Beverley

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Beverley Minster by night

In November last year we travelled down to Yorkshire for a 70th birthday party and decided to make a long weekend of it. We had a night in Brough in Cumbria on the way down (Brough in shadow) before making our way to Beverley in East Yorkshire, arriving the evening before the party. This gave us the whole of the following day to explore.

We had visited Beverley once when we lived in Yorkshire – given that we moved to Glasgow in 1986, that was a very long time ago and my memories are understandably hazy. The main impression I was left with was of a massively imposing Minster towering over the town, and I wasn’t wrong as you can see from my header photo taken from a footbridge over the railway. Below is the same view from the bridge in daylight, and some of the bridge’s artwork.

Beverley Minster from railway bridge
Street art on bridge

The interior of the Minster is absolutely stunning. Here are some general shots to feast your eyes on.

Nave
Choir
Altar
Carvings behind altar
Altar
Altar
Percy Canopy (14thC)
Choir and organ pipes (1767)
Organ (Johann Snetzler 1767)
Stained glass windows

Now for some details. One thing the Minster is renowned for is the world’s largest collection of medieval carved musicians – over 70 of them. Here are just a few.

Carved musicians
Carved musician

It also has a greater number of misericords than in any English cathedral – 68, dating from 1520. This one is specially for Jude – I raised the seat, took the photograph, and put it back down again without reprimand – she’ll know what I mean!

Not so much a bench as a misericord for Jude

The Retroquire contains several linked pieces of art by Helen Whittaker on the theme of pilgrimage. The info board explains it better than I could.

Retroquire info board
Window by Helen Whittaker
Pilgrims by Helen Whittaker
Candle stand and seating by Helen Whittaker

There was so much more to see – but lets move on! Our next visit was to Champney Treasure House, an amazing building containing the town’s museum and library, and much more including a café where we had lunch. You would not, of course, expect me to miss the library which was attractive and well-ordered with several staff tidying the shelves – I had to wait a while to get a clear shot. It also had a sensory room which is not something I have come across in a library before.

Tidy shelves
Sensory room

I was slightly disconcerted to find that the temporary exhibition in the museum was on life in the 1980s, not history surely, so we’ll skate over that and go to the viewing tower recently decorated by Charlotte Eldred. Good views over the town and if you were accurate you could frame them.

Window design by Charlotte Eldred (2025)
Window design by Charlotte Eldred (2025)

Outside the Treasure House is Champney Gardens.

Champney Gardens information board
Treasure House (original building and first extension)
Central pathway
Benches and Minster view

We then moved on to Coronation Gardens near North Bar (1409), the town’s only remaining medieval gate. The gardens are the site of an old graveyard.

North Bar
Coronation Gardens
Memorial bench and sculpture by Peter Brown

The Minster is not the only impressive church in town. Opposite Coronation Gardens is St Mary’s which also has a splendid interior – and a zero tolerance misericord policy!

St Mary’s Church
Nave
Nave ceiling
Stained glass window
Altar
Altar
Ceiling of Kings
Pulpit
Pilgrim Hare, said to be the inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit
Minstrel’s Pillar
Misericords
Misericords

A feature I really liked resulted from restoration works in 2020/21 which allowed new carvings to be placed high up on the church’s exterior to replace crumbling medieval ones. On the north side are Narnia characters and on the south side (whoop, whoop!) are women of influence. You can see the plaster models for both sets inside. Below is Narnia.

Narnia plaster casts
Narnia figures above windows

Of course, I have umpteen photographs of the women, but here I have concentrated on one of them, mathematician Ada Lovelace (1815-1852).

Women of influence
Ada Lovelace plaster cast
Ada Lovelace next to rightmost window
Ada Lovelace

After visiting the church we continued to wander the town – so much to see! We had picked up leaflets about various town trails, none of which we followed specifically but we saw some of the sights as we went along. For example, the reproduction painting below is part of Paint the town: Fred and Mary which places works by local artists Frederick W (1870-1958) and Mary Elwell (1874-1952) in their  actual locations.

