Beverley

East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley MinsterNorth Bar, BeverleySaturday Market, BeverleyBeverley is the county town and principal market town of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The town is 8 miles north-north-west of Kingston upon Hull, 11 miles south of Driffield, 12 miles west-south-west of Hornsea, 19 miles south-west of Bridlington and 28 miles east-south-east of York.

Beverley MinsterBeverley started with a monastery in the 8th century and the town which developed saw early growth into one of the largest in the country through its wool trade and as a place of pilgrimmage for visitors to the tomb of St John of Beverley, still sited within the impressive Beverley Minster, which is among the country's finest church buildings (see below).

At North Bar is the only surviving historic gateway from those which once guarded the entries to Beverley. It was built by the Town Council back in 1409.

Wednesday Market, BeverleyFlemingate Shopping Centre, BeverleyThe town has recently been remodelled creating a new Flemingate shopping centre with a hotel, cinema and a new pedestrian shopping street aligned towards the Minster but at the opposite side of the railway line to the traditional town centre, so as not to disturb the Georgian and Victorian buildings of the attractive main street and its market places — Saturday Market and Wednesday Market. Saturday Market has an elaborate market cross, built in 1714, as its centrepiece.

The town holds a variety of festivals. These include a Beverley Folk Festival; a Beverley Puppet Festival; a Beverley Food Festival; and a Christmas Festival of Food and Drink.

River Hull at the former Beverley ShipyardWhile the town is set in the landscape of the arable agriculture of the East Riding, the bread-basket of Yorkshire, Beverley can also count shipbuilding among one of its past staple industries. The town's historic shipyard built boats from 1763 to 1977, including many of the trawlers used by Hull's once massive fishing industry. The boats built in Beverley were launched sideways into the narrow River Hull to be navigated down river to the port of Kingston upon Hull.

Beverley also has an aircraft named after it. The Blackburn Beverley transport aircraft were built at Brough, 10 miles south-west of Beverley, and flew between 1950 until being retired from Royal Air Force duties in 1967.

Town features

Toll Gavel, Beverley

Beverley has a wide variety of shopping opportunities, from its Saturday and Wednesday markets and attractive traditional high street shopping to the new Flemingate shopping centre with its range of big name stores.

Beverley post office is in Toll Gavel. There are also post offices branches in neighbouring villages.

The town has bank and building society branches.

Beverley has several pharmacies.

Pubs in Beverley range from refurbished old coaching inns to the modern real ale micropub.

The town offers quality eating from good pub food to dining at its inns and restaurants.

Beverley Library is at the Treasure House, Champney Road.

There is a museum and art gallery at the Treasure House, Champney Road. More details below.

For theatre details see below.

Former windmill at the Westwood, Beverley

Westwood is one of Beverley's historic common pasture lands now acting as a vast open park near to the racecourse and with pleasant views across the town. The remains of two old windmills remain on the Westwood, one is at the location of the Beverley and East Riding Golf Club clubhouse.

Beverley Beck is a short canal, just under a mile long, which links Beverley to the navigable River Hull. The beck had been navigable from the 14th century, but became a canal when a lock and pump were installed in 1802 as part of a land drainage scheme.

The River Hull runs about a mile to the east of the town centre.

Beverley Tourist Information Centre is in Butcher Row.

The town has hotel and guest house accommodation and a youth hostel.

Beverley has public toilets with various limited opening hours at Dyer Lane, Lord Roberts Road and at railway and bus stations.
Check times before you need to go at the

East Riding public convenience finder webpage.

Toll Gavel United Church, BeverleyEast Riding College, Beverley

Beverley has several schools and one of the main campuses of East Riding College.

Places of worship: Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, United Reformed, Baptist, other.

Queen Victoria, Beverley MinsterBeverley Minster

Beverley Minster, or the Parish Church of St John and St Martin, is built on the site of a monastery founded in the 8th century by John, Bishop of York, who died in Beverley in 721. He is credited with founding the town of Beverley. He became St John of Beverley after he was canonised more than 300 years after his death and the church is built around his tomb which was a place of pilgrimage. Work started on the present church after the collapse of the tower of the Norman church on the site in 1214. Saved by wealthy businessmen from destruction in the 16th century, the Minster saw restorations in the 18th and 19th century and around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries more than 100 statues were placed on the west towers and other statuettes inside the minster together with new stained glass windows. The first of the statues, in 1897, was of Queen Victoria, to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee.

