Religious Life

CHURCHES

THE MINSTER.

The collegiate church of St. John may have served from its foundation in the 8th century as the town's parish church and it is possible that cure of souls was originally held by the canons in common. The canons and the prebends which they enjoyed took the names of altars in the church, and each canon later had separate cure of souls in parts of the town and the liberties. By far the most valuable of the prebends, St. Martin's, probably had a coherent parochial territory within the town, part of which was later assigned to the chapel or church of St. Mary. Four other prebends, those of St. James, St. Catherine, St. Mary, and St. Stephen, had a few, presumably scattered, parishioners in the town, and St. James's and St. Stephen's had parochial cure in outlying townships as well. Three prebends, those of St. Andrew, St. Michael, and St. Peter, had no parishioners in the town but had cure in the townships. The prebendaries were assisted in serving the cures by vicars, who had the help of clerks. (fn. 1) In 1269 a vicarage was instituted for St. Mary's chapel, in the prebend of St. Martin, and the chapel or church later achieved complete independence of the minster. (fn. 2) At the suppression of the college in 1548 the Crown provided stipends for a vicar and three assistants in the minster, (fn. 3) serving a town parish of St. Martin and a parish of St. John the Evangelist comprising the townships within the liberties. For a time after the suppression, however, St. Martin's was said to have been served by the vicar of St. Mary's. (fn. 4) The incumbent was usually known as curate, perpetual curate, or preaching curate, and the living as a perpetual curacy until styled a vicarage in the late 19th century, presumably under the Act of 1868. (fn. 5) In the Middle Ages there was a chapel of St. Thomas outside Keldgate bar (fn. 6) and other chapels at Hull Bridge, Molescroft, and Thearne. In the 19th century chapels of ease were built at Molescroft, Tickton, and Woodmansey; (fn. 7) in the town St. John's chapel, Lairgate, was consecrated in 1841. (fn. 8)

After the suppression the minster clergy were at first appointed by the Crown. A grant of the advowson to the archbishop in 1558 (fn. 9) was presumably ineffective, and the patronage was apparently briefly held by Robert Dudley in the 1560s. (fn. 10) In 1581, however, Beverley corporation was given the nomination. (fn. 11) The advowson was taken from the corporation by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835, and it was sold in 1837 to the Simeon trustees, (fn. 12) who have since remained the patrons.

The curate's stipend provided by the Crown after the suppression was £13 6s. 8d., (fn. 13) but it was increased in 1581 to £21 6s. 8d. (fn. 14) From 1581 the Crown delivered the money to the corporation, which paid the curate. During the Interregnum delivery was suspended and the corporation was allowed to find the money from fee farm rents which it owed to parliament. (fn. 15) The corporation made up the stipend first to £30 and then to £40 in the 1580s and to £50 from 1605; in the 1720s, however, the corporation's augmention was reduced to £10. The corporation allowed the incumbent one or two horse-gates in Lund and the common pastures. (fn. 16) For preaching a weekly sermon in St. Mary's church the incumbent received annually from the corporation £10 left for the town's lecturer by Robert Metcalfe, by will proved in 1653, as well as £2 left by Anne Routh, by will proved in 1722. (fn. 17) The living was in 1721 augmented with £200 from Queen Anne's Bounty, to meet a like sum given by the corporation from money raised on a brief for the minster; (fn. 18) the money was used to buy land which produced £18 a year in the 18th century. (fn. 19) Under an Act of 1766 the living was further augmented with £50 a year from estates given for the repair of the church, and another £50 a year was provided from the same source under an Act of 1806. (fn. 20) The average net value of the living in 1829-31 was £128 a year. (fn. 21) A further £400 was allotted from Queen Anne's Bounty to meet like benefactions in 1838, (fn. 22) and £113 a year was given from the Common Fund in 1867. (fn. 23) In 1883 tithe rents of c. £9 in Tickton were bought for the living, (fn. 24) which was worth £131 net in 1883. (fn. 25)

Crown stipends were also provided for the assistant curates, whose number was reduced from three to one in 1581, after which date he received the money, as did the vicar, through the hands of the corporation. During the Interregnum the assistant received an augmentation from the sequestered tithes of Molescroft. (fn. 26) He was given augmentations under the Acts of 1766 and 1806, the latter providing for a second assistant. By 1865 there were four assistant curates, two of whom largely served the country districts in the parish; there were still three, sometimes four, in the early 20th century (fn. 27) but in 1985 only two. (fn. 28)

There was no glebe land until 1722, when 10 a. of old inclosures together with commonable land and common rights in Sutton on Hull were bought with Bounty money. (fn. 29) At the inclosure of Sutton in 1768 the incumbent was allotted 21 a. (fn. 30) He held all 31 a. until the land was sold in several lots in 1875, 1921, 1936, 1938, and 1964. (fn. 31) In 1905 a plot of ½ a. behind Minster Moorgate was acquired as a vicarage garden. (fn. 32)

The curate's house, in Minster Yard North, was first mentioned in 1599. (fn. 33) The house was rebuilt in 1704. (fn. 34) It was evidently not occupied by the curate in the early 19th century, John Jackson in 1809 and Joseph Coltman in 1815 both living elsewhere. (fn. 35) It remained the incumbent's residence until 1961-2, when a new house was built in Highgate; (fn. 36) the old one was sold in 1963. (fn. 37) Part of the old friary in Friars Lane was bought by the incumbent in 1886 and used to house an assistant curate; it was sold in 1960. (fn. 38)

There were a dozen chantries in the minster, with net values in 1548 as follows. (fn. 39) St. Michael's, worth £10 8s. 9½d., was founded c. 1260 by Peter Derman in memory of William Scott. (fn. 40) St. Catherine's, worth £5 2s. 6d., was mentioned from 1323. (fn. 41) That of Holy Trinity, worth £13 4s., was founded by Sir William Tirwhit in 1441. (fn. 42) St. Peter's, worth £5 3s. 10¼d., was founded by Robert of Pickering in 1307. (fn. 43) St. John the Evangelist's, worth £5, was probably that founded by Edward I in pursuance of a grant made to the chapter in 1296. (fn. 44) St. Anne's, worth £6 17s., was mentioned from 1408. (fn. 45) Our Lady's, worth £9 5s. 2¼d., was founded at St. Catherine's altar by Richard Crayke and John Normanby in 1411. (fn. 46) St. John of Beverley's, worth £7 2s. 6¼d., was founded at St. Catherine's altar by Robert Rolleston in 1450 as the chantry of St. John of Beverley and St. Catherine. (fn. 47) That of Corpus Christi, worth £7 14s. 3d., was apparently founded by John Wilton in 1352. (fn. 48) St. William's, worth £6 9s. 11d., was founded by William Cook c. 1500. (fn. 49) Grant's was worth £3 10s. 4d. Another of Corpus Christi was worth £4 0s. 11d. Finally, that of Corpus Christi and the Annunciation, worth £11 13s. 5¼d., was founded by Stephen Wilton in 1455. (fn. 50) There was also a light on the beam in mid choir. (fn. 51) Some of the former property of the chantries was granted by the Crown in 1549 to Edward Pease and William Winlove and in 1553 to Christopher Estoft and Thomas Doweman. (fn. 52) Some also later formed part of the minster Old Fund (fn. 53) and more was granted to the corporation in 1585. (fn. 54)

The minster clergy soon after the suppression included one who was admonished in 1566 for not wearing a surplice and three who were charged in 1567 with popish practices. (fn. 55) Later the corporation appointed several puritans to the living. They included Thomas Whincop, curate 1583-99, William Crashaw, curate 1599-1605, Richard Rhodes, curate 1613-32, and James Burney, curate 1632-60. Humphrey Sainthill, from 1659 successively assistant curate and curate, was ejected in 1662. (fn. 56) Thomas Lewthwaite, curate 1749-79, and his assistant incurred the corporation's displeasure in 1774 for not visiting the sick and for refusing burial to the poor until the fee was produced. (fn. 57) Several incumbents also held other livings. (fn. 58)

There were prayers in the minster twice a day in 1743, when communion was celebrated monthly with 60-70 recipients. (fn. 59) It was provided in the Minster Estates Act of 1806 that service should be performed twice a day. (fn. 60) In 1851 two services were held on Sundays and by 1865 three. Communion was celebrated fortnightly by 1868, weekly by 1884, and twice each Sunday in the early 20th century. There were still c. 70 recipients in the late 19th century. (fn. 61) In 1852 the minster infants' school in Beckside was licensed for services (fn. 62) and it was used as a mission room until c. 1940. (fn. 63) A mission room in Keldgate was opened in 1883 in a cottage, but a new mission and reading room with soup kitchen was opened there in 1893 and another in Flemingate the next year, both built and maintained by Adm. Charles Walker; (fn. 64) there was also a hired mission room in Wilbert Lane, opened in 1890. (fn. 65) The Flemingate room was sold in 1926, (fn. 66) and the Keldgate room devised to the church by Adm. Walker (d. 1925) and sold in 1947. (fn. 67) The former minster girls' school next to the vicarage house was converted to a parish room in 1885 (fn. 68) and the new girls' school nearby to a parish hall in 1972. (fn. 69) Both buildings were still so used in 1988.

