England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Beverley St John

The Parish

The parish of St John, Beverley lies in southeastern Yorkshire as one of the two parishes of the town of Beverley, the capital of the East Riding and a market town of some size. Beverley is located roughly 9 miles northwest of the port of Hull and close to 30 miles east of the city of York. Beverley stands at the crossroads of several major roads most prominent being the A164 (linking Hull with Great Driffield) and A1079 (connecting Beverley with Market Weighton) roads. Beverley is a large market town, formerly of 4 distinct parishes but over the centuries these have merged into the two remaining parishes of St John and St Nicholas. Both central Beverley and its more modern extensions sit as a distinctly oblong shape leaning slightly to the northwest, the western edges are constrained by one of the towns most attractive features, its horse racing track which borders to the west and sits within the open expanses of "Westwood", the eastern edges are similarly constrained by the canalised course of the River Hull. Beverley has an ancient history but one steeped in myth and speculation, many archaeological finds of Roman origin have confirmed their presence here but it wasn't until the establishment of a monastery in the early 8th century that Beverley became established. By the Norman conquest Beverley was an established pilgrimage centre with the tomb of Bishop John the draw. A market became established in the 12th century and remains the spine of the town's core. From that period Beverley became a major centre for the wool trade building trade with the Low Countries in particular. Dissolution hit Beverley particularly hard with the cloth & wool trades disappearing almost entirely and the town retreating to become merely a market for trade and specialist skills for the entire East Riding, a position which eventually earned its "capital" status. The arrival of the railway line connecting the town with Hull & Bridlington and also the, now disused and a cycle route", line to Market Weighton saw a revival in the town's prospects, tanning & milling were supplemented by the local dominance of Crosskill's foundry manufacturing iron goods & agricultural machinery turned Beverley into a minor industrial town. Beverley is drained southwards by that canalised River Hull which makes its way to the outer Humber Estuary arriving through the port of Hull. Beverley is sited at around below 15 metres in relatively flat countryside where land only rises gently westwards to reach the local high spot of Sober Hill at 144 metres, the forerunner of the Yorkshire Wolds. Today's two parishes St Nicholas (combined with St Mary) & St John control respectively the north and south of the town together with adjacent patches of rural countryside, St John's acreage of 8,300 acres is supplemented by the 700 or so of St Martin and within the combined parish a population of around 8,300 parishioners would have been supported. Beverley was recorded as a single entity within Domesday Book and was a holding of the Archbishop of York and a very wealthy holding too, it records 20 ploughs, extensive tracts of woodland and no fewer than 3 mills and a fishery.

The Church

St John's church, the Minster church, stands in the south of the town occupying an oblong area east of the narrow street of St John Street and with an extensive common to its south. A church was established here as early as the 8th century, a fact proven by 20th century archaeological excavations in the area, but of which nothing is known. This early church was followed by a Saxon version and a major revision by the conquering Normans, this early church was subsequently partially destroyed by a considerable fire in 1188 and from the ashes today's Minster was born. That work met an early set-back when the tower in construction or newly completed collapsed in 1213 and brought down much of the surrounding church. Following these disasters what we now see is the late 13th century replacement rising from the dust. Work largely began in or around 1230 and by 1260 much of the building was complete, the retro-choir, choir, chapter house, transepts and crossing together with the 1st bay of the nave. The resulting nave was not completed until 1311 and work was still in progress until curtailed by the deprivations of the Black Death. It took until the 15th century to complete the western front and northern porch. Following dissolution the church was downgraded to merely a parish church and most worked ceased resulting in the church being almost decayed by the 18th century. A major restoration running between 1717 & 1731 saw the church resurrected with further work in the 1820s and 1860s to result in today's splendid eminence. The church is immense, almost cathedral-like in size, 330 feet in length and largely constructed in a light-coloured oolitic limestone. Like most urban churches it is better to find a town car park because this is a church requiring an extended visit to fully appreciate its beauty and complexity. For the photographer the site is a little constrained with many aspects impacted by trees or by adjacent buildings and requiring some ingenuity to adequately record.