| Beverley | |
|---|---|
| Town and civil parish | |
 | |
 Coat of arms of Beverley Town Council | |
  Beverley Location within theEast Riding of Yorkshire | |
| Population | 30,587 (2011 census)[a] |
| OS grid reference | TA035399 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BEVERLEY |
| Postcode district | HU17 |
| Dialling code | 01482 |
| Police | Humberside |
| Fire | Humberside |
| Ambulance | Yorkshire |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | www.beverley.gov.uk |
| 53°50′42″N0°25′37″W / 53.845°N 0.427°W /53.845; -0.427 | |
Beverley is amarket town andcivil parish in theEast Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located 8 miles (13 km) north-west ofHull city centre.[1] At the2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had a population of 18,014.[2][3] It is thecounty town of the East Riding of Yorkshire.
The town was founded in the seventh century byJohn of Beverley, who established a church in the area. It was originally namedInderawuda, and was part of theAnglian kingdom ofNorthumbria. The town came underViking control in the 850s, then became part of theKingdom of England. John of Beverley was made a saint in 1037, and the town was a place of pilgrimage for the remainder of theMiddle Ages.[4] It continued to grow under theNormans, when its trading industry was first established, and eventually became a significant wool-trading town and the tenth-largest settlement in England. After theReformation, the stature of Beverley was much reduced.
The town contains several landmarks, includingBeverley Minster, Westwoodcommon,North Bar gatehouse,St Mary's Church, andBeverley Racecourse. It inspired the naming of the city ofBeverly, Massachusetts,[5][6][7] which in turn was the indirect source of the name forBeverly Hills, California, which was named after itsBeverly Farms neighbourhood.[8][9]
The origins of Beverley can be traced back to the time of theAnglian kingdom ofNorthumbria in the 7th century. The first structure built in the area, which at the time was known asInderawuda (meaning"in the wood of the men ofDeira"), was aChristian church dedicated toSt John the Evangelist.[10] This was founded by theBishop of York who later became known asJohn of Beverley, who was believed to have performedmiracles during his lifetime, and was later venerated as asaint.[10] Around the 850s, the now developed monastery was abandoned in a hurry; historians presume this was because of the invasion of the so-calledGreat Heathen Army of Vikings who had invaded England, and established theKingdom of Jórvík in theYorkshire area.[10] However, the population was increased during the 10th century, by people who came to venerate Saint John of Beverley.[10]
Before theBattle of Brunanburh, possibly located further north than Beverley, theKing of England at the timeAthelstan visited Inderawuda, he prayed all night and saw a vision saying he would be victorious: in return he helped the town to grow greatly.[10] The name of the town was changed toBevreli orBeverlac, meaningbeaver-clearing or beaver-lake, in the 10th century; a reference to the colonies of beavers in theRiver Hull at the time.[10] The last threeAnglo-Saxon archbishops of York helped Beverley to develop, via the rise in prominence ofBeverley Minster and the town in general; along withYork itself,Ripon andSouthwell, Beverley became one of the most important Christian centres ofNorthern England.Ealdred was declared by kingEdward the Confessor as "soleLord of the Manor of Beverley". Beverley developed as a trade centre, producingtextiles,leather and objects made out ofantler.[10]Beverley Minster was constructed in 1220 and there were 3 phases to its construction. 1220–1260, 1320–1348 Stopped during the black death and again in 1420–1440 but Beverley Minster is not complete. The chapter house was demolished in 1660 and only the doors remain in the church.