The Beverley Church Sunday School Society, established in 1825, had formed a parochial lending library at the minster by 1827. (fn. 70)

The church of ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, which is widely regarded as one of the finest Gothic churches in Europe, consists of aisled and clerestoried chancel, with north-east chapel and clerestoried transepts having east aisles; aisled and clerestoried main transepts; the stub of a former central tower; aisled and clerestoried nave with north porch; and twin west towers. (fn. 71) The church is built on the scale of a cathedral and is c. 330 ft. long, or nearly ¾ the size of York minster. Until the early 13th century the stone used was oolitic limestone from the Newbald district. Thereafter, though some of the older stone was reused, notably in the south aisle, magnesian limestone from the West Riding was employed, together with Purbeck marble for decorative work. Some chalk was also used, and the vault over the nave was built of brick, hidden from view by stone ribs and plastering.

Nothing remains of the Anglian church with the possible exception of the frith stool or sanctuary chair in the chancel. Much work was done about the church and other collegiate buildings in the 40 years before the Conquest, including the construction of a shrine for the relics of bishop John, the erection of a tower between 1051 and 1060, and the building of a new presbytery in the 1060s. (fn. 72) Nothing is known of work carried out in the Norman period, though it presumably included some rebuilding after the church was seriously damaged by fire in 1188. (fn. 73) All that remains is some re-used chevron ornament and diagonally-tooled masonry in the nave triforia, a waterleaf capital and fragments of vaulting ribs reused in the south transept of the chancel, and a font; all with the possible exception of the chevron may date from after 1188. (fn. 74) Further serious damage to the fabric was caused c. 1213, when the heightening of the tower was followed by its collapse. (fn. 75)

The collection of money for rebuilding the church was mentioned in 1221 and the 1230s, (fn. 76) and 40 oaks from Sherwood forest were ordered to be supplied in 1252. (fn. 77) The work carried out between c. 1220 and c. 1260 included the building of the chancel with its transepts, the main crossing and the transepts, and the chapter house. (fn. 78) The vaults are part of the same building programme but the existence of decorative walling above and partly covered by the vaults in both crossings suggests that they were intended to be vaulted or ceiled at a higher level. The further collection of money was recorded in 1290 (fn. 79) and a contract was made in 1292 for making a new shrine for St. John of Beverley's relics, (fn. 80) presumably completed by 1308 when the high altar was dedicated. (fn. 81) Work on the nave began soon after 1300. It was perhaps for its supervision that the presence of the master mason was urgently sought by the chapter in 1305, (fn. 82) and collections for the 'new fabric' began in 1308. (fn. 83) Apart from the first bay of the arcades, which was necessary to support the crossing, and perhaps the lower part of the south aisle wall, little seems to have been achieved and the nave was still incomplete when work was halted by the Black Death. During the building of the nave and perhaps in the late 1330s and 1340s the elaborate reredos, intended to support the shrine to St. John, and the so-called 'Percy tomb' were erected. The reredos may have been designed by Ivo de Raghton. (fn. 84) The Percy monument is long bereft of its tomb. There has been much debate whether its occupant was Eleanor Percy (d. 1328) or Idony Percy (d. 1365), and it has also been suggested that it may, rather, have been an Easter sepulchre. The view most recently expressed is that it was the tomb of Eleanor. (fn. 85) Similar in style are four wooden sedilia opposite the tomb.

The completion of the nave, along with the north porch, west front, and the two west towers, was achieved between c. 1390 and c. 1420. A gift of oaks from Bishop Burton and elsewhere in 1388 (fn. 86) probably indicated the start of the work, and an indulgence for 'new work' promulgated in 1408 (fn. 87) marked its progress. The original trussed-rafter roof survives. The great east window dates from the same period, William of Waltham, canon of York and Beverley, leaving £40 for it in 1416. (fn. 88) The interior elevations, especially that of the triforium, continue the 13th-century design of the east end but the exterior is in a 14th-century style. Later in the century a north-east chapel was built for the remains of Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland (d. 1489), and an octagonal lantern was apparently added to the stub of the central tower during the 15th century. (fn. 89)

Furnishings include choir stalls and misericords dating from the 1520s, probably made by the Ripon school of carvers, (fn. 90) and some 14th- and 15th-century screens. There are many carvings of musical instruments, for example in the nave north aisle arcades, and here, as at St. Mary's, the guild of minstrels may have been associated with the building work. (fn. 91)

After the suppression of the college the demolition of the collegiate buildings included the removal of the chapter house, though the double stairway leading to it from the chancel remains, and of St. Martin's chapel. (fn. 92) It was recalled in the 1590s that the chapel had been built against the south wall of the church 'in manner as an outshot'. (fn. 93) It evidently adjoined the south-west corner of the church. Masonry perhaps connected with it is visible at the base of the tower there, and a stone pavement was uncovered in the churchyard nearby in the 19th century. No remains of the chapel were shown in a view of the church produced in 1656, and in the early 18th century aisle windows were inserted there and wall arcading added.

Storm damage suffered in 1676 included the blowing down of pinnacles. (fn. 94) Large-scale restoration was undertaken in the early 18th century, much of it to designs by Nicholas Hawksmoor and executed by William Thornton (d. 1721) of York. Most of the work was done between 1717 and 1730. (fn. 95) The north transept gable was leaning dangerously and was forced back into position in 1719 using huge timber trusses. The central tower was rebuilt in brick with an ashlar facing and the lantern replaced by a cupola in 17213, (fn. 96) and all the roofs except that of the nave were renewed. All the fragments of medieval glass in the church were gathered into the great east window. At the same time the interior was extensively Georgianized, the work including a wooden reredos, a stone choir screen in a mixed Gothic and Baroque style, a marble pavement, and iron screens and rails in the chancel, and galleries, pulpit, pews, doors, and font cover in the nave. Restoration continued in the later 18th century and a new organ was introduced in 1769. Further work was carried out in the early 19th century. The altarpiece was removed in 1815 and the reredos restored in 1826; the galleries and the cupola were removed in 1824; and the chancel was fitted for services in 1825. (fn. 97) Later in the century the windows were renewed with coloured glass, and work done under the supervision of Sir Gilbert Scott included the replacement of the 18th-century choir screen in 1876 (fn. 98) and the refitting of the chancel and sanctuary. A scheme was launched in 1897 to fill with statues the niches on the west front, towers, and north porch. A portable nave altar was installed in 1970 and a large-scale restoration of both the interior and the exterior of the church was undertaken in the 1970s and 1980s. A treadwheel crane survives in the central tower; it may date from the 18th century and presumably replaced an older one. (fn. 99)

Monuments include a 14th-century chest tomb, with an unidentified priest's effigy, in the north transept. (fn. 100)

The church plate includes four cups and three covers, one of the cups given in 1666 by Ann Cartwright, a paten, given along with the cup, and a flagon, given by Susannah Clark in 1705, all of silver. (fn. 101) There were six bells in 1552. (fn. 102) In the late 19th century there was a peal of eight in the north tower and a ninth, the 'great bell', in the south tower: (i) (ii) 1747, Thomas Lester, London; (iii) 1799, James Harrison, Barton upon Humber; (iv) 1663, Samuel Smith, York; (v) 1861, G. Mears & Co., London; (vi) c. 1330, John of Stafford; (vii) 1747, Thomas Lester; (viii) c. 1330, John of Stafford; (ix) 1703, Samuel Smith, York. (fn. 103) The sixth was replaced by a new bell, by Messrs. Taylor of Loughborough, in 1896, (fn. 104) and the great bell was replaced by a new one, by Taylor, in 1900. (fn. 105) A new peal of 10 bells was made by Taylor in 1901; of the old peal of eight one is preserved in the south tower and another was hung there for use as a prayer bell. (fn. 106) The great bell was replaced again in 1902 by Taylor and a clock installed in the south tower which strikes all 10 bells. (fn. 107) The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials date from 1558 and are complete except for marriages in 15801606 and for the later 1690s when all entries were neglected. (fn. 108)

Burials in the minster were ended in 1858 and the churchyard was closed for burials, except in existing plots, in 1861. (fn. 109) Two new burial grounds were acquired in 1860, one of ½ a. in Queensgate for St. John's parish, to serve Beverley Parks, Molescroft, Thearne, and Woodmansey, and another of 3 a. in Cartwright Lane for St. Martin's parish; part of each ground was consecrated the following year (fn. 110) and two mortuary chapels were built in the St. Martin's ground c. 1862. Each ground was administered by a burial board. (fn. 111) Another part of the St. Martin's ground was consecrated in 1873; (fn. 112) the St. Martin's board was taken over by the corporation in 1904. (fn. 113) The materials of one of the chapels were used to build a chapel in the borough cemetery in 1926 (fn. 114) and the other chapel was later demolished. The St. John's ground was later administered by a joint committee of Molescroft and Woodmansey parish councils. (fn. 115) Both grounds were full, except for burials in existing plots, in 1988.

