Beverley & District

Local History

Beverley has a long and varied history dating back to the 8th century, when Archbishop John of York established a wooden monastery on the site of the current Minster. In its time, Beverley has witnessed Viking invasion, been a centre of pilgrimage and sanctuary, suffered disturbance during the Civil War, seen growth as a prosperous market town, undergone great change after the two World Wars and much more besides. The surrounding district has an even longer human history, with evidence of Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement and religious ritual.

It is hardly surprising, then, that there is a lot of interest in local history - it's one of our most popular group activities.

We have three lively and active local history groups meeting on different days of the week. They all arrange talks, walks, projects and quizzes on topics from prehistory to the present day.

Recent activities have involved exploring the Iron and Bronze age history of the Westwood, the history of the Beverley Art Gallery, and an examination of the town's medieval crafts and guilds. We sometimes prepare a report about what we have seen and done; You can find more by clicking here Local History Meetings Archive.

Ongoing activities for 2023 include our "Village Group Project" when we investigate interesting facets of the history of the villages surrounding Beverley and report back to members.

If you are interested in learning more, then please contact one of the group coordinators, whose details you can find below.

Please note that each group has a one-off joining fee of £10 to cover some external speakers’ costs.

Group Meeting Details

WhereLairgate Hotel, Beverley
GroupOneTwoThree
When4th Wednesday monthly 10:30am2nd Friday monthly 10:30am2nd Thursday monthly 2:00pm
ContactAnn ScrutonChristine BensonChris Jordison
EmailAnne ScrutonChristine BensonChristine Jordison
Tel01482 86742101482 883347 07532 015233
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More Group Pages
19th Century British History Art Appreciation
Book Circle 1 Book Circle 2
Bridge for improvers Cribbage Group
Croquet Group Current Affairs
Cycling - Gentle Rides Cycling - The Recycled Cyclist
Discussion Group English Language For Interest
Facebook Group Family History
Foodie Social Groups French Conversation
French Improvers Garden Interest
German Conversation German Stage 2
Greek for Holidays Guitar Group
Italian for Improvers Local History
Mah-Jong Maritime History
Music Appreciation Group Poetry & Prose
Quiz Group Scrabble
Short Strollers Tuesday Group Stitchcraft
Strollers Wednesday Group Technology Support Group
Town Trot Ukulele Group
Walks (Long) Walks (Short)
Whist Wild Things
Writing Zoom Talks