After theNorman conquest, manypilgrims flocked to Beverley upon hearing reports of miracles wrought by the town's founder, John. However, much of theNorth of England rejected Norman rule, and sought to reinstate Viking rule.[10] Towns in Yorkshire were obliterated by the Normans in response, with theHarrying of the North; but Beverley itself was spared, upon the Normans hearing about the town's saintly history.[10] In 1086, Beverley was recorded in theDomesday Book as comprising around 19 households and lying within the Hundred of Sneculfcros.[11] In the 12th century, Beverley developed from a settlement of several thousand, to an extensive town, stretching from around the North Bar area to the Beck in an elongated pattern, it was grantedborough status in 1122 byThurstan. Industry grew further, Beverley especially traded wool with the cloth making towns of theLow Countries.[10]
The town suffered a large fire in 1188 which destroyed numerous houses, and damaged Beverley Minster. Lady Sybil de Valines gave the Manor of the Holy Trinity on the east side of Beverley to theKnights Hospitallers in 1201, where they established apreceptory;[12] also to be found in Beverley during the 13th century wereDominicanfriars who were given some land byHenry III upon which they erected buildings.Franciscans were present.[10] A dispute arose between local farmers and the archbishop during the 13th century, about land rights; after the locals demanded a royal inquiry, the archbishop granted the townspeoplepasture andpannage in the Westwood and other places.
During the 14th century, England experienced periods of famine caused by poor weather conditions which destroyed crops. There were other nationwide issues to contend with at the time, such as theBlack Death, theHundred Years' War and theGreat Rising. However, Beverley continued to grow: and by 1377, had become the 10th largest town in England.[10]
The earliest survivingseculardrama in English,The Interlude of the Student and the Girl (c. 1300), may have originated from Beverley.
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Beverley was reliant on pilgrimage, but changes brought about by theReformation impacted upon this tradition, resulting in a decline in its status.[10] Local Beverley manCardinalJohn Fisher wasmartyred along withThomas More for refusing to accept theTudor KingHenry VIII as Head of theChurch of England.[13] In October 1536, there was apopular rising in Beverley where 500 men in the town gathered at the Westwood under the leadership of a local lawyer named William Stapleton, later becoming part of the largerPilgrimage of Grace in York and, in turn, part of the 30,000 rebels opposing Henry's new religious laws.[10] Henry followed through with the break fromRome and theDissolution of the Monasteries, dissolving the Dominican Friary in Beverley and taking their land for himself, the Knights Templars in Beverley suffered the same fate in 1540.[10]
As a result of the tensions across theNorth of England, governance duties were handed over to theCouncil of the North so the Tudors could control the area at arm's length.[14] Beverley was visited byJohn Leland, the man known as the "father ofEnglish local history", he wrote of the town in some detail, estimating the population of the time at around 5,000.[10]Beverley Minster was threatened with demolition by its new owners who wanted to profit from selling its stone and lead, however the local people led by wealthy merchant Richard Gray saved it from this fate.[10] During the time ofElizabeth I, Beverley was endowed with its ownmayor; Edward Ellerker was the first to take this position.[15] The gap between Beverley's rich and poor became more pronounced during the Tudor era, due to largeunemployment. The substantial drop in pilgrimage to Beverley in honour of its founder John of Beverley affected the jobs of theworking class as it was Beverley's main industry.[10]
In the early 17th century Beverley was affected by theplague which caused many deaths. Due to the close geographical proximity toHull, focus on the area became magnified when the people of Hull refused to open the gates toCharles I a couple of months before the fighting began in theEnglish Civil War.[16] After being turned away from Hull, the king spent three weeks as a guest in a house at North Bar in Beverley, where he was openly greeted with the ringing ofSt Mary's Church bells.[10] Beverley was initially royalist: however, it was taken by the parliamentarians of Hull, forcing the king to flee. A royalist army led byWilliam Cavendish defeatedThomas Fairfax to reclaim the town for the royalists; from here they launched anotherSiege of Hull.[17] Eventually the parliamentarians won the civil war and established theCommonwealth of England, in whichalehouses were shut on Sundays and theatres and race meetings abandoned: thePuritans visited the thenChurch of England houses of worship and destroyed anything they thought to be idolatrous.[10]
Beverley Minster managed to escape this fate, in part due to the prominence of thePercy family and the fact that the church housed memorials to their ancestors. Beverley'sQuakers were not so fortunate, and were strongly repressed by thePuritans.[10] TheEnglish Restoration withCharles II coming to power was generally well received in Beverley, and his royal coat of arms was hung in the Minster and remains there.[10] In terms of trade Beverley was not rich in the 17th century but had improved slightly, the majority were based inagriculture.[10] During theGeorgian era, Beverley was thecounty town of theEast Riding of Yorkshire and became the primemarket town in the area during the 18th century; competition fromPocklington,Howden andMarket Weighton was insufficient.[10] The replacing of old timber buildings with new ones in theGeorgian style helped the town recover in prestige, with the religious structures also undergoing restorations.[10] During theIndustrial Revolution, Beverley's people retained most agricultural jobs, though there was a presence of iron workers within the town.[10]
Beverley had a cattle market for 1300 years, it served as the centre for the region's livestock trade until it closed. The site is now the car park for Tesco supermarket which opened in 2002.