During the Middle Ages lands and rents in Beverley were given for the upkeep of the fabric of the minster, (fn. 116) and at the suppression the endowments of the office of works at the college were worth £68 a year. In 1552, in response to a petition from the burgesses, the Crown assigned to the town governors as trustees the profits from so much of those endowments as was still in Crown hands, worth nearly £34 a year, together with the profits from the former chantries of St. John of Beverley and St. William, worth nearly £15, and a pension of nearly £5 due from the burgesses to the Crown for the chantry of St. Catherine in St. Mary's church, a total value of c. £54. (fn. 117) Those estates were granted in fee to the corporation in 1579, when the estate formerly belonging to the office of works included c. 80 houses and cottages in the town. (fn. 118) The so-called 'minster rents', totalling c. £70, first appeared in the corporation's accounts in 1576-6. (fn. 119) They later became known as Queen Elizabeth's Endowment or the minster Old Fund. (fn. 120) When it was regulated by an Act of 1806 the estate produced an annual income of c. £529 and the accumulated savings comprised £395 cash and £1,063 in investments. The income in 1822-3 was £969. (fn. 121) The estate remained in the trusteeship of the corporation until municipal reform in 1835, when a board of trustees was appointed by Chancery. That board was reorganized in 1882, when it was provided that it should eventually comprise 11 persons, including the mayor of Beverley, the vicar of the minster, and the archdeacon of the East Riding. The endowments then comprised c. 56 a. and c. 90 houses in Beverley, a piece of land at Etton, rent charges of c. £5, and £827 stock. (fn. 122) Much of the estate was later sold. (fn. 123) In 1908 the income included £ 1,264 from rents and £194 interest on stock, and in 1954 £1,530 from rents and £1,182 interest on c. £39,700 stock; (fn. 124) in 1983-4 it was £11,000 from rents and £22,000 from investments. (fn. 125)

The minster New Fund originated in the bequest of £4,000 for the repair of the minster by Sir Michael Warton (d. 1725); he left other money for an almshouse and the Charity school. (fn. 126) In 1747 the various sums were used to buy an estate in Lincolnshire, comprising the manor of Dalby and 664 a., and accumulated savings were used in 1763 to enlarge it with 39 a. The fund was regulated by Acts of 1766 and 1806, which provided that 16 2/1 of the income should be used for the minster. In 1806 the minster's share was c. £323 and invested savings then comprised £1,800. (fn. 127) The estate was sold in 1919 and the income was £622 from £12,440 stock in 1920 and £337 from £9,641 stock in 1954; (fn. 128) in 1983-4 the income from investments was £641. (fn. 129)

The chapel of St. Thomas the Martyr, outside Keldgate bar, was mentioned from the late 13th century. (fn. 130) It may have stood on the east side of Queensgate near the end of Butt Lane. (fn. 131) After the suppression the presumed site was granted in 1558 to Sir George Howard (fn. 132) and in 1585 to the corporation. (fn. 133)

ST. JOHN'S chapel of ease in Lairgate, in St. John with St. Martin's parish, was opened in 1840 on a site given by Mrs. Jane Walker and consecrated in 1841. (fn. 134) It was served by an assistant curate from the minster. In 1851 there were two services each Sunday and by 1861 also one on Wednesdays. Communion was celebrated monthly in 1865 with c. 40 recipients and twice a month in 1877 with an average of 27 recipients. About 1920 it was said that St. John's had been the fashionable church of Beverley in the mid 19th century, when the minster was unheated and services were held in the chancel and when the unrestored St. Mary's was damp; St. John's had since then 'largely outlived its usefulness', except during the war when the windows could be blacked out. (fn. 135) The chapel was closed in 1939 and sold in 1950; it was later converted to the Memorial Hall. (fn. 136) A parsonage house (later no. 71 Lairgate) next to the chapel was built on a site acquired in 1846; it was sold in 1970. (fn. 137) The chapel, in an Early English style, was designed by H. F. Lockwood of Hull and built of grey brick with stone dressings, using materials from the demolished Church Methodist chapel in Landress Lane. It comprised undivided nave and sanctuary. (fn. 138)

ST. MARY'S.

Architectural evidence suggests that the chapel of St. Mary, in that part of the town in the parochial cure of the prebendary of St. Martin in the collegiate church, was founded in the second quarter of the 12th century. In 1269 a vicarage was instituted 'at the altar of St. Martin with the chapel of St. Mary belonging to it'. The incumbent was to serve the cure in the minster and the chapel and be present in minster processions on Sundays and holy days. (fn. 139) It was soon necessary to remind the vicar of his subordination to the minster. In 1304, for example, the priests serving St. Mary's were warned to attend processions; the next year the master of works at the chapel was told not to withhold goods which were the perquisites of the minster sacrist; and in 1307 the priests in the chapel were ordered to be examined, approved, and admitted by the chapter and, again, to attend processions. (fn. 140) The rule about processions was repeated in 1325, when the vicarage was augmented, (fn. 141) and complete independence of the minster may have been achieved only gradually. In 1425 St. Nicholas's was still regarded as the only independent parish church in the town. (fn. 142) Because of the low value of both livings the vicarage was in 1667 united with the rectory of St. Nicholas's, (fn. 143) and St. Nicholas's church was demolished. The union was later regarded as one of parishes, and the parish of St. Mary with St. Nicholas became the usual appellation; the incumbent was styled vicar of St. Mary's and rector of St. Nicholas's. A chapel of ease dedicated to St. Nicholas was consecrated in 1880 and a separate living with a new parish was created in 1959. (fn. 144)

The vicar was presented by the prebendary of St. Martin and after the suppression by the Crown. (fn. 145) A grant of the advowson to the archbishop in 1558 (fn. 146) was presumably ineffective, and the patronage, like that of the minster, was apparently briefly held by Robert Dudley in the 1560s. (fn. 147) The advowson, which was exercised by the Lord Chancellor, was exchanged in 1871 with the archbishop, (fn. 148) who has since remained the patron.

At the ordination of 1269 the vicar was assigned £13 6s. 8d. from annuals, trigintals, legacies, and other sources, £3 6s. 8d. from offerings at the altar and chapel, and £6 13s. 4d. to be paid by the prebendary. By the augmentation of 1325 he was to receive the tithes due to the altar and chapel from all crofts, orchards, and gardens belonging to the altar and chapel, as well as small tithes and oblations and a stipend of £3 6s. 8d. from the prebendary. (fn. 149) In 1535 the vicarage was worth £14 2s. 8d. net a year, including the stipend, (fn. 150) and in 1650 the improved value was £50 a year. (fn. 151) Grants to the vicar were made from sequestered rectories in the East Riding during the Interregnum. (fn. 152) The vicar also received small sums for preaching sermons, from Frances Brogden, Thomas Ellinor, and Margaret Ferrer, and for supervising charitable trusts, from Ann Wride, under wills made in 1770, 1728, 1671, and 1778 respectively. (fn. 153) The average net value of St. Mary's vicarage with St. Nicholas's rectory in 1829-31 was £289 a year. (fn. 154) In 1880 a grant of £12 a year was made from the Common Fund, and £120 for an assistant curate was given in 1882. (fn. 155) The gross value of the living in 1884 was £684 a year, to which St. Mary's contributed £372; the net value was £572. (fn. 156)

The tithes of crofts, orchards, gardens, and pigs were worth £10 16s. a year in 1535. (fn. 157) After the suppression the tithes of St. Martin's parish were said to have been taken by the vicar of St. Mary's in return for serving the cure. (fn. 158) Later the tithes and oblations of the prebend and chapel were let by the Crown for £11 a year, the vicar enjoying the profits of the lease from 1621. By the early 18th century the profits from St. Martin's parish had evidently been lost by disuse (fn. 159) and an attempt by the vicar to recover tithes there in 1841-2 was unsuccessful. (fn. 160) The tithes of St. Mary's parish were commuted in 1848, when a rent charge of £55 11s. 6¾d. a year was awarded to the vicar. (fn. 161) By 1685 the glebe of St. Mary's comprised the vicarage house, with garden, orchard, and close nearby. No other glebe land was acquired. The house, in Vicar Lane, (fn. 162) was rebuilt in 1791-2, (fn. 163) and a rear wing, including a parish room, was added in 1877. The house was divided in 1957 to provide a verger's flat. (fn. 164) A new vicarage house, no. 15 Molescroft Road, was bought in 1966 and the old one, except for the verger's flat and the parish room, was sold the next year; (fn. 165) the flat and room were sold later.

There were three chantries in the church. That founded by Nicholas Rise in 1414 (fn. 166) was probably the chantry of St. Nicholas, which was worth £4 13s. 8d. net in 1548. St. Catherine's chantry, which was founded by Thomas Gervays by will dated 1388, (fn. 167) was worth £4 4s. net in 1548. Kelk's chantry, at St. Thomas's altar, was founded in 1415 by Nicholas Chamberlain for Thomas Kelk and his family; it was served by two chaplains (fn. 168) and was worth £10 4s. 1½d. net in 1548. (fn. 169) Some of the former property was included in Crown grants made in 1549 and 1553. (fn. 170) There were also several obits in the church. (fn. 171) A guild of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in the church in 1355 and evidently refounded by 1400, when licence was given for the acquisition of property. (fn. 172) It had its altar in the charnel or crypt beneath the Holy Trinity chapel. (fn. 173) The guild of the Holy Trinity was recorded from 1471, and the Trinity altar in the crypt was recorded in 1486. (fn. 174) A chaplain of the 'chantry' of the Holy Trinity in the crypt, mentioned in 1418, (fn. 175) perhaps served an altar there. There was an image of the Virgin, variously described as in the nave or the south aisle. (fn. 176) A chapel of St. Cuthbert, on the south side of the church, was mentioned in 1477 and 1485. (fn. 177)

Two incumbents were noted puritans, William Ellis (1608-37) and his successor Nicholas Osgodby, who was ejected in 1643. Osgodby was succeeded by Joseph Wilson, who was himself deprived in 1653. (fn. 178) The parish clerk, Nicholas Pearson, was responsible for making many memoranda in the parish register from 1636 to 1653 on the progress of the war. (fn. 179) Wilson was followed by Samuel Ferris, who was ejected in 1660 when Osgodby was restored. (fn. 180) Although the patronage of St. Mary's belonged to the Crown the corporation several times took an interest in the choice of incumbents and established a close relationship with them. In 1666, for example, the corporation agreed to listen to a request for the living, (fn. 181) and in 1684 it received plate and other gifts from John Brereton, vicar from 1672. In 1689, however, Brereton was found to have appropriated church collection money, together with money collected in the town for the relief of French protestants, and the corporation forced him to resign. (fn. 182) In 1766 the corporation unsuccessfully solicited the Lord Chancellor on behalf of a candidate for the living, (fn. 183) which was held 1767-91 by Francis Drake, son of the antiquary. (fn. 184) In 1791, however, the corporation successfully petitioned in favour of Robert Rigby, the assistant curate. Rigby, vicar 1791-1823, had been rewarded in 1788 for his services as lecturer, was made a freeman in 1792, and became an alderman in 1802. (fn. 185)