Find out more at the Beverley Minster website.

The year 1897 was also when the Roman Catholic Church of St John of Beverley was built in Victorian Gothic style just outside the North Bar gate at North Bar Without. The Roman Catholic diocese covering the whole of Yorkshire was from 1850 known as the Diocese of Beverley, although its cathedrals were in York. The diocese was split into the dioceses of Leeds and Middlesbrough in 1878, Beverley now being in the Diocese of Middlesbrough.

Find out more at the St John of Beverley website.

St Mary's Church, Beverley

While Beverley Minster dominates one end of the town centre, Beverley also has a very impressive anglican parish church with great architectural interest at the other end of the town. St Mary's Church is situated at the junction of Hengate and North Bar Within. The building of the church started in 1120 and culminated in 1524 after the rebuilding of its tower which collapsed four years earlier. It was given a major restoration in the mid 19th century.

Find out more at the St Mary's Church, Beverley website.

Entertainment

East Riding Theatre, Beverley

East Riding Theatre

Lord Roberts Road, Beverley
The East Riding Theatre, opened in December 2014 in what was originally built as a Baptist Chapel. It is run by a not-for-profit organisation supported by volunteers and provides an inspiring selection of theatre, music, comedy and literature. It also provides one of the venues of the annual Beverley Puppet Festival.

East Riding Theatre

Sport

Beverley Racecourse

York Road about a mile from the centre of Beverley.

The racecourse holds regular race meetings in season and is also a venue for other events, including auctions. The racecourse traces its first grandstand back to 1767.

Museum

East Riding Treasure House and Beverley Art Gallery

Champney Road, Beverley

A collection of iron age swords found at South Cave in 2002 is among permanent exhibits at the museum, which also stages temporary exhibitions reflecting various aspects of the history of the East Riding. The museum is linked to a gallery with a collection of art works showing the great and the good of the East Riding.

More details at East Riding - Treasure House and Beverley Art Gallery web pages.

Places to visit

Skidby Mill

Beverley Road, Skidby

Skidby Mill is a listed windmill with its original outbuildings at the edge of the village of Skidby. The mill was restored to full working order in the 1970s and renovated again around 2008. While normally milling flour, its four sails have recently been removed for a further renovation and the mill tower closed, but the Skidby Mill Museum and Museum of East Riding Rural Life remain open, providing an insight into the mill and agriculture in the area. There is also a cafe at the mill. A roadside car park is about 100 metres from the mill courtyard, where there is no parking available. The museum is normally open on Saturdays and Sundays, but is closed on some dates in August and September 2024. See website for details.

Find out more at this East Riding Museums - Skidby Mill webpage.

Burton Constable

Burton Constable, Skirlaugh
Burton ConstableBurton Constable is an Elizabethan mansion situated about 9 miles by road south of Hornsea and a similar distance north-east of Hull. Most of the house dates from 1560, although it includes part of a 12th century tower and remains of an earlier brick manor house from the late 15th century. Tours of the house explore up to 30 rooms fitted with original collections and interiors surviving from days as a much-loved family home. The house also has an 18th century orangery, gift shop, play area, gardens and parkland landscaped between 1772 and 1782 by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. The stable block has been restored and its Great Barn exhibits the remains of a whale skeleton brought to Burton Constable after being washed up on the shore at Tunstall on the Holderness coast in 1825. A variety of feature events are held at the hall including musical events, sculpture, a classic car show and demonstrations of country house brewing and crafts. The house, the home of the Constable family for more than 700 years and still partly occupied, is now a museum owned by the Burton Constable Foundation.

For more information see the Burton Constable website.

Locate on map: Burton Constable

Arctic Corsair

CLOSED since August 2019 for relocation & restoration.
Reopening at North End Shipyard now expected early 2025.
The Arctic Corsair, a sidewinder trawler, was built at Beverley Shipyard in 1960 and spent its days going to sea from Hull, where it now remains as a museum exhibit. Tours can be booked at the Museums Quarter reception at High Street in Hull on certain days. The trawler was involved in the 'Cod Wars' with Iceland in the 1970s and retired from fishing in 1987.

