Beverley Minster

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Beverley Minster

(Picture taken from the official web-site 

http://beverleyminster.org.uk/) 

The following three paragraphs (in italics) are taken from the official Beverley Minster web-site http://beverleyminster.org.uk/

Beverley Minster is the Parish Church of St. John and St. Martin and it includes the Minster and three associated churches: St Paul’s Tickton, St Leonard’s Molescroft and St Peter’s Woodmansey.

John, Bishop of York, founded a monastery on the site where Beverley Minster now stands. He died in 721 A.D. and his body was buried in a chapel of the Saxon church. He was canonised in 1037 and the present Church was built around his tomb. Building work began in 1220 and was completed in 1425.

Throughout the Middle Ages, miracles which took place at his tomb attracted pilgrims from far and wide. Today, the Church is still a place of pilgrimage for visitors. It also continues to be a place of prayer and worship at the heart of the community.

Beverley Minster (Great West Window)

The word "minster" (Old English "mynster") was simply a rendering of the Latin monasterium (monastery). An early appearance was in the Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede (731 A.D.).

On occasion, minster is used to translate the German münster (e.g. Basel, Bonn, Constance, Essen, Freiburg, Ulm), which is a parallel translation of monasterium, but reflects a history of monasticism different from that of England.

Minster is a honorific title given to particular churches in England, most famously York Minster. The term "minster" is first found in royal foundation charters of the 7th-Century; and, although it corresponds to the Latin monasterium or monastery, it then designated any settlement of clergy living a communal life and endowed by charter with the obligation of maintaining the daily office of prayer. 

[Editor: I am reliably informed that Saint John Fisher was a resident of Beverley, Yorkshire, as a child.]

Beverley Minster in Winter, 

February 2012. 

(Picture taken from the official web-site 

http://beverleyminster.org.uk/) 

Widespread in 10th-Century Anglo-Saxon England, minsters declined in importance with the systematic introduction of parishes and parish churches from the 11th-Century onwards; but it remained a title of diginity in Late-Mediaeval England, for instance where a cathedral, monastery, collegiate church or parish church had originated with an Anglo-Saxon foundation. Eventually, a minster came to refer more generally to "any large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church". In the 21st-Century, further minsters have been added by simply bestowing the status of a minster on existing parish churches.

Beverley Minster, in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, is a parish church in the Church of England. It is said to be the largest parish church in the UK.

Originally a collegiate church, it was not selected as a Bishop's Seat during the Dissolution of the Monasteries; nevertheless it survived as a parish church, and the chapter house was the only major part of the building to be lost. It is part of the Greater Churches Group and a Grade 1 Listed building.

Beverley Minster (The Nave)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

Author: Elliott Simpson
Photo taken July 2002.

The Minster owes its origin and much of its subsequent importance to Saint John of Beverley, who founded a monastery, locally, around 700 A.D. and whose bones still lie beneath a plaque in the nave. The institution grew after his death and underwent several rebuildings. 

After a serious fire in 1188, the subsequent reconstruction was over-ambitious; the newly heightened central tower collapsed circa 1213, bringing down much of the surrounding Church. Work on the present structure began around 1220.

It took 200 years to complete building work, but, despite the time scale involved, the whole building has coherent form and detail and is regarded as one of the finest examples of Perpendicular design, the twin towers of the West Front being a superlative example. These formed the inspiration for the design of the present Westminster Abbey.

Beverley Minster (The West Towers)

As with many English Churches during the wars of religion in the 16th-Century, Beverley Minster was not immune to dissension. Church authorities cracked down hard on those they felt were part of the Popish conspiracy, contrary to Royal decrees. "Among those holding traditional beliefs were three of the clergy at the minster, who were charged with Popish practices in 1567; John Levet was a former member of the college and Richard Levet was presumably his brother. Both Levets were suspended from the priesthood, for keeping prohibited equipment and books, and, when restored, were ordered not to minister in Beverley or its neighbourhood."

Beverley Minster (The Ceiling)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

In the 18th-Century, the present central tower replaced an original lantern tower that was in danger of collapse. This central tower now houses the largest surviving treadwheel crane in England, which is used when raising building materials to a workshop located in the roof. A distinctive feature of both the North and South Transepts is the presence of rose windows, and a White Rose of York, with ten equal parts. Daily tours to the crane and rose windows are available to the general public, subject to other church commitments.

Features of the interior include columns of Purbeck Marble, stiff-leaf carving, and the tomb of Lady Eleanor Percy, dating from around 1340 and covered with a richly-decorated canopy, regarded as one of the best surviving examples of Gothic art. A total of sixty-eight 16th-Century misericords are located in the quire of the Minster and nearby is a sanctuary or frith stool dating back to Anglo-Saxon times.

Beverley_Minster (Rose Window)

It is worth noting that the misericords were probably carved by the Ripon School of carvers, and bear a strong family resemblance to those at Manchester Cathedral and Ripon Cathedral.

The organ is mounted above a richly carved wooden screen dating from the late 19th-Century. There is a staircase in the North Aisle which would have been used in collegiate times to gain access to and from the chapter house.

Beverley Minster (Great West Door)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Author of this photo: Graham Hermon

Photo taken June 2002.

Beverley Minster (from the South)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

Beverley Minster (South Transept) 

(Early English style dating from 1220 - 1260)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

Author of this photo: David Wright

Photo taken May 2008.

Improvements to the choir were made during the 16th- and 18th-Century, and mediaeval glass, which was shattered by a storm of 1608, was meticulously collected and installed in the East Window in 1725. The Thornton family, great craftsmen of the early 18th-Century, were responsible for the font cover and the West Door. Another notable feature is the series of carvings of musicians which adorn the nave.

There is a large organ with pipes by John Snetzler from 1769. There have been subsequent rebuilds and restoration by William Hill & Sons in 1884, and Hill, Norman and Beard in 1962/63. The specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.