From the mid 17th century a weekly sermon in the church was given by the incumbent of the minster. (fn. 186) A lecturer in the church received grants from sequestered rectories during the Interregnum. (fn. 187) John Oxenbridge, lecturer from c. 1647 to 1652, was a congregational and was later ejected as vice-provost of Eton College. (fn. 188) In 1743 it was said that until recently there had been a licensed lecturer receiving a subscription of £20 a year and that after his departure another had briefly officiated without licence. (fn. 189) A lecturer was also mentioned in the late 18th century. (fn. 190) An assistant curate was provided for by John Moyser (d. 1738) to read daily prayers and preach two sermons on Sundays. (fn. 191) There was evidently one assistant curate from the late 18th century, (fn. 192) three in the late 19th and early 20th century, one of them having charge of the chapel of ease, by 1931 only one, and after 1959 none. (fn. 193) In 1985 there were two honorary assistants. (fn. 194)

There were prayers in the church twice a day by 1743 and two services were held on Sundays before the lecturer departed; communion was celebrated monthly with c. 60 recipients. (fn. 195) Two services were held on Sundays in 1764 (fn. 196) and three by 1851. (fn. 197) By 1829 there were also prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays. In 1884 there were two services daily and communion was celebrated weekly, with nearly 70 recipients. Only two services were held on Sundays by 1894. In the early 20th century communion was celebrated on Sundays and usually on four weekdays. (fn. 198) During the Second World War services were held in the Playhouse cinema instead of the church. (fn. 199)

An unidentified room in the parish was used for services in 1871. By 1877 a service was held on Sundays in 'Grovehill chapel' and others on Sundays and Thursdays in the Temperance Hall, Holme Church Lane. (fn. 200) A mission and school room for St. Nicholas's district was also built in Holme Church Lane in 1879. It was replaced by a wooden mission room put up beside it in 1885 and that was enlarged in 1905. (fn. 201) In 1894 the mission room was used only for classes and meetings on account of its proximity to the chapel of ease; a weekly service was, however, held at another mission room in 'the Norwood district', (fn. 202) perhaps St. Mary's girls' school in Norwood.

The provision of a vestry room for the parish was authorized in 1870 (fn. 203) and a room in Hengate was acquired the next year. (fn. 204) A parish room for St. Mary's was provided in the vicarage house, in Vicar Lane, in 1877 and was retained for a time after the house was sold in 1967. (fn. 205) The former St. Nicholas's school was used as a parish hall from the end of the First World War. (fn. 206) Welfare work in St. Mary's parish was conducted at the Church House; it was in Ladygate in 1876, in Norwood from 1887, and in a purpose-built house in Tiger Lane from 1903. (fn. 207)

The church library included 447 books given between 1699 and 1727; 32 remained in 1959 but five of the most valuable were stolen in 1977. (fn. 208) The Beverley Church Sunday School Society, established in 1825, had formed a parochial library at St. Mary's by 1827. (fn. 209)

The church of ST. MARY, built entirely of ashlar, consists of aisled and clerestoried chancel with north-east chapel, sacristy, and priests' rooms (the last now a museum); central tower; clerestoried south transept with east aisle; clerestoried north transept with east chapel (now a vestry) and crypt; and aisled and clerestoried nave with south porch. (fn. 210) The floor level is c. 3 ft. below the churchyard and nearby streets. The church is notable for its size, having an overall length of 197 ft., and for the richness and variety of styles employed. The earlier parts of the church were built of oolitic limestone from the Newbald district but from the second quarter of the 14th century magnesian limestone from the West Riding was used.

The 12th-century church evidently consisted of chancel and nave with central tower. Visible remains of that period include fragments of plinths on the north side of the chancel and beneath the bases of the piers of the chancel south arcade. Twelfth-century voussoirs are reset in the rear arch to the south doorway and there are many re-used stones in the church, together with an early altar slab, set in the chancel floor. The first additions to the church were the transepts, the north built in the late 12th century and the south in the early 13th, both with narrow eastern aisles. In the second quarter of the 13th century the original nave was replaced by a new aisled nave and the chancel was lengthened. All that survives of the new nave are the reset respond piers and capitals of the openings into the transepts at the east end of the aisles.

In the late 13th century the church was enlarged with a chapel of the Holy Trinity running the whole length of the east side of the north transept, from which it was entered. Beneath it a vaulted crypt entered from the churchyard was used as a charnel house. At the end of the century and in the early years of the 14th the south transept aisle was widened and an aisle was built on the south side of the chancel, with an arcade made in the former chancel wall. The chancel aisle later housed the chapel of St. Catherine. Also in the early 14th century the nave aisles were widened. In the second quarter of the century an aisle or chapel of St. Michael and an adjoining sacristy, with two priests' rooms above, were built on the north side of the chancel. The work involved the making of an arcade in the chancel wall and cutting off more than a third of the Holy Trinity chapel and half of the crypt. The arcade evidently contained an Easter Sepulchre, mentioned in the 15th and 16th centuries, (fn. 211) perhaps represented by richly carved fragments surviving in the museum. On the chancel side of the arcade is a large niche presumably intended for a statue of the Virgin. (fn. 212) The sacristy contains a piscina. A circular stairway gives access to the priests' rooms. St. Michael's chapel, with its vaulted ceiling, displays fine workmanship which it has been suggested is by Ivo de Raghton. (fn. 213)

Several changes were made to the church in the late 14th and the 15th century. Of the earlier period was the addition of a clerestory to the nave and the heightening of the tower. The central part of a new west front was begun at the same time and finished in the early 15th century; floor tiles left by William Melbourne, merchant, in 1411 (fn. 214) were probably used in the closing stages of the work. The front incorporates high turrets, a large window, and an elaborate doorway. The south porch was built c. 1410-20; above the inner door is a double-canopied niche of the 14th century. A clerestory was added to the chancel between c. 1415 and c. 1440; a bequest by William Melbourne in 1411 and money given for the fabric or for the 'new work' of the chancel in 1418 (fn. 215) were probably for the early part of the work. An elaborate ceiling depicting 40 English monarchs was placed in the chancel in 1445. (fn. 216) The transepts were extensively renewed in the 1450s, the work including the reconstruction of much of the earlier fabric, new clerestories and arcade piers, and the recasing of the exterior. Bequests for the work were made by Richard Patrington, merchant, in 1451 and Thomas White, draper, in 1453. (fn. 217) The final work of the 15th century was the completion of the west front by the rebuilding of the ends of the nave aisles; bequests for it were made by Robert Dacres, weaver, in 1498 and his widow Agnes in 1500. (fn. 218)

The original tower, weakened by successive alterations to the church and by its own heightening, collapsed in 1520. (fn. 219) As a result the nave arcades and clerestory as well as the tower and crossing had to be substantially rebuilt. Work probably began immediately, for timber from Westwood was given to the church the same year. (fn. 220) Peter Craw, draper, gave money towards the work in 1522 (fn. 221) and Sir Richard Rokeby (d. 1523) bequeathed £200, part of which had already been handed over. (fn. 222) Carved hoodmoulds on the rebuilt north aisle arcade record others who contributed, and those on the south arcade include the date 1524, when the work of rebuilding may have been completed. A font was given to the church in 1530 by William Lerefax, draper, (fn. 223) and a stone vault was inserted in the porch at about the same time. The nave and chancel suffered storm damage in 1676. (fn. 224)

Furnishings include choir stalls and misericords dating from c. 1445, probably made by the Ripon school of carvers. (fn. 225) The original rood was mentioned in 1477; (fn. 226) what remained of the screen was taken down c. 1875 but was replaced in 1893. (fn. 227) The church contains c. 30 carvings, in wood and stone, of musical instruments, notably those on the easternmost pier of the nave north arcade recording the contribution of the minstrels' guild to the rebuilding of the 1520s. (fn. 228) A gallery was erected on the north side of the nave in 1616 and another on the south side in 1726; they were altered in the 1750s. (fn. 229)

Alterations and improvements to the church, including the removal of the galleries, the addition of flying buttresses to the south transept, the main window of which was given new tracery, and the rebuilding of the turrets on the west front, (fn. 230) were made under a faculty of 1844 by A. W. N. Pugin and his son E. W. Pugin. (fn. 231) The transept roofs were restored by Cuthbert Brodrick in 1861-2, a general restoration of the building was begun in 1864 by Sir Gilbert Scott, and other changes were made by John Bilson in the 1890s. (fn. 232)

Monuments include one of 1689 to two Danish soldiers, one executed for killing the other, and several of the 18th century to members of the Warton family.