Find out more at this Hull City Council - Arctic Corsair webpage.

Skipsea Castle

off Beeford Road, Skipsea, East Riding of Yorkshire
Very little but earthworks remain of Skipsea Castle and its adjacent fortified borough Skipsea Brough, but it was one of the earliest Norman fortifications in Yorkshire, built around 1086 for the Lord of Holderness, a title granted by William the Conquerer with land stretching along the coast from the Humber to Bridlington. The site is in the attractive village of Skipsea, about 5 miles north-north-west of Hornsea. The motte and bailey castle was destroyed in the early 13th century, but its large earth mound is still clearly visible. There is free entry to the castle site, which is managed by English Heritage.

More information at these

English Heritage - Skipsea Castle web pages.
Find on map:

Skipsea Castle

Travel

Beverley station

Beverley stationStation Square
Beverley station has two through platforms. Trains run on the line from Scarborough and Bridlington through Beverley to Hull, which is about 15 minutes away. Many trains continue to Doncaster and Sheffield or to Selby and York. Hull Trains run an early morning train via Hull to London King's Cross with an evening return.
Station managed by: Northern.
Operators: Northern - Hull Trains -

Northern - Beverley Station and departure information at Northern website.

Beverley bus station

Beverley bus stationSow Hill Road
Buses operate from Beverley bus station to nearby and resort towns, including to Hull, to Scarborough via Driffield, Bridlington and Filey, to York, to Hornsea and to Withernsea, together with local services around Beverley.

Road travel

Beverley is linked towards Kingston upon Hull by the A1079, towards Hessle and the Humber Bridge by the A164, towards Hornsea and Bridlington by the A1035 and towards Driffield by the A164. The roads, together with the A1174, link together to provide a by-pass around the town centre. The B1230 heads towards the M62 at North Cave.

Emergency services

Humberside Police

Humberside Police website.

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service website.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust website.

Local government

Town council (civil parish)

Beverley Town Council
The town council is made up of 14 councillors elected across four wards. The Town Mayor of Beverley is elected each year by the councillors and acts as council chairman and ambassador for the town. A deputy mayor is also elected. The council represents Beverley on other bodies, runs a small range of services including allotments, supports community events such as Beverley Food Festival, Beverley in Bloom and the town's Christmas lights and provides a grants fund to community organisations. The council is based in Well Lane.
Link to

Beverley Town Council website.

Unitary authority

East Riding of Yorkshire Council
The East Riding of Yorkshire Council is now a unitary district rather than a county authority but the least changed of any of the historic Ridings of Yorkshire.

It does now cover a small part of the former West Riding, while it has lost portions of the historic East Riding to North Yorkshire and York.

County Hall, BeverleyBeverley is the county town of the East Riding of Yorkshire and the location of its County Hall.

Other towns in the East Riding include Bridlington Driffield Goole Market Weighton Hedon Hornsea Howden Pocklington Snaith and Withernsea.

The authority covers a near full range of council services, except the limited services handled by the various civil parish/town councils which exist throughout its area.

The 26 wards in the authority each elect one, two or three councillors to make up a 67 member council. An election for the entire council is held every four years with the most recent election in 2019.

Link to East Riding of Yorkshire Council website .

Political composition after May 2023 election:

2922943 YP
67 members YP = Yorkshire Party

Police and Crime Commissioner

The Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside
Oversees Humberside Police covering an area made up of the unitary authority councils of East Riding of Yorkshire, City of Hull and, south of The Humber, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.
Elected P&CC: ❚ Jonathan Evison Conservative

Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside website.

Fire Authority

Humberside Fire Authority
The fire authority is made up of elected members of each of the four unitary authorities served by the Humberside Fire and Rescue Service - East Riding of Yorkshire, Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire.

Humberside Fire Authority website.

Parliamentary constituency

Beverley and Holderness
Elected MP: ❚ Graham Stuart Conservative

National government region

Yorkshire and the Humber

Ceremonial county

East Riding of Yorkshire

Historic

-1889 East Riding of Yorkshire (historic admistrative division)
1889-1974 East Riding of Yorkshire (county authority)
1974-1981 Borough of Beverley (district within the artificially-created county of Humberside)
1981-1996 East Yorkshire Borough of Beverley (renaming of the above)

Also in Yorkshire.guide

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