Ghosts of Beverley Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Humber

Beverley Beck was constructed to enable larger vessels to reach the growing town of Beverley. Now it is home to a good number of leisure boats and is popular among fishermen since it holds good sized pike, as well as bream, dace, eel, gudgeon and tench. The banks have been made accessible and very attractive town housing makes Beckside a lovely place to live.

Answer: Ships were launched sideways

Some slipways are built so that the vessel is side on to the water and is launched sideways. This is done where the limitations of the water channel would not allow lengthwise launching, but occupies a much greater length of shore. It was in 1882 that the first iron ships were built and launched in Beverley. By 1902 the work focused on the fishing industry and the yard was in the vanguard of modern trawler building,.

After draughtsmen had designed the vessel, a scale model would be made before work began.

After launching, the ship would go down the river to Princes Dock in Hull to be fitted.

Answer: Leconfield

The Defence School of Transport was formed in 1996 to provide driver and transport management training to personnel from the Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines.
Leconfield opened in December 1936, as part of RAF Bomber Command. On the night of the 3 September 1939, the first night of the war, ten Whitley bombers from Leconfield became the first British aircraft to penetrate German air space, dropping propaganda leaflets over Germany. During the Battle of Britain, the station was a temporary home to many other squadrons of Fighter Command which made short stays here to rest and re-group.

Answer: Blackfriars

Friars, in contrast to monks, were keen to get out and spread the Word of God - and they were here for many centuries. At its height,the friary housed around 40 friars; there was also a church and a burial ground here. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, the friars became less of a force and the building was eventually converted into housing.

It was nearly pulled down in the 1960's to make way for industrial buildings but local planners saw sense and intervened. A trust was formed to help restore and protect the building, which was subsequently turned into a Youth Hostel. One particular feature common to many buildings in the area is the use of tumble-gabling - a herringbone-like effect used on the gables of buildings.

This technique was used to add extra strength to the gable, but also for its decorative effect and you are likely to see many more examples of this as you walk around Beverley.

Answer: A place for anyone wanting protection from pursuit by the law

Beverley Minster is one of Britain's finest examples of medieval Gothic architecture.
John, bishop of York, founded a monastery on the site where Beverley Minster stands. He died in 721 and his body was buried in a chapel of the Saxon church. He was canonised in 1037. 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. St John's body still lies under the Minster church. The Saxon monastery went through successive rebuilding until 1220 when, after a serious fire, the current building was started but was not completed until 1425. With the dissolution in 1538, the Minster church might have become a cathedral but instead it was saved to become the parish church of Beverley. There is a treadmill crane that was used in the tower's construction still in place within the roof space, the largest surviving treadmill crane in England.

The right of sanctuary at Beverley, granted by King Athelstan, extended for a league in all directions round the Minster, marked with boundary stones. The outer limits of the sanctuary were marked with stone crosses. The penalty for apprehending a criminal who had claimed sanctuary within this boundary was eight pounds and increased in value until at The Frith Stool or Sanctuary Chair near the altar within the Minster the offence was termed "unpardonable". The badge of a local secondary school shows the Chair, and its motto is "As free make I thee as heart may think or eye may see."

Answer: George V

The first sketch for this painting is in Beverley Art Gallery. The actual painting hangs in the throne room of Holyrood House in Edinburgh. In fact if you look at the painting carefully you will see that the king is wearing the Order of the Thistle, the principal Scottish Order of Chivalry.
The grave of Fred and his wife is in the graveyard of Beverley's St. Mary's Church. Carved into its headstone are a palette and brushes.

Answer: A furrow

Beverley has seen a number of great horses over its 300-year existence. One of these was the colt Altisidora, which won the St. Leger, in 1813. The Altisidora Inn at Bishop Burton, near Beverley, was named after the horse.
One approach to Beverley has a skyline dominated by the towers of the Minster and St Mary's Church. This adds charm to the road which passes over the green area of common land called Westwood.
In the Middle Ages the church and Lord of the Manor gave the people of Beverley land on three sides of the town. These were common lands where the townspeople could graze their livestock. The last one, Westwood, was given in 1380. The lands are sometimes called Beverley Pastures. In the 20th century they formed a green belt around Beverley. The racecourse is situated on this common, as is Beverley Golf Club - and there is plenty left of its 300 acres!

A furlong is from the Old English furlang measure of distance of roughly 220 yards, originally the length of a furrow in the common field of 10 acres

Answer: 18th century

Throughout most of the 19th century, gas lights were simply naked flames of varying shapes which were much brighter than candles or oil lamps. In 1885, the Austrian scientist Carl Auer invented the gas mantle, which consisted of a fine ceramic gauze impregnated with rare earth metals.

When heated to a high temperature by an aerated gas burner (invented 30 years earlier by Robert Bunsen), this produced a much brighter light than a naked flame. They were also a bane to small children. When I was a little girl, in the late thirties, if I played in my bedroom I was always being reprimanded by my mother - "Stop jumping around, you'll break the mantle!"

Answer: gate

Medieval Beverley did have four stone gates called North Bar, Norwood Bar, Keldgate or South Bar and Newbegin Bar. Only one survives, the North Bar. The present one was rebuilt in brick in 1409. A plaque on the wall records that it cost nineteen ponds and eleven pence halfpenny.(This might buy two hours of domestic cleaning now!) Outside the gate a street of shops and houses grew up and was called North Bar Without.

The buildings inside the gate were called North Bar Within. "Bar" is the old word for "gate" North Bar has an arched roof. Until bus routes were reorganized in the early 8o's East Riding buses all had arched tops to allow them to go through.

This was unique in Britain!

Answer: Ashton

The World Conker Championships are held annually on the second Sunday in October in the village of Ashton in Northamptonshire, England. Since 1965, conker players from around the world have gathered on the village green to compete for the world title. The male champion is crowned King Conker, and the women's champion is Queen Conker. The object is to take your conker, threaded on a string, and shatter your opponent's one.

Perhaps you'd like to see my Beverley as a whole now!

"Ducks idle on the shimmer of the beck and elegant
New terraces each holding high its head,
Are wreathed in gentle shadows of stout ships now gone,
watched curiously by wraiths of shipwrights, long since dead.
An army juggernaut, impatient, gears agonized,
Makes no impression on the shades of long forgotten friars
Winding along the cobbled way amid the ghostly whisper
of the Minster bells and softly echoing old choirs.
Painters and poets, tellers of old tales, spin webs of fantasy;
Chat to old cronies at the racing stable door
Then sup their ale with long dead Nellie Collinson
And wonder who will pay their ghostly score !
North Bar stands strong- deflowered of its simple dignity;
Traffic lights, like shoddy ear-rings, pertly wink and gleam.
Beyond, Victorian children search down the years for conkers,
where in the drowsy autumn sunshine the horse-chestnuts dream."