The church plate includes two cups and covers dated 1644, two other cups, a paten given in 1701 by Charles Warton, an almsdish, a flagon given in 1696 by Sir Ralph Warton, and a spoon dated 1714, all of silver. (fn. 233) In the 1870s there were six bells in the tower: two were undated but three bore the dates 1599, 1631, and 1760, and the other had been recast in 1700. (fn. 234) The old treble bell was replaced and two new bells were added in 1884. (fn. 235) A new peal of 10 bells was made by Messrs. Taylor of Loughborough in 1900; seven of the old ones were used in the casting but that of 1599 is preserved in the museum. (fn. 236) The registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials date from 1561 and are largely complete. (fn. 237)

Burials in St. Mary's church were ended in 1858 and the churchyard was closed for burials, except in existing plots, in 1859. (fn. 238) Provision of additional space for burials had already been made in 1829, when ground on the west side of North Bar Within was consecrated, together with a private burial ground for Henry Ellison and his family behind it. At the same time a small piece of ground was added to the churchyard. (fn. 239) In 1864 Rachel Myers gave 5 a. on Molescroft Road, just outside the borough, as an additional burial ground. Temporary licences were issued in 1867, for Mrs. Myers's own burial, and 1868, and 3 a. of the ground were consecrated in 1869. A mortuary chapel designed by William Hawe in a later 13th-century style was built in 1867-8. (fn. 240) The ground in North Bar Within was closed for burials in 1869, except in existing plots. (fn. 241) By 1919 the consecrated ground on Molescroft Road was full, (fn. 242) but the rest of the ground there was consecrated in 1929. (fn. 243) The ground in North Bar Within was sold to the corporation in 1955 to be used as a public garden, (fn. 244) and in 1963 the Molescroft Road ground was closed except for burials in existing plots. (fn. 245)

During the Middle Ages many lands and rents in Beverley were given to provide income for the upkeep of the fabric of the church. (fn. 246) The estate, along with many other concealed lands, was granted by the Crown to the corporation in 1585; the grant included c. 160 cottages and houses in Beverley. (fn. 247) The concealed lands were worth c. £195 in 1584-5, in addition to fines of St. Mary's church lands amounting to c. £23. (fn. 248) In 1590 it was agreed that the churchwardens should receive the rents of their part of the lands and make leases with the concurrence of the corporation. (fn. 249) As accounted for by the churchwardens from 1592-3, when the income was c. £34, (fn. 250) and as surveyed in 1630 the estate included c. 60 houses in the town. After some of the rents were found to have been withheld the churchwardens were empowered by a Chancery decree of 1634 to act as trustees, still subject to the concurrence of the corporation in the granting of leases. (fn. 251) The income in 1813 was only £56 but by the improvement of the rents it was increased to £323 in 1820-1 and £800 in 1828. (fn. 252) Much of the estate was sold in the late 19th and the 20th century (fn. 253) and the proceeds invested in stock. In 1899 rents produced £724 and interest on stock £158; other stock was sold that year for £124. In 1922 the income included £720 from rents and £739 from stock and in 1964 £194 from rents and £1,459 from stock. (fn. 254)

A chapel of St. Helen evidently existed outside Newbegin bar in the 13th century and it may have been absorbed within the Franciscan friary. (fn. 255)

ST. NICHOLAS'S.

The church existed by c. 1160, when a priest of St. Nicholas's was mentioned. (fn. 256) In 1267 the rector was first recorded, in 1281 the church, and in 1301 the parish. (fn. 257) St. Nicholas's was often called Holme church: the name presumably derives from the situation of the church on a drier island in an area of low-lying ground, (fn. 258) although it has been suggested that it may refer to the Holme family. (fn. 259) As in the case of St. Mary's, complete independence of the collegiate church may have been achieved only gradually. During a dispute between the rector of St. Nicholas's and the prebendary of St. Martin's in 1309-10, for example, the rector was denied oblations from his parishioners in Norwood who attended the nearby chapel of St. Mary because all oblations in that chapel belonged to the chapter; the rector was also reminded of his obligation to be present in minster processions. (fn. 260) The incumbent was usually styled rector but in 1535, for example, he was called a vicar. (fn. 261) The living was a poor one; accordingly it was suggested in the 1640s that the parish should be united with the min ster, (fn. 262) and in 1650, when there was no minister, it was recommended that the parish should be divided between the minster and St. Mary's. (fn. 263) In 1667 the benefice and effectively the parish were united with those of St. Mary's. (fn. 264) The church was demolished but a new chapel of ease in the parish of St. Mary with St. Nicholas was consecrated in 1880. (fn. 265) St. Nicholas's was made a separate living once more in 1959, with a parish taken from St. Mary with St. Nicholas's and St. John and St. Martin's parishes and with the status of a vicarage. (fn. 266)

The rector was presented by the provost and chapter of Beverley in 1356 (fn. 267) and by the Crown in 1398, when the church was said to be in the jurisdiction of the college. (fn. 268) After the suppression the patronage belonged to the Crown. (fn. 269) A grant of the advowson to the archbishop in 1558 (fn. 270) was presumably ineffective, and the patronage, like that of the minster, was apparently briefly held by Robert Dudley in the 1560s. (fn. 271)

The church was worth £6 13s. 4d. in 1291 (fn. 272) and £8 19s. 6d. net in 1535, when the gross value comprised £9 from tithes and £1 from oblations. (fn. 273) The improved value in 1650 was £50 a year. (fn. 274) The tithes of that part of the parish known as Grovehill evidently belonged to the prebendary of St. Andrew at the collegiate church. After the suppression they were granted by the Crown along with those of Storkhill, Tickton, and Weel and thus passed to Michael Warton in 1627; (fn. 275) they were disputed by Michael Warton, then lessee, and the incumbent in 1600. (fn. 276) They were presumably later merged. The rest of the tithes were commuted in 1848, when rent charges of £236 7s. 3d. were awarded to the incumbent. (fn. 277) The only glebe land was the old churchyard and rectory house garth in Holme Church Lane; (fn. 278) it contained 2 a. and was sold in 1922. (fn. 279) The rectory house was let, along with the churchyard, in 1651 (fn. 280) and it had been demolished by 1685. (fn. 281)

The chantry of Our Lady in the church, mentioned in 1360, (fn. 282) was worth £9 19s. 4½d. net in 1548. (fn. 283) Some of its former property was granted by the Crown, along with that of chantries in St. Mary's church, in 1549 and 1553; (fn. 284) some was evidently granted to Francis Morrice and Michael Cole. (fn. 285) There was also an obit in the church. (fn. 286)

The church of ST. NICHOLAS, which consisted of chancel, transepts, aisled nave, and west tower, (fn. 287) was in decay in 1615. (fn. 288) It was partially demolished in 1653-5, when stone, lead, and furnishings were removed, (fn. 289) but there were still remnants of the building, including part of the tower, in 1691-3, when stone was taken for repairs at St. Mary's and the minster. (fn. 290)

Burials in the old churchyard presumably ended in the 17th century and the yard was let as early as 1651. (fn. 291) After the union of the churches burials took place at St. Mary's.

St. Nicholas's chapel of ease in Holme Church Lane, opposite the site of the medieval church of St. Nicholas, was consecrated in 1880. (fn. 292) It was served by one of the assistant curates at St. Mary's. (fn. 293) In 1884 four services were held each week, and in 1886 the chapel was also licensed for marriages and its yard was consecrated for burials by parishioners living east of the railway line. (fn. 294) By 1920 two services were held each Sunday and communion was celebrated twice a week. (fn. 295) A parsonage house, no. 251 Grovehill Road, was bought for the curate in charge in 1925. (fn. 296) After St. Nicholas's was made a parish church in 1959 a new vicarage house, no. 72 Grovehill Road, was built in 1963. (fn. 297)

The large stone-built chapel of St. Nicholas consists of chancel with north vestry, south transept, clerestoried nave with south aisle, and south-west tower over a porch. Work began in 1876 but the original ambitious plans were later abandoned and more modest designs in a 14thcentury style by F. S. Brodrick of Hull adopted. The cost was met by the trustees of George C. Glynn, Lord Wolverton (d. 1873), whose son E. C. Glynn held the united living 1873-6. (fn. 298) The vestry was added in 1934. (fn. 299) The bells from the old church had evidently been recast or otherwise used elsewhere (fn. 300) and a 16th-century bell was brought from Norwich for the new chapel. (fn. 301) The font from the old church was recovered from Westwood, where it had been used as a boundary stone, in 1823 and passed into the collection of the antiquary Gillyat Sumner; after his death it was presented to the church in 1883 and restored to use. (fn. 302) The churchyard was full by 1987.

ROMAN CATHOLICISM

There is little early evidence that Roman Catholicism was strong in Beverley. Clergy at the minster were suspended for popish practices in 1567 and some later 16th-century Catholic survivals have been noticed, but few recusants and non-communicants were presented between the 16th and the late 18th century; members of several leading local families were, however, named. (fn. 303) There were only 20 papists in the town and outlying townships in 1676. (fn. 304)

A school in the town was kept by a Roman Catholic in 1667. (fn. 305) A meeting house licensed in 1792 belonged to Catherine Constable and was perhaps her own house in Lairgate. (fn. 306) The cause of Catholic Emancipation was long opposed by the corporation and occasioned lively debate in the town, with rival meetings in the sessions house and Saturday Market. (fn. 307) Emancipation in 1829 was followed by the election of Roman Catholic M.P.s, Charles Langdale in 1832 and John Towneley in the 1840s, but a later candidature failed after a campaign marked by antiCatholic feeling. (fn. 308)

In 1841 a mission in Beverley was founded by the resident priest at Pocklington. Prejudice caused the first meeting place, a room in Norwood, to be replaced the same year by the house of one of the congregation, Thomas Dolman, in Walkergate and c. 20 people continued to meet there after the priest withdrew in 1842. The mission was refounded in 1846, when a house in North Bar Without was bought for a chapel and a resident priest appointed. The average congregation at both morning and evening services in 1851 was 60-90 and that growth in numbers led to the conversion c. 1853 of an outbuilding to a chapel seating c. 120. (fn. 309) A day school was held in premises adjoining the chapel from 1860 and the need to improve the school prompted a re-ordering of the site and the provision of a new church with c. 300 sittings in 1898. (fn. 310) A meeting place in Dyer Lane was used during the rebuilding. (fn. 311) The new church, like its predecessor dedicated to St. John of Beverley, is of red brick and white terracotta in an Arts and Crafts Perpendicular style to designs by Smith, Brodrick, & Lowther of Hull. The old chapel was then converted to a school. (fn. 312) The church was still used in 1987.