Restored Victorian water pump
Market Cross
Beverley Minster (1934) by Mary Elwell
Remembrance themed post box

The final part of our walk was up and down the Beverley Beck, a short canal which runs for about 0.8 of a mile to connect the town to the River Hull. By the 1970s, commercial traffic had all but stopped but it still has an industrial feel to it at the far end. The town end, shown below, looks like an attractive place to live.

Start of the Beck with statues representing Medieval Guilds and Crafts
Housing by Beck
Syntan owned by the Beverley Barge Preservation Society
Art under the bridge
Minster coming back into view
Syntan owned by the Beverley Barge Preservation Society

This was a jam packed day, followed by a lovely party that evening. The following morning, Sunday, we set off for Richmond in North Yorkshire via an enjoyable lunch at a pub in Boston Spa with our friends Valerie and Kenn. We stayed another two nights in Richmond – but that’s a story for another post.

England, UK ,

43 Comments »

  2. It was a good thing that you decided to make a weekend of it. I wonder if the craftsmen were named in the history books and if their skills were passed down to the next generation? I am also not religious though find churches etc fascinating.

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  4. As a lifelong avid reader of books I used to frequent my local library all the time since five years old but since the covid lockdowns, when they were all shut (charity shops seemed to open a lot faster) I switched to charity shops where you can buy donated books for 50p to £1 50 and you get to keep and re- read the best ones. Only downside of that is I’m turning into a library myself :o).
    They are important though as apparently many internet raised children would struggle to finish ANY book, having lost the knack of reading altogether. Which is a shame as it is a real privilege to dip into any writers imagination, opinions, and created worlds. Instead of always living in your own one… and completely fixed on your own opinions and thoughts. Why is that important? Look at the world currently. Bob. BSS.

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    • Totally agree on the importance of reading and libraries in widening your world view and encouraging empathy with others. I use a mixture of libraries, second hand book shops or websites, and ebooks depending how quickly I want to read something. If it’s for book group I can’t always wait for a library copy to be available.

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  6. Not religious, but I do love looking at church architecture and art. Fun that they updated the busts at the one. Reminded me of the whimsical gargoyles at the National Cathedral in Washington DC.

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  8. It sounds like the people in charge of showing Beverley at its best have done a great job. And you did a great job of seeing lots while you were there. I love the idea of having reproductions of the paintings in situ so you can compare the scene, then and now.

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  9. I visited Beverley a few years ago when I was working over that way. I always tried to find places to see and spent half a day there on the aftertbefore my job started. I also thought it was a nice place and was impressed by the cathedral.

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  10. Beverley looks very interesting, I’m afraid I have never visited it. Thanks for the misericords, you made me laugh. At least the other church had the decency to have the seats in the upright position.

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  13. As usual, I’m well, impressed by what you managed to fit in on your visits to different towns. I found your information on the Minster, particularly interesting, especially as it is renowned for is the world’s largest collection of medieval carved musicians – over 70 of them. And good that you could see the carvings on the Misericords. Aside from the Minster, the town looks interesting in itself

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  14. Haha! My grandson recently spent a few weeks at school studying the 1980s in history lessons. I guess his teacher’s parents hadn’t even met then, let alone conceived her! Yes, Beverley’s a very rewarding town to visit. I know we haven’t got to the bottom of it yet. Time for a retun visit maybe … if we can afford the petrol …

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  16. I’m planning to spend a day in Beverley with some of my Virtual Tourist friends in May so I’ve shared your post with them. You’ve demonstrated that there is much more to the town than the minster, lovely as that is! I do like how they’ve updated the stone carvings on St Mary’s – I’ll definitely be looking out for them!

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  20. I’ve never been to Beverley, it looks such an interesting place with lots to see. The Minster looks amazing and those organ pipes are fabulous. It’s hard to pick a favourite from all these so I’ll just say ‘everything’ although the swan art might just have the edge 😊

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