The population of theborough andliberties of the town in 1841 was 8,671.[18]
Hodgsons Tannery (1816–1979) was a major employer in the town. The tannery turned animal hides into leather. At the time of closure there were 750 redundancies. After Hodgsons closed, part of the factory site was used by Clairant (chemical production company). However, this had also closed by 2005 with the loss of 120 jobs.[19] Another tannery Melrose Tanners, formerly Cussons, on Keldgate, closed in 1986.[20]
Armstrong Patents Co. Ltd. (1917–1995) was also a well known company and major employer. The factory on East Gate mainly produced Armstrong shock absorbers until it closed in 1981.[21]
Beverley Shipyard opened in 1884 and continued to build ships until the yard closed completely in 1977. From 1905 until 1962 the yard was owned by Cook, Welton & Gemmell Shipbuilders. In 1954 the yard employed 650 people. Ships were launched sideways into the River Hull.
Due to an increase in population, some of the entrances into the town (such as the brick-built Bars) were taken down to accommodate traffic. Although population figures rose steeply, the increase was not as much as in nearbyHull, or most of the rest of England.[10] Beverley's religious associations remained during the 19th century: as well as the majority Anglican faith, there were severalnon-conformist religions practised such asMethodism withJohn Wesley previously having preached there; with the completion of theCatholic Emancipation and the refoundation of the Catholic hierarchy, theDiocese of Beverley in 1850 was chosen to coverYorkshire, before being divided into two dioceses.[10]
Communications were improved with the opening of theBeverley railway station in October 1846.[10] In 1884, Andrew Cochrane founded a shipyard at Grovehill on the River Hull. It was purchased byCook, Welton & Gemmell in 1901.[22] The yard was a leading builder of trawlers for the Hull deep-sea fishing fleet. In bothworld wars the yard built minesweepers for theRoyal Navy. The deep-sea trawlerArctic Corsair now preserved in Hull was built there in 1960. The yard closed for ship construction in 1977 and the site is now used for boat repairs.
A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion ofVictoria Barracks in 1878.[23] The barracks closed in 1977, and the only army presence in the area is now theDefence School of Transport at Normandy BarracksLeconfield, two miles to the north. In theFirst World War theRoyal Flying Corps had an airfield on the Westwood.[24] The site is nowBeverley Racecourse
TheSecond World War saw the nearby city ofHull suffer significantly fromaerial bombardment: however, Beverley was more fortunate and did not endure such heavy attacks.[10] Since the war, Beverley has gone through some remodelling, and has grown in size. It attracts thousands of tourists each year who come to view the religious buildings and visitBeverley Racecourse.[10]
In the 1960s, plans to redevelop Armstrong's Engineering Works for housing put the Dominican Friary at threat of demolition: the friary building was listed in 1965 and is now in use as a youth hostel. Housing was developed on the former works site in the 1980s on what is now Dominican Walk and its adjacent streets.[20]
In 2007, Beverley was named as the best place to live in the United Kingdom in an "Affordable Affluence" study by theRoyal Bank of Scotland.[25]
In late 2015 a new shopping and entertainment complex opened in Flemingate (on the site of the old Hodgsons Tannery). Among the attractions is a six-screen cinema and a Premier Inn hotel. East Riding College (formerly Beverley College of Further Education) also relocated to Flemingate, after the previous site was sold for a housing development.
