on the south side. Keldgate Bar was removed in 1808.

Old School House

54 Keldgate. Seventeenth-century: the Master’s house. Beverley Grammar School is of very early foundation and was originally in the south-west corner of the Minster yard before moving to Keldgate in 1816. The school is now in Queensgate.

Warton’s Hospital

The Wartons were a local gentry family known as ‘the wealthy Wartons’. They provided the town with MPs and this almshouse is one of their benefactions (founded 1712). Warton memorials are at the east end of the chancel of the Minster.

Guildhall

A fine building in an inconspicuous position. Built in 1762 to replace a Tudor one, by then in a bad state. The builder was William Middleton whose work in the 18^th-century did so much to give Beverley its distinctive appearance. An impressive courtroom with Royal Coat of Arms and ceiling (showing Justice without a blindfold) by the plasterer, Guiseppe Cortese. Mayoral dais (1604), pewter collection and portrait of William Middleton in the Magistrates Room upstairs. In 1832 Charles Mountain, a Hull architect, added the Doric Portico, the Mayor’s Parlour and the public gallery (the pillars taken from the nave galleries of Beverley Minster, removed in 1826). Register Square takes its name from the Registry of Deeds for the East Riding established here. The attractive Georgian building, now occupied by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, was once Miss Stephenson’s school for girls. The building to its left was the Beverley Dispensary.

Highgate House, Wednesday Market Place

This Georgian house was in the 19^th-century the home of Dr T Sandwith, a surgeon and Liberal Mayor. It features in JS Fletcher’s novel ‘The House in Tuesday Market’. Part of it was chopped off when Lord Roberts Road was built. Wednesday Market Place is older than the larger Saturday Market Place. Important in the Middle Ages when the area to the north of the Minster was a flourishing community. Had a pit for cockfighting. A market cross, in the form of an obelisk, was erected in 1762 and removed in 1881. It was originally more enclosed: Railway Street was not built until c.1846 and Lord Roberts Road not until 1909. Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18^th-century writer, spent part of her girlhood with her family in a house in Wednesday Market Place.

Gentlemen’s Club

Now East Riding of Yorkshire Council premises. Built c.1831. Matches the house opposite.

11 Cross Street

An elegant house with a Greek Doric entrance built 1834.

Market Cross

Built in 1711-1714 to replace an earlier one, reputedly big enough for carriages to drive through. Designed by Shelton of Wakefield. The towns MPs, Sir Charles Hotham and Sir Michael Warton, contributed to the cost, and their arms and those of Queen Anne and Beverley are displayed. Saturday Market Place overtook Wednesday Market Place as the town developed northwards. An attractive variety of roof levels on the east side. The building now occupied by James Higson, Optician, was formerly the ‘Pack Horse Inn’ where a mysterious ‘man in a hairy cap’ bribed voters in the 1860 election. Sir John Hotham, the Governor of Hull, who refused admission there to Charles I in 1642, was captured near the Market Place in 1643 after his conversion to the Royalist cause. He was later executed.

Ann Routh’s House

65 Toll Gavel. Built c. 1703. The residence of the benefactress, Ann Routh. Window tax caused the reduction in the number of ground floor windows. In the 19^th-centurt used as a Church Institute and as Liberal Headquarters. Voters went in at the front door to be bribed and out through the back door into Walkergate where a cab waited to take them to the poll.

44 Toll Gavel

Is a former chemist’s; the snakes are the symbol of Aesculapius, God of Medicine. ‘Gafol’ means ‘tribute’ or ‘rent’; tolls were collected in this area.

Ladygate

An attractive little street which fell into decay but now shows the result of careful restoration of shops and houses. The Red Cross shop was formerly the ‘Custom House Vaults’ inn.

The Old Corn Exchange Corn Exchange

Built in 1886, it has reflected social change, later becoming a cinema (Picture Playhouse) and also used for bingo. It replaced a building serving as a combined meat, corn and butter market. The buildings east of the Market Cross (from the ‘Push Inn’ to Lloyds TSB, known as Butter Dings, probably occupy the site of the medieval Archbishop’s Hall. In 1867 a case of poisoning took place in an upper room of the building now occupied by Alpha Taxis.