The Sisters of Mercy, of Anlaby Road, Hull, opened a branch convent in Norfolk Street c. 1884 in the governor's house of the former house of correction. They later ran a boarding school there, besides teaching at the day school. (fn. 313) A burial ground was opened in 1888, evidently in the grounds, (fn. 314) and the convent was enlarged in 1889. (fn. 315) The convent was closed in 1959 and later became part of the county police station. (fn. 316) Another convent was conducted in the earlier 1930s in Westwood Road by Canonesses Regular of St. Augustine, from Hull, who ran a school there. (fn. 317)

In 1850 the Roman Catholic district of York was raised to the status of a see with the title Beverley. That distinction remained with the town until 1878, when the county was divided between the new dioceses of Middlesborough and Leeds. (fn. 318)

A Catholic club, opened in 1928, met in Walkergate until 1969, when it moved to Railway Street. (fn. 319)

PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY

Nonconformity in Beverley had its roots in the activities of puritan clergymen who served in the parish churches, taught at the grammar school, or preached in the town in the late 16th and earlier 17th century. Notable among them because of the later strength of Presbyterianism in Beverley were John Shawe, a Presbyterian minister in Hull, and Joseph Wilson, vicar of St. Mary's in the 1640s and 1650s and later Shawe's successor in Hull. An unsuccessful attempt was made after the Restoration to secure the minster living for Wilson, who was involved in disturbances there in 1662. (fn. 320) The strength of dissent was indicated in 1676 when there were said to be 122 protestant dissenters in Beverley and its outlying townships in an adult population estimated at 1,500. (fn. 321)

The existence of a Presbyterian congregation was implied in 1673 when Richard Maulton was licensed to preach in the house of Sir Henry St. Quintin, Bt. (fn. 322) It was perhaps the same congregation which met in Well Lane by 1689 and Lairgate by 1694; its leader William Foster was excommunicated for conducting illegal marriages and baptisms but made a token submission. Cases of irreverence and nonattendance were recorded for both of the town parishes about that time. (fn. 323) The Presbyterian congregation evidently flourished. The 130 persons, 61 from Beverley and the rest from surrounding villages, who subscribed to maintain pastor John Steere in 1713 were presumably only a part of his congregation, which was said to number 450, (fn. 324) and there were evidently c. 50 Presbyterian families in Beverley and the outlying townships in the mid 18th century. (fn. 325) The Presbyterians included men of some standing in the town: Christopher Thompson, mayor in 1699-1700 and 1713-14, was one of several members of the corporation who served as chapel trustees, and another chapel member was Thomas Wilberforce, mayor in 1709-10 and 171213. (fn. 326) The means of the congregation were also apparent in the c. £50 a year subscribed for the maintenance of the minister, in the several bequests made with the same object, and in the speedy response to the unexpected cost of rebuilding in 1715. (fn. 327)

George Fox spoke in one of the town churches in 1651, in 1653 two Quakers from Westmorland were arrested for selling pamphlets and posting a bill, (fn. 328) and there was evidently a small community of Quakers at Beverley by 1654. Four Quakers were gaoled at Beverley in 1661 for meeting in the house of Thomas Hutchinson (fn. 329) and a meeting at John Robinson's house in Beverley Parks was recorded in 1680. (fn. 330) A burial ground in Lairgate was acquired in 1667 and a meeting place was built there by 1702. (fn. 331) In 1743 Quakers were believed to meet monthly, though there were then only two Quakers living in the minster parishes. An unspecified number of Quaker families was recorded in St. Mary's parish in 1764. (fn. 332)

The Methodists established themselves in Beverley in the 1750s, evidently in a house in Wednesday Market where John Wesley preached on his first visit in 1759. In 1760 George Whitefield preached in the courtyard of the Hotham family's house in Eastgate. (fn. 333) The congregation was evidently superintended from Hull, for a building in Wood Lane was bought in the names of leading Methodists of that town in 1781. (fn. 334) Wesley visited Beverley again fifteen times between 1761 and 1790 and it may have been Wood Lane in which he preached in 1788 and which he described as the 'house here . . . greatly enlarged'. (fn. 335) The progress of Methodism was not without its troubles. In a letter of 1770 Wesley hoped that 'the little debates which were some time since in the society at Beverley are at an end', and he was later reputed to have reminded the firmly conformist corporation of its duty to protect worshippers at Wood Lane from molestation. (fn. 336) The first quarter of the 19th century was a period of great activity for the Methodists in Beverley. They moved to a larger building in the centre of the town and soon afterwards began missionary activity in the largely industrial area near the beck. Services were started in Beckside c. 1810 and the work was consolidated by the almost simultaneous building in the 1820s of a Sunday school and a chapel. For a short period services were also held in the workhouse. The success of the Beverley society led to the division of the Hull circuit and the creation of a Beverley circuit in 1824. (fn. 337)

The early 19th century also saw the establishment of the Baptists in Beverley. An Anabaptist family had been reported in St. Mary's parish in 1743 (fn. 338) but it was not until 1808 that a church was established by a group of Scotch Baptists which had evidently earlier met in Hull; (fn. 339) both places received annual visits from the leader of the sect, Archibald McLean (1733-1812). (fn. 340) The church members came from as far afield as Mappleton and Market Weighton. (fn. 341) The Scotch Baptist congregation had only c. 70 members in 1829. (fn. 342) The Particular Baptist church apparently had its beginnings in a small group of unidentified Baptists which was meeting by 1829 (fn. 343) but it was only in 1833 that the church was formally constituted with c. 30 members. Progress was thereafter rapid. A chapel was built in the following year on a site given by Dr. Thomas Sandwith, an Episcopalian, and by 1851 over 300 members had been received. (fn. 344)

Other congregations appeared in consequence of the secessions from the main Methodist body which occurred after Wesley's death. The Primi tive Methodists already had c. 70 members by 1829, compared with the older Methodist society's 200 or so. (fn. 345) Congregations of Association, New Connexion, and Reform Methodists were recorded in the mid century. (fn. 346) The lastmentioned may have drawn its membership largely from the industrial east side of the town. Leading members were the agricultural implement makers Thomas and William Sawney, the builder of the congregation's chapel Robert Pape, and men from Grovehill. (fn. 347)

For the Methodist society in Beverley perhaps the most damaging secession was the foundation of a local Church Methodist movement. In 1824 Mark Robinson, a leading Methodist in the town, criticized the government of the Methodists as unrepresentative. (fn. 348) He and his supporters also wanted Methodism to be returned to its original role as an auxiliary of the Established Church, and they cited the example of a numerous body of 'Church' or 'Primitive Wesleyan Methodists' in Ireland and the system of lay preaching established there to supplement Church services. (fn. 349) After attempts to exclude Robinson from the society (fn. 350) he and about 40 others left and formed a body of Church Methodists the same year. (fn. 351) Robinson's chief supporter was Anthony Atkinson, deputy registrar for the East Riding, and another founder member was the ironfounder William Crosskill. (fn. 352) About 1825 chapels were built in Beverley, Cherry Burton, and Woodmansey, and another was bought in Hull. (fn. 353) The Church Methodists seem also to have obtained possession of the Wesleyan school in Holme Church Lane and held services there. (fn. 354) At the request of the Beverley society the Irish Methodists sent preachers in 1825 (fn. 355) but almost immediately 'unpleasant differences' arose with them and the Irish Conference over the constitution of the local body. (fn. 356) In 1826 the trustees considered selling the Beverley, Cherry Burton, and Woodmansey chapels, (fn. 357) in 1827 Church Methodism was said to be 'nearly become a nonentity', (fn. 358) and in 1829 Atkinson and Robinson were said to 'occasionally preach to a few'. (fn. 359) The Landress Lane chapel was said in 1831 to be used by the Church of England. (fn. 360) It later stood empty. In 1837, after Robinson's death, Atkinson proposed its use as a 'church', presumably a chapel of ease, but he was opposed by the vicar of St. Mary's, in whose parish the chapel stood, (fn. 361) and in 1839-40 he co-operated in the demolition of the chapel and the use of its materials to build a chapel of ease to the minster in Lairgate. (fn. 362) Of the other chapels Cherry Burton passed to the Wesleyans and Woodmansey was used by the Church of England. (fn. 363) Within months of its purchase in 1826 the chapel in Osborne Street, Hull, had been secured by William Mac Conkey, who had been dismissed by the Beverley society. (fn. 364) The congregation there later became Independent Methodist under Mac Conkey. In 1829 he preached to a group of 'Irish Church Methodists' in Beverley, (fn. 365) of which no more is known.