| Climate data forDST Leconfield (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.2 (45.0) | 8.1 (46.6) | 10.3 (50.5) | 13.0 (55.4) | 15.8 (60.4) | 18.8 (65.8) | 21.3 (70.3) | 21.1 (70.0) | 18.3 (64.9) | 14.2 (57.6) | 10.2 (50.4) | 7.5 (45.5) | 13.8 (56.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) | 1.6 (34.9) | 2.8 (37.0) | 4.2 (39.6) | 6.8 (44.2) | 9.7 (49.5) | 11.8 (53.2) | 11.9 (53.4) | 10.0 (50.0) | 7.4 (45.3) | 4.2 (39.6) | 1.9 (35.4) | 6.2 (43.2) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 53.1 (2.09) | 49.5 (1.95) | 42.9 (1.69) | 45.3 (1.78) | 44.5 (1.75) | 64.3 (2.53) | 54.7 (2.15) | 61.5 (2.42) | 58.2 (2.29) | 64.7 (2.55) | 64.7 (2.55) | 57.7 (2.27) | 660.9 (26.02) |
| Average rainy days(≥ 1 mm) | 11.9 | 10.6 | 9.4 | 9.4 | 9.0 | 9.9 | 9.4 | 9.9 | 9.4 | 11.0 | 12.5 | 11.5 | 124.0 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 62.1 | 86.9 | 124.3 | 161.7 | 204.2 | 175.1 | 195.6 | 181.2 | 144.2 | 107.3 | 72.4 | 59.9 | 1,575 |
| Source:Met Office[28] | |||||||||||||
During theMiddle Ages, Beverley was governed byaldermen known as the twelve keepers, they oversaw the general running of the town and the maintaining of law and order.[29] The borough corporation was reformed by theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835 and formed the local government of the town until 1974.[30] In 1974, following theLocal Government Act 1972, the former area of Beverley borough was merged withBeverley Rural District andHaltemprice Urban District to form an enlargedBeverley borough in the county ofHumberside.[31] Since 1996, it has formed part of theEast Riding of Yorkshire district and is the county town, as it was before 1974.[31]
Beverley was represented in theHouses of Parliament by theMembers of Parliament (MPs) forYorkshire untilBeverley was givenparliamentary borough status from 1563.[31] Beverley was able to elect two MPs for its entire time as a parliamentary borough; the right of election was vested not in the population as a whole, but in thefreemen. Elections became notoriously corrupt, to the extent that the constituency was abolished in 1870 and incorporated into theEast Riding constituency.[31] During the1950 general election a Beverleycounty constituency was created, covering half of the East Riding, withBridlington covering the other half.[31] It became part of theHaltemprice constituency in1955, until it reverted to the Beverley constituency in 1983.[31] Since 1997 Beverley has been part of theBeverley and Holderness constituency, aConservative Party stronghold.
In 2019 the Liberal Democrats made huge gains in the local elections, taking out all of the Conservative seats and taking control of the Town Council, whilst also gaining two seats from the Conservatives on East Riding of Yorkshire Council in St Mary's Ward. The only Conservative representatives for Beverley are in Minster and Woodmansey Ward, where the Conservatives held all three seats.[31]
| Position | Current representatives |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament | Graham Stuart,Conservative, elected2005 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire Council | ST MARY'S WARD |
| Beverley Town Council | Peter Astell – Liberal Democrats, Tom Astell – Liberal Democrats, Dave Boynton – Liberal Democrats, Ian Gow – Independent, Denis Healy – Liberal Democrats, Chloe Hopkins – Labour, David Horsley – Liberal Democrats, Duncan Jack – Independent, Linda Johnson – Liberal Democrats, Margaret Pinder – Labour, David Tucker – Liberal Democrats, Ann Willis – Labour, Clare Wildey – Labour |
In 2014 local authorities planned to build 3,300 new houses in Beverley,[32] which would increase the size of the town by 20%. A spokesperson for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: "The evidence recognises that the East Riding is generally a high demand area with strong levels of in-migration".[33][34] The plans are opposed by some residents, such as those in the North Beverley Action Group.[35]
Beverley is home to the oldeststate school in England, in the form ofBeverley Grammar School. The school was founded in 700 AD by Saint John of Beverley.[36] Several notablealumni have attended the school, including chemistSmithson Tennant, who discoverediridium andosmium,Thomas Percy, who was involved in theGunpowder Plot andPaul Robinson, afootballgoalkeeper who has representedEngland national football team (2003–2009).[36] In the modern day the school hosts around 800 pupils and has received favourable reports fromOfsted, however, in 2013 it was determined as requiring improvement.[36]
There are other schools in Beverley, such asBeverley High School, which is acomprehensive school for girls: it has around 850 pupils, and is well above the national average based on the results ofGCSE test performances.[37] Beverley Grammar School and Beverley High School share a common sixth form, called the Beverley Joint Sixth.
