Exploring Beverley: Yorkshire’s Hidden Secret, Beverley, England (B)

A question: where would you find the biggest parish church in England, a carving that inspired Lewis Carroll, and a clutch of old pubs with bars that seem to have been unchanged for centuries? And where do citizens still have an ancient right to graze their cattle on the common land outside the town? The answer is Beverley, in East Yorkshire, almost untouched by tourism but with plenty for visitors to see and do.

Beverley is a small but attractive market town that was once the capital of East Yorkshire. In the middle ages it was an important pilgrimage site, being the burial place of John of Beverley, a Bishop of York who died in 721 and was later canonised. It was also extremely wealthy as a result of the wool trade. Beverley has long since been overtaken in size and importance by Hull, its nearby rival, but it retains many historic buildings and a few quirks, making it a worthwhile detour on any trip to Yorkshire.

Much of the pleasure of a visit to Beverley comes from just walking around, looking out for the interesting and the unusual. The town centre is a delight for anyone who enjoys old buildings, a higgledy-piggledy mixture of shops and houses from the medieval period to Georgian and Victorian times. The 15th century North Bar is the only one remaining of five original gateways into the town. A nearby plaque gives a tally of expenditure on the building of the Bar – a total cost of £96-0-11½! ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).