It was probably in the later 18th century that the Presbyterian chapel in Lairgate became Independent (fn. 366) but the circumstances of the change are unknown. The congregation seems to have grown little by the early 19th century, when the membership was only c. 120, and it had almost certainly been overtaken by the Wesleyan Methodists as the largest sect in the town. (fn. 367) The chapel was still supported by prominent townspeople, like R. M. Beverley of Norwood who preached there, (fn. 368) and it was evidently vital enough in the 1830s to attract Henry Allon, later a Congregational divine, who soon afterwards began to work in the neighbourhood as a lay preacher. (fn. 369) Towards the end of John Mather's long pastorate (1807-43), however, the congregation declined to a dispirited 'handful' and earlier mishandling of the endowments had by then caused financial difficulties. (fn. 370)

The association of the Quaker congregation with families resident in Beverley Parks con tinued in the late 18th and early 19th century, when prominent Quakers included the Beningtons, Dickinsons, and Stickneys. (fn. 371) The Beverley meeting belonged to the West Wolds or Elloughton monthly meeting in 1669, (fn. 372) Kelk, later Bridlington, monthly meeting in the earlier 18th century, (fn. 373) North Cave monthly meeting from 1766, (fn. 374) and then to Owstwick and Cave and its successor, the Hull monthly meeting. (fn. 375) It was perhaps a temporary decline in numbers which caused the Beverley particular meeting to be united with Hull from 1789 until 1803. (fn. 376) A new meeting house was built c. 1810, with an adjoining burial ground, (fn. 377) but the meeting was said to have declined after the loss of its leading members Christopher Geldart (d. 1818) and Joseph Dickinson (d. 1823). (fn. 378) By 1829 very few Quakers were left in the neighbourhood (fn. 379) and the meeting was discontinued in 1831, when the Benington family moved away. (fn. 380)

Places of worship of unidentified congregations were recorded in 1791, 1821, and 1822. (fn. 381) The relative stength of the various churches in 1851 is indicated in the Ecclesiastical Census returns (Table 13). Some of the numbers were evidently estimated, and perhaps exaggerated. It appears that the protestant nonconformists were attracting about 30 per cent more people to their services than the Established Church and that the attendances of the two Methodist societies outstripped by far those of the other sects. The numerical strength of nonconformity was probably enhanced by links between congregations. In 1843, for example, the Independents, Wesleyans, and Particular Baptists were holding united prayer meetings. Beverley Nonconformist Council was formed later in the century and evidently was replaced by the Free Church Council early in the 20th century. (fn. 382)

In the later 19th and early 20th century the work of the chapels was extended by the foundation of youth, clothing, and other societies. (fn. 383) The various sects also competed with one another in responding to the steady growth of the town with programmes of rebuilding and renewed missionary activity. Between 1867 and 1910 the chapels and schools of Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, Congregationalists, and both Baptist societies were all rebuilt or replaced on a larger scale. The Particular Baptists held services in several of the outlying townships from the 1850s, opened a chapel at Woodmansey in 1872, and had begun a second Sunday school, in Holme Church Lane, by 1888. (fn. 384) Both Primitives and Wesleyans opened new missions in the period, at Norwood in 1881 and Keldgate in 1899 respectively, and the evangelical efforts of the Primitives were also expressed in annual camp meetings on Westwood. (fn. 385) Evangelical activity had also been quickened by the Salvation Army, which opened fire in Beverley in the 1880s.

The most successful missionary activity was perhaps that of the Independent, later the Congregational, church. In 1841 the Lairgate congregation had played a part, with the Particular Baptists and perhaps others, in Pennock Tigar's provision of a small chapel for his employees and neighbours at Grovehill. Both Tigar and Josiah Crathorne, who had a mill at Grovehill, were trustees of Lairgate chapel. (fn. 386) In the 1860s services were tried by the Independents in the Temperance Hall, Holme Church Lane. (fn. 387) The work at Grovehill was resumed in 1889 at the shipyard of the Lairgate chapel officers Andrew Cochrane, father and son, (fn. 388) and a permanent congregation at Grovehill is said to have been founded in 1899. (fn. 389) In 1900 regular communion services were begun at the mission, which was served by lay preachers from Hull and assistant pastors from Lairgate. In 1906 the Revd. H. W. Abba was appointed as assistant minister of Lairgate with responsibility for Grovehill, which he served as its pastor until 1951. The Grovehill congregation was virtually independent of the mother church by 1919 and a new church was opened in 1935. With 123 members in 1964, Latimer Memorial church decided in 1967 not to affiliate with the Congregational Church in England and Wales which had replaced the Congregational Union the previous year. It similarly stood aloof from the union with the Presbyterians in 1972 and remained as a continuing Congregational church. (fn. 390)

The vigorous nonconformist congregations of the later 19th century were ably led by men like Robert Shepherd, pastor of Lairgate (1871-94), and his successor W. D. Reid (1895-1924). (fn. 391) William Carey Upton, who led the Particular Baptists between 1854 and 1888, was president of the County Association in 1872 and his supporter James Stuart was described as one of the most effective and popular public speakers in the East Riding. (fn. 392) That church was said to be still growing at the end of the century, when it had 159 members. (fn. 393) Its officers included prominent townsmen like Thomas Sample (d. 1904) and two mayors of Beverley, W. H. Elwell (d. 1910), clerk of works for the new chapel, and J. A. Smedley (d. 1963). (fn. 394)

Sunday schools, which the Independents and the Wesleyans opened in the 1790s, were later generally adopted (fn. 395) and from 1840 to 1905 the Wesleyans also ran a day school. (fn. 396) Nonconformist congregations were evidently also closely involved in the work of the Beverley Total Abstinence Society at its two Temperance Halls (fn. 397) and they formed Bands of Hope in their Sunday schools and held temperance meetings on their own premises. (fn. 398)

After the First World War, chapel closures began in the 1920s with the failure of the smaller sects, the Scotch Baptists and the United Methodists. The problems faced by the Particular Baptists in the mid century were typical: new youth clubs, opened in the 1950s, failed to reverse falling membership and in 1964, on the eve of closure, there were only 57 members, many of them old, and insufficient funds for repairs. (fn. 399) A solution was sought in amalgamation. The two Methodist congregations, which survived separately after Methodist union in 1932, joined together in 1955, when the former Primitive Methodist congregation was said to be the more vital. (fn. 400) In 1976 the Methodists at Toll Gavel were similarly joined by the c. 30 members of the United Reformed Church, and the same premises later also became the meeting place of the Salvation Army after its retreat from Wilbert Lane. (fn. 401) Funds released by the Methodist amalgamation helped to provide a new church for the modern housing estates on the east side of the town, but that too was closed in 1982. (fn. 402) In contrast to the contraction of the established congregations was the arrival in the mid century of two new denominations, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Latter Day Saints, both of which had newly built places of worship in the suburbs in 1987. The Friends, too, began to meet again c. 1955 and later built a new meeting house. The revived meeting belonged to the Pickering and Hull monthly meeting. (fn. 403)

Places of Worship

BAPTISTS.

Holme Church Lane.

The Particular Baptists may have held services in the former Temperance Hall, which they bought in 1889 as a Sunday school (fn. 404) but later sometimes called a chapel. (fn. 405) It was used by the Salvation Army for a Sunday school in the 1930s and by Beverley Technical Institute c. 1950. (fn. 406) It was sold by the Baptists in 1961 (fn. 407) and later demolished.

Lord Roberts Road.

A Particular Baptist church was built in 1909-10 to replace Well Lane on a site nearby given by Adm. Charles Walker. (fn. 408) The building, which included a Sunday school, was designed by the West Riding architect G. F. Pennington in a free Perpendicular style, and built in red brick and white terracotta; it provided c. 400 sittings. (fn. 409) It was closed c. 1964 (fn. 410) and sold the next year (fn. 411) and in 1987 it was used by the county library service. After the closure of the chapel the congregation met until 1965 in the Friends' meeting house in Woodlands. (fn. 412)

Toll Gavel.

A congregation variously called Sandemanian and Baptist met in 1829 in a room in Wilkinson's Yard, which they shared with the Irish Church Methodists, and the same room was said to have been the first meeting place of the Particular Baptists in 1833; it was replaced the following year by Well Lane. (fn. 413)

Walkergate.

A chapel in Swaby's Yard was built by the Scotch Baptists in 1808. (fn. 414) It was replaced in 1888 by Wilbert Lane, sold the next year, and later used as a Liberal club, a warehouse, (fn. 415) a meeting place of the Jehovah's Witnesses, and, in 1987, a restaurant. (fn. 416) A register of births has entries to 1837. (fn. 417)

Well Lane.

A Particular Baptist chapel was built in 1834, (fn. 418) replacing Toll Gavel. An adjoining Sunday school was added later. (fn. 419) The chapel, which seated 500, (fn. 420) was closed in 1909 and demolished for the making of Lord Roberts Road. (fn. 421) Services were held in the public library until the church in Lord Roberts Road was opened. (fn. 422) A register of births from 1827 to 1841 survives. (fn. 423)

Wilbert Lane.

A Scotch Baptist chapel was built in 1888 to replace Walkergate. The building, which included a schoolroom and provided 200 sittings, was designed by Hawe & Foley of Beverley in a Queen Anne style; (fn. 424) it is of red brick with white brick dressings. It was closed c. 1920 (fn. 425) and sold in 1945 to the St. John Ambulance Brigade, (fn. 426) which occupied it in 1987.

CONGREGATIONALISTS AND INDEPENDENTS.

Grovehill.

Services were held at the shipyard there by the Revd. Robert Shepherd, pastor of Lairgate, in 1889, and later successively in a cottage and a mission hall, seating c. 50. The hall, which was perhaps fitted up in 1899, (fn. 427) was replaced by a chapel in 1904.

Grovehill Road, Latimer Memorial Church.