Longcroft School is aco-educational school, with around 1,500 pupils consisting of both boys and girls. Longcroft School was founded in 1949 and officially opened in 1951 and is home to the Longcroft Gospel Choir, founded by Jonathan Chapman. The choir comprises pupils from Year 9 and above and several members of Longcroft School staff, and has a large repertoire of music. Over the choir's period of existence, the choir has performed at venues such asDisneyland Paris and theApple Store onOxford Street, London, have released two of their own albums and have featured on a track by singer-songwriterHenry Priestman. But more recently in May 2015, it was announced that the Longcroft Gospel Choir will be one of twenty choirs in the UK to perform at and open the2015 Rugby World Cup inLondon performing for the home team (England).
East Riding College has a campus in Beverley. The college offers variousfurther education courses for school leavers and adults from the town.
Beverley and the East Riding of Yorkshire region is served by theEast Riding Mail, which is the sister paper to theHull Daily Mail.TheBeverley Guardian was printed for 160 years, but it ceased in September 2016.
Beverley has two independent hyper-local magazines,Just Beverley andHU17.net.[38][39]
Radio stationsBBC Radio Humberside,Hits Radio East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire andNation Radio East Yorkshire serve the town and the whole of the East Riding of Yorkshire but, are based in the nearby city ofHull.
Local TV coverage is provided byBBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire andITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from theBelmont TV transmitter.
Kingstown Hospital Radio serves theEast Riding Community Hospital, in addition to theHull Royal Infirmary andCastle Hill Hospital in nearbyCottingham.
Beverley has its own radio station 107.8 Beverley FM, which broadcasts to Beverley and its surrounding area from the studio based in the town.
The exterior scenes inLease of Life, (withRobert Donat), in 1954, were filmed in Beverley and nearbyLund, East Riding of Yorkshire, (Hinton St John), as well as Beverley Minster.[40]
Beverley's largest religious denomination isChristianity; 79.9% of the people in the area polled as part of theUnited Kingdom Census 2001 professed the Christian faith, 8% above thenational average.[41]Beverley Minster contains a tomb said to contain the bones of SaintJohn of Beverley who founded a monastery here and with it the town; another saint from Beverley is SaintJohn Fisher (bornc. 1469). The minster was designated a Grade Ilisted building in 1950 and is now recorded in theNational Heritage List for England, maintained byHistoric England.[42]
Adherents of theChurch of England are in the majority with three parishes; the ancientBeverley Minster,St Mary's Church (designated a Grade Ilisted building in 1950 and is now recorded in theNational Heritage List for England, maintained byHistoric England[43]) and St Nicholas Church.[44] Beverley is asuffragan bishopric of theDiocese of York represented by theBishop of Beverley, created in 1994 to provide aprovincial episcopal visitor for theProvince of York. There is oneRoman Catholic church in Beverley calledSt John's which belongs to theDiocese of Middlesbrough; when theCatholic Emancipation was complete in 1850 theDiocese of Beverley was established to cover all ofYorkshire, but it was later broken up into two dioceses, Leeds and Middlesbrough.[10]Methodism is represented in Beverley with around three places of worship. Latimer Congregational Church, in the east of Beverley, is affiliated to theEvangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches.
Since their suppression in the 17th century,Quakers established ameeting house and have worshipped in Beverley ever since. Their present meeting house – the third – in Quaker Lane – was built in 1961.
Missionaries ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the United States first arrived in Beverley in 1850 and quickly established a local congregation. In 1963 a large new chapel on Manor Road was built by local church members. Due to the continued growth of the Beverley congregation both the building and car parks were enlarged in the late 1990s.
