BEVERLEY, YORKSHIRE

Grid Ref: TA 037 392 at the Minster
Dates: 21 September 2009

Beverley town centre

Approach to the minster

Beverley is a market town and a civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire which lies 27 miles south-east of York. In the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,000, which was only three times that reported in 1377. The town was founded in the seventh century by John of Beverley, who established a church in the area. It was originally named Inderawuda, and was part of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria. The town came under Viking control in the 850s, then became part of the Kingdom of England. John of Beverley was made a saint in 1037, and the town was a place of pilgrimage until the Reformation. The name Beverley comes from a field where there are beavers. However, it has given its name to a town in New England and thence to Beverley Hills in California

H.V. Morton (1892-1979) wrote The Call of England, first published in 1928. Morton was a keen observer, very knowledgeable about British history and wrote poetically. On his journey north through Eastern England he reached Beverley and wrote:

"I topped the rise beyond Bishop Burton. Below me in the green fields lay the ancient town of Beverley. There come moments in England when travellers pause in their journey, brought to a full stop of mind and body by a beauty so sudden, so old, so right and so English that there is nothing for a man to do but to look gratefully before him. A man looking down on Beverley may think that any ancestor of his who rode that way five hundred years ago saw the same bright meadows rolling to the valley, loved the same flash of silver hawthorn, saw the same twin towers of the minster lifting above the tree tops, the same glow of red roofs, the same blue hint of smoke in the quiet evening air. There are certain times when a man should not be ashamed to fall on his knees by the roadside; and what a strange thought about Beverley! This hill-top must have been the spot on which the pilgrims to the shrine of St. John of Beverley sank down in the meadow-sweet to give thanks to God for their journey's end. "

Morton goes on to tell us that St. John was one of four famous saints of the North of England and his bones reputedly made Beverley a town of miracles. It is believed that William the Conqueror, while laying waste to the north, rode round Beverley to avoid disturbing the "peace of St. John." Kings are said to have visited Beverley for the banner of St. John to carry before them as they went into battle. King Stephen took it to the Battle of the Standard when he also enlisted the aid of St. Peter of York, St. Cuthbert of Durham and St. Wilfrid of Ripon. The banner was also used by Edward I, Edward II, Edward III and Henry IV. King Henry V, after the Battle of Agincourt brought his new wife, the French princess, Catherine, to Beverley to give thanks for his victory at the shrine of St. John. Beverley minster became rich from the donations of pilgrims and the town became the eleventh most populous in England by the time of Richard II's poll tax in 1377. While agriculure remained the main business in the Beverley area, when Morton visited in the 1920s there was small scale ship building of trawlers

The minster has been described as the most beautiful gothic building in England. "Its perfection," writes Morton, "speaks of an age when all the genius of man now squandered into a thousand professions was poured into the church." It is a parish church but larger than a third of English cathedrals. Originally it was a collegiate church, many of which became cathedrals at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The minster's earliest origin arises from the foundation of a monastery in about 700 AD by John of Beverley who became the Bishop of York from 707-14. His remains lie in a vault beneath the nave. Modern excavations show that there was a major church near the current minister from about 700 to 850 which could be consistent with the view that it was destroyed by Vikings at that date.

There is a tradition that King Aethelstan refounded the monastery and it became a site of pilgrimage after the John was canonised in 1037 and there is evidence of rebuilding work in this period. However this church was largely destroyed by fire in 1188 and rebuilding commenced. A new tower over the eastern crossing designed to illuminate the St. John's shrine collapsed in about 1219 necessitating further rebuilding. By 1260 the choir, chapter house, transepts and crossings were completed. This was in a new style of Early English Gothic, distinct from the earlier heavier Norman. Work on the nave began in 1311 in what is now known as the Perpendicular style but was still ongoing in 1134 and may have been interrupted by the Black Death in the 1340. The nave and two great towers at the west end were completed in about 1400. Later work included the great east window, a chapel funded by the Percy family and the choir stalls. In 1548, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the minster became a parish church.and the college of secular canons was closed. This decreased the staff from seventy-five to just four. The chapter house was no longer needed and was demolished. The parish church of St. Martin, attached to the three southwestern bays of the nave was also demolished.

The minster fell into a poor state of repair by the early 18th century with collapse of the north transept and damage to the crossing. Repairs were undertaken between 1717 and 1731.

Over a period of sixty years, 186 murderers, 208 debtors, 54 theives and over 500 other criminals sought sanctuary, some from as far away as London. Originally fugitives had to reach a great carved stone chair in the minster called the Freestool but in due course the sanctuary was withing a mile radius of the minster.