Tymperon Housed

A former Georgian almshouse, established c.1731 by William Tymperon. The blind arcading was a popular style in Beverley.

Walkergate House

c.1770. In the 19^th-century the home of William Crosskill, the ’father of merchandised farming in East Yorkshire’, who invented the Clod Crusher and other important farming implements.

The White Horse, Hengate

Another street with interesting Georgian buildings. ‘The White Horse’ (known universally as ‘Nellie’s’ after its former proprietor) provides the atmosphere of an authentic old inn: late 17^th-century but parts are probably earlier. Original Georgian shutters and doors. Only gas lighting until recently. In the 19^th-century kept by Francis Burrell, a place where voters were bribed by the Tories. Next to Nellie's is the sunken entrance of Arden’s Wine Vaults. Jane Arden, a member of this well-known Beverley family, was the friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’ (and mother-in-law of Shelley), who lived in Beverley in the 1760s and 1770s.

Assembly Rooms

On the corner of Manor Road and Norwood lies the former site of the Assembly Rooms, built 1761-3 to provide a social amenity for Beverley society in a similar style to that enjoyed at York and Bath. The season began in October and assemblies were held fortnightly during the winter and also during the races. There were sophisticated rules of etiquette at these fashionable gatherings and visitors’ carriages caused traffic problems. The Rooms, design by John Carr and built by William Middleton, were replaced by the Regal Cinema in 1935; this has since been demolished.

Norwood House

Built 1765-70 for J Midgley, attorney. Later home of William Beverley, Mayor and parliamentary candidate, whose father was George Washington’s cousin. His son, Robert Mackenzie Beverley, was a prolific author and pamphleteer. Later residents were Henry Broadley, MP for the East Riding (1837-51) and the Countess of Ravensworth who in 1904 took as her third husband her second husband’s groom.

Beverley Arms

Formerly, the ‘Blue Bell’, largely rebuilt in 1794 by William Middleton. Anthony Trollope, who was a parliamentary candidate in Beverley in 1868, later ridiculed Beverley politics in his novel ‘Ralph the Heir’, in which Beverley appears as ‘Percycross’ and the Beverley Arms as ‘The Percy Standard’. Famous paintings by FW Elwell of the kitchen (now the Coffee Shop).

Former Tiger Inn

Now a range of shops but the upper storey shows that this was one large building an important coaching inn (1730-1840s) from where the ‘Trafalgar’ left for Hull and the ‘Royal Mail’ for York. One tradition is that coach horses were washed in the Bar Dyke. The venue of auction sales and meetings, Daniel O’Connell spoke here in 1836. Competition from the nearby Beverley Arms and the impact of the railways probably caused its closure.

St Mary's Church St Mary’s Church

So perfect that sometimes mistaken for the Minster. Began as a chapel-of-ease (c.1120) for people who lived in this developing part of the town. Transepts and aisles added later and chancel extended. Magnificent west front is very similar to that of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, but is earlier. The tower fell down 1520 and was replaced by the present one of perfect proportions. Nave also rebuilt. Inscriptions on northern pillars commemorate contributors to rebuilding. Minstrels Pillar indicates importance of Beverley as a centre for Northern Gild of Minstrels. Guide books are available but items of particular interest are: 15^th-century vaulted south porch; War Memorial Door carved by Robert (‘Mouse’) Thompson; Crypt (originally a charnel house); Priest’s Room; White Rabbit carving reputed to be model for Tenniel’s illustration in ‘Alice in Wonderland’; 15^th-century choir stalls of Ripon school; chancel ceiling of Kings of England; on the south wall facing Hengate a rhyming epitaph to two Danish mercenaries – one killed the other in 1689, reputedly in ‘The White Swan’ – now Michael Phillips shop.

St Mary’s Court

49 North Bar Within. 15^th-century. An attractive reminder of Beverley’s appearance when it was a town of timbered buildings. John Leland, the Tudor antiquary, described Beverley as ‘large and well builded of wood’. Gordon Armstrong began his business here in 1909. He designed a car called ‘The Gordon’ and in 1921 began to make shock absorbers, a development, which lead to the international famous company.