A market day is central to culture in Beverley; a smaller market day is held on Wednesday: however, the main event is on Saturday, with all of the stalls.[45][46] Throughout each year there are various annualmusic festivals in the town, catering for different kinds of music. These include the Early Music Festival in May; theBeverley Folk Festival in June, which features three days of folk music, comedy and workshops; the Jazz Festival in August, followed by the Chamber Music Festival in September.[10] Held monthly at the Beverley Memorial Hall is a local music eventSunday Live. It is also home to the popular Beverley Male Voice Choir.
Beverley hosts an annual literature festival, kite festival, a biennial puppet festival andBeverley town fair. Since 2006, Beverley Town Council has run an annual food festival in October. Including 70 stalls selling food produced in Beverley and the East Riding of Yorkshire, a 200-seat food theatre marquee, cookery demonstrations from local chefs, and street entertainment, the day-long event is attended by thousands of residents and visitors.[47] In 2012, St Mary's Church in Beverley hosted the first real ale and cider festival. Over 2,000 people attended the event. The festival has now moved to the Beverley Memorial Hall and still attracts over 2,500 people.[48]
In terms of sport, the most noted field of participation is horse racing withBeverley Racecourse. The sport has a long history in Beverley, with evidence of a permanent race track reaching back as far as 1690, while its firstgrandstand was built in 1767.[49] The town is represented infootball byBeverley Town F.C., who currently play in theNorthern Counties East League Premier Division, the 9th tier of English football. Beverley was the host for the2006 British National Cycling Championships. Beverley Westwood is home to the oldest golf club in Yorkshire the Beverley and East Riding Golf Club founded in October 1889.Beverley RUFC plays in theYorkshire 1 league forRugby Union and play at Beaver Park in the town.[50] TheTour de Yorkshire passes through North Bar, one of the ancient gates of Beverley. A weekly 5k parkrun is held at the Westwood at 9:00am every Saturday.
Beverley town has a variety ofpublic houses, some of which have become tourist attractions.[51] Examples include the Sun Inn, the town's oldest public house dating back to around 1530.[52] There are over 40 public houses in Beverley – the vast majority have been there for over a century.[51] Beverley is home to one of the last pubs in the world to still use authenticgas lighting; The White Horse Inn (or "Nellie's" to the local population) is owned by theSamuel Smith Old Brewery company.[53]
A purpose-built Post Office opened in Register Square in 1905. It continued to be the town's Post Office, until being closed in early 2020 as part of a cost cutting exercise. Post Office services are now provided by the nearby WH Smith shop.
Beverley's first cinema, the Marble Arch, opened in 1916, located on Butcher Row. It was closed and completely demolished by 1967 having in the last few years been used as a bingo hall. After demolition, the site was used as a supermarket. Originally it was known as Moores, but later it became Prestos, then Jacksons. It is nowM&S Food.
TheMuseum of Army Transport relocated from Leconfield to Beverley in 1983. The museum was housed on part of the former Hodgsons Tannery site. The last surviving Blackburn Beverley aircraft XB259 (named after the town, and built nearby in Brough) was on static display until the museum closed due to a funding shortfall in 2003. This and the neighbouring former Hodgsons Tannery is now occupied by Flemingate – a shopping centre includingDunelm,H&M,Sports Direct, restaurants and cafes, and is also home to a Parkway Cinema andPremier Inn.
The current fire station opened in 1982 when New Walkergate (road) was constructed. The much smaller old fire station is now a GP surgery. The police station on Norfolk Street is part of the court complex built in about 1805, including asessions house and a prison. The former courthouse is now a spa and the octagonal prison is a private home.
Beverley previously had two hospitals serving the town. The Westwood Hospital originally opened as the town's Union Workhouse in 1861, but became a hospital in 1939 at the outbreak of World War II. The maternity ward closed in 1997. The hospital closed completely in 2011. The original main building has been converted to apartments. Beverley Cottage Hospital opened in Morton Lane 1885 and had closed by 1996. Beverley Community Hospital opened in 2012 on a new site.