St Mary’s Manor

Early 19^th-century. A Victorian cause celebre occurred in 1851, when Councillor Daniel Boyes (an active Liberal Electioneer, called ‘Prime Minister of Beverley’) ordered the lopping of the trees of the owner, Colonel Marten, which overhung the pavement. Marten won the case and a shilling rate was levied to pay the costs.

James Elwell’s Premises

6 North Bar Without. Now a restaurant; previously the premises of James Elwell (father of the artist) who ran a thriving woodcarving business in the 19^th-century and whose work is to be seen in many local buildings. All the timbering and carving on this attractive range of buildings is Victorian. No 4 has above the door a cartoon of Disraeli, ‘The Political Cheapjack’. See also 43 North Bar without (Oak House) and 45 (depicting a scene from ‘The Cloister and The Hearth’).

North Bar

Rebuilt 1409-10 of brick (good quality local stone is rare) at a cost of £96.17.4. The Arms are those of Michael Warton (d.1688) impaled with those of his wife, Susannah, daughter of Lord Powlett. A leper house and pond with ducking stool stood outside the Bar. In 1867 the unsavoury Bar Dyke was filled in. Local double-decker buses (they no longer use the Bar) had specially rounded tops to enable drivers to negotiate this tricky entrance. F W Elwell, R.A. (1870-1958) lived for 42 years at the Bar House (adjoining the west end of the Bar). His output was immense and his reputation is high. The Art Gallery, Champney Road has an Elwell Collection; many of his paintings depict Beverley. The house, reconstructed in 1866, contains much older work. The balustrade on the top of the tower is said to have been used by a former owner for viewing races. A fine Georgian terrace adjacent. In 1642 Charles I and his sons, the future Charles II and James II, stayed at Lady Gee’s house which probably occupied this site.

Sessions House

A dignified building with Ionic columns and pediment, used as a Crown Court. Built 1804-14, surmounted by a gilded figure of Justice without a blindfold. New Walk was laid out as a fashionable promenade in the late 18^th-century.

Octagon House, Norfolk Street

The former Turnkey’s house of the East Riding House of Correction, built high to survey the prison yard in front. The prison was opened in 1810, closed in 1878, and converted to houses in the 1880s. The present peaceful street gives no indication of the harsh regime once in force here. A famous Chartist, Robert Peddie, wrote a bitter set of verses, ‘The Dungeon Harp’, about his suffering when he was imprisoned here 1840-3 and forced to work on the treadmill. The gate at the end of the street provides access to the Westwood and so a pleasant route back to the town.

Newbegin Bar House

1745-7. Newbegin Bar was demolished in 1790. A street of interesting houses. Newbegin House (No 14) c.1680-1700 was a Warton residence. The brickwork of No 9 shows where a Victorian bay replaced the original sash window on the left of the door.

The Hall, Lairgate

Popularly known as Admiral Walker House after the last private resident who died in 1925. Built c.1700, it was earlier known as Pennyman House. Sir James Pennyman, a Beverley Mayor and MP (1774-90), was responsible for major alterations, in particular the present reception rooms designed by Carr. Both the Chinese Room and the Dining Room have fine stuccoed ceilings. The design of the former incorporates musical instruments, and the room has 18^th-century hand painted Chinese wallpaper and a fireplace brought from Sandbeck Castle.

Westwood

The most famous of Beverley’s pastures, controlled by Pasture Masters elected annually. Their rules are displayed near the entrance to York Road. The trees of this well-wooded area have been progressively cut down from the town outwards but Burton Bushes on the western edge is the surviving part of the old forest. The first official racecourse was laid out in 1690 and transferred to its present site and a stand erected in 1769. Of the 5 known mills, remains of 3 survive. Good Victorian houses in York Road. Willow Grove opposite derives its name from the willows, which grew near the stream, which flowed from the Westwood and fed the Walker Beck. The attractive timbering of the ‘Rose & Crown’ is modern but the inn has a long history.

Beverley Town Council