The East Riding Theatre, housed in a former nonconformist chapel originally built in 1910, is a community initiative launched by a group of local volunteers and film and television actorVincent Regan. First opened to the public in December 2014 and seating 200, it is run as a not-for profit organisation and a registered charity and presents regular drama productions and musical performances.[54]
The Beverley Treasure House contains a library, archives, a museum, and an art gallery.
Beverley has had a fair since medieval times. In the early days thefairs were places for trading goods and animals, and were useful for meeting people and finding news of what was happening elsewhere in the country. Towns were given the right to hold fairs byRoyal charter. In the early 12th centuryArchbishop Thurstan was granted a charter to hold fairs four times a year, each lasting up to five days. Beverley's medieval fairs were:
The four annual fairs survived until the 20th century, although the dates changed over the years. All these fairs were for the sale ofcattle andhorses and were held on North Bar Within or Without. One of the two market places, Saturday Market or Wednesday Market, was used at the same time for selling general goods. Another trading area was at Highgate where goods not generally sold on the weekly markets were available, attracting ‘foreigners’ or people from other areas such asYork. The great horse fair was onAscension Day-eve (the Cross Fair). A toll was charged for a horse entering the town and another if it was sold.[55]
By the 20th century, the sale of livestock at fairs had dwindled. In 1928, sheep and cattle were only sold on the Ringing Day fair. The pleasure part of the fair, however, had gained great popularity. These funfairs were held on Saturday Market. As the fairground equipment became larger and heavier and the use of the motor vehicle became more widespread, Saturday Market place was no longer suitable for the purpose.
On 8 September 1958, Minute 581 of the Beverley Town Council states: “It was noted that the agreement between BTC and John Farrar and Joseph Shaw to hold four fairs a year on the Market Place expired after Midsummer Fair 1959”. On 27 October (Minute 694), “It was resolved that the fair should be removed from the Market Place.”On 7 September 1959, the Town Clerk reported that Mr John Farrar and Joseph Shaw had accepted terms offered for use of space for the four fairs commencing with the October fair. The fair was held four times a year on Morton Lane car park, which also housed the Town’s coach park. In 2002, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, against the wishes of a large number of the residents sold the Morton Lane car park toTesco, leaving the Town with nowhere to hold the fair. The council offered space on the Westwood to hold the fair but the organisers together with the solicitors ofThe Showmen’s Guild demanded that they were allocated a site ‘within the walls of Beverley’ stating that The Royal Charter gave them that right.
In 2003, the Beverley Town Fair was, once again sited in the centre of the town on Saturday Market. The fair is now limited to one week a year starting on August Bank Holiday Sunday.
The town is served byBeverley railway station on theHull to Scarborough Line, with services currently run byNorthern and a limited service between Beverley andLondon King's Cross provided byHull Trains. Before the mid-1960s, there was a directYork to Beverley Line viaMarket Weighton; theMinsters Rail Campaign is seeking to reinstate the closed line.[56]
Beverley railway station was opened in October 1846 by theYork and North Midland Railway and gained junction status nineteen years later when theNorth Eastern Railway opened its line toMarket Weighton andYork.[10] The railway station, designed byGeorge Townsend Andrews, is now a Grade IIlisted building and has an elegant overall roof.[10]
The five-mile (8 km) £13 millionA1079 Beverley Bypass opened in May 1980; the road links York andHull.[57]East Yorkshire Motor Services provide internal town services,[58] regular bus links with Hull city centre, as well as to local surrounding villages and places such asHessle,Pocklington,Driffield,Market Weighton,Bridlington,York andScarborough.[59] The town has its ownbus station.Beverley Beck is acanal which gives boats access to the town from theRiver Hull. The beck is used byfishermen for catching a large variety of fish such aspike,bream andcarp.[10] Previously, the Beverley Beck used to form a more significant role in transport as part of thetradeindustry, where Beverley was a trading post of theHanseatic League.[10] It remains home to the Beverley Barge Preservation Society in the modern day.[60] Beverley is home to the notoriousGrovehill junction which has 42 traffic lights.
Beverley is the main setting for Domini Highsmith's "Father Simeon" trilogy:Keeper at the Shrine (1994),Guardian at the Gate (1995) andMaster of the Keys (1996).
Beverley istwinned with:
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