A church to replace the Shepherd Memorial mission chapel was built by the Grovehill congregation in 1934-5. Its name was taken from a former Hull chapel, whose trustees gave £1,000 towards the building. The church, seating 400, was designed by J. J. Fisher; (fn. 428) it is of red brick with stone dressings in a plain modern style. A new hall behind the church was opened in 1970, (fn. 429) and both buildings were used in 1987. Latimer did not join the United Reformed Church in 1972. (fn. 430)

Grovehill Road, Shepherd Memorial mission chapel.

An iron mission chapel replacing a mission hall was opened by Lairgate Congregational church in 1904. It seated c. 150 and was dedicated to the Revd. Robert Shepherd (d. 1894). (fn. 431) It was later enlarged to seat c. 250 and furnished from the Methodist chapel, Trinity Lane, and another building seating c. 100 was added beside it. (fn. 432) The chapel was replaced by Latimer Memorial Church in 1935. The former chapel was afterwards used as a Sunday school and church hall. It was replaced by a new hall in 1970 (fn. 433) and later demolished.

Holme Church Lane.

The Temperance Hall was used by the Independents for services in the 1860s. (fn. 434)

Lairgate.

The former Presbyterian chapel was rebuilt by its Independent congregation in 1800 (fn. 435) and a Sunday school was added in 1821. (fn. 436) Burial there was discontinued in 1858. (fn. 437) In 1879 a new Sunday school was built in Landress Lane (fn. 438) and services were held there during the rebuilding of the chapel in 1886-7. (fn. 439) The new chapel, seating 520, was designed in an Early English style by T. B. Thompson of Hull. (fn. 440) The congre gation in 1972 became part of the United Reformed Church (fn. 441) and the Lairgate chapel was not used after 1976. (fn. 442)

FRIENDS.

Lairgate.

A meeting house was built there by 1702 and another on the same site in 1714, after meetings had evidently been held in rented premises. It was replaced by Wood Lane. (fn. 443)

Landress Lane.

Meetings were held in the Congregational Sunday school from c. 1955 until 1957. It was replaced by Walkergate. (fn. 444)

Walkergate.

The county primary school was used as a meeting place in 1957-61, replacing Landress Lane. (fn. 445)

Wood Lane.

A meeting house was built north of Wood Lane c. 1810, replacing Lairgate. (fn. 446) It was 'almost deserted' in 1829 and, after the discontinuance of the meeting, it was taken over as a school in 1840. (fn. 447) A meeting was held there in 1857. (fn. 448) The building was later demolished.

Woodlands.

A new meeting house was built close to the old site near Wood Lane in 1961, (fn. 449) replacing Walkergate, and was used in 1987; it was approached by a pathway called Quaker Lane.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.

Lairgate, Kingdom Hall.

A room registered in 1954 to replace Saturday Market was itself replaced that year by Walkergate. (fn. 450)

Saturday Market, Kingdom Hall.

Rooms registered in 1940 were replaced by Lairgate in 1954. (fn. 451)

Walkergate, Kingdom Hall.

The former Scotch Baptist chapel was registered in 1954 to replace Lairgate. It was closed in 1976 when it passed to Beverley Borough council in exchange for a new site in Arden Road. (fn. 452)

Arden Road, Kingdom Hall.

A newly built hall was opened in 1976 to replace Walkergate but was not registered until 1979. (fn. 453) It was used in 1987.

LATTER DAY SAINTS.

Manor Road.

A large church was opened in 1964 (fn. 454) and was used in 1987.

METHODISTS.

Beckside.

Premises there were used by the Wesleyans for services from c. 1810; (fn. 455) they were presumably replaced by the Sunday school in Holme Church Lane c. 1822.

Blucher Lane, Beckside.

A chapel was built by the Wesleyans in 1825. (fn. 456) It was replaced by Flemingate in 1882, sold the same year, and later demolished. (fn. 457)

Flemingate.

A chapel was built by the Wesleyans in 1881-2 to replace Blucher Lane. (fn. 458) It is of red brick with blue and white brick banding in a plain pointed Gothic style. The building, which was soon afterwards enlarged with a schoolroom, (fn. 459) provided 250 sittings. (fn. 460) It was used in 1987.

Hengate.

A house in Hengate was registered in 1758, apparently by Methodists. (fn. 461) Another house in St. Mary's parish was registered in 1764 (fn. 462) and that, too, may have been in Hengate, where a room was said to have been used by the Wesleyans until replaced by Wood Lane (fn. 463) c. 1781.

Holme Church Lane.

A Sunday school built by the Wesleyans c. 1822 was probably used for services before Blucher Lane was built in 1825. (fn. 464) The Church Methodists evidently gained possession of the building and were said in 1829 to have held services there occasionally. (fn. 465) After the collapse of the movement, it was used for a minster Sunday school and a day school in the 1840s (fn. 466) and was later owned by a temperance society and the Particular Baptists.

Keldgate.

A mission hall was built by the Wesleyans and opened in 1899. (fn. 467) The hall, which accommodated 120, (fn. 468) was closed in 1963 (fn. 469) and later demolished.

Lairgate.

A room in Turner's Yard was opened as a place of worship in 1842 and registered the following year. The congregation was variously described as New Connexion Methodist and a temperance branch of Primitive Methodist. (fn. 470)

Landress Lane.

A Gothic-style chapel seating c. 800 was built in Landress Lane in 1825-6 by the Church Methodists. (fn. 471) It was used until the failure of the movement c. 1830 and later demolished. (fn. 472)

Norwood.

A Sunday school opened by the Primitives in 1881 was also used for services and was alternatively described as a mission chapel with c. 200 sittings. (fn. 473) It is a plain building of red brick with stone dressings. A chapel adjoining the school was added in 1901. Also of red brick with stone dressings but in a simple Gothic style, it was designed by Mr. Petch of Scarborough and provided c. 250 sittings. (fn. 474) It was used in 1987.

Queen's Road.

A church was designed by B. W. Blanchard of Hull and opened in 1961. It was closed in 1982 (fn. 475) and later demolished.

Toll Gavel.

In 1829 the Irish Church Methodists were said to use a room in Wilkinson's Yard. (fn. 476)

Toll Gavel.

In the 1840s the Association Methodists had a chapel there, which was apparently replaced by Wood Lane. (fn. 477)

Toll Gavel, Wesley Church.

A church was built in 1890-2 to replace the adjoining Walkergate chapel. (fn. 478) The site, which had mostly been a burial ground, was enlarged in 1901. (fn. 479) The building, designed by Morley & Woodhouse of Bradford, is of red brick with an Italianate stone front. It provided c. 900 sittings. (fn. 480) The congregation may have been joined in 1926 by former worshippers at Trinity Lane. (fn. 481) It was united with those of Wednesday Market in 1955 (fn. 482) and the United Reformed Church, Lairgate, in 1976, and the church was thereafter called Toll Gavel United Church. (fn. 483) Registers of baptisms for the Beverley circuit survive from 1827. (fn. 484)

Trinity Lane.

A chapel was opened by the Reform Methodists in 1856, replacing Well Lane. (fn. 485) It seated 500 and was adjoined by a Sunday school. (fn. 486) From 1857 the chapel was used by the United Methodist Free Churches, of which the Reformers were founder members that year. (fn. 487) It became part of the United Methodist Church in 1907. The chapel is of red brick with a stuccoed front, which has a pediment supported by Corinthian pilasters. It was closed in 1926 and sold to the freemasons, (fn. 488) who used it in 1987. Members of the congregation may have gone to Toll Gavel from 1926. (fn. 489)

Walkergate.

A chapel was built by the Wesleyans in 1804 and opened the next year, replacing Wood Lane. (fn. 490) The site had been enlarged by 1821 with a house in Toll Gavel, given by Thomas Thompson of Hull, (fn. 491) later the manse; (fn. 492) part of the site was used as a burial ground from c. 1830 until its closure in 1858. (fn. 493) The chapel, with a heavy classical facade, (fn. 494) provided 700 sittings. (fn. 495) A Sunday school was added in the 1820s and the chapel was enlarged in 1836-7, (fn. 496) when services were temporarily held in the guildhall; (fn. 497) it later accommodated c. 800. (fn. 498) It was replaced by a chapel, built on the former burial ground and facing Toll Gavel, in 1892. It was demolished and its site used in 1903 for a new Sunday school, (fn. 499) later called the Wesley Lecture Hall. (fn. 500)

Wednesday Market.

A house licensed in 1757 was evidently for Methodists. (fn. 501)

Wednesday Market.

A chapel was built by the Primitives in 1825 (fn. 502) seating c. 400; it later included a Sunday school. (fn. 503) It was rebuilt on an enlarged site (fn. 504) in 1867-8 to designs by Joseph Wright of Hull. The Romanesque building, which included a Sunday school, had 700 sittings. (fn. 505) The school was enlarged in 1903. (fn. 506) The chapel was closed in 1955 on amalgamation with Toll Gavel (fn. 507) and was later demolished.

Well Lane.

The Temperance Hall in which the Reform Methodists held services in 1856 was presumably the one in Well Lane. It was replaced by Trinity Lane. (fn. 508)

Wood Lane.

A building there was bought by the Wesleyans in 1781 and apparently largely rebuilt as a chapel, registered for worship in 1782. (fn. 509) It was replaced by Walkergate in 1805 and sold the next year. (fn. 510)

Wood Lane.

The Association Methodists ap parently replaced Toll Gavel with a chapel in Wood Lane before 1856, when it was recorded as closed. (fn. 511)

PRESBYTERIANS

Lairgate.

The congregation from Well Lane had evidently moved to a meeting house in Lairgate by 1694. (fn. 512) Probably the same was the Presbyterian congregation which between 1700 and 1704 built a chapel there. (fn. 513) In 1715 a storm destroyed the building, which was immediately rebuilt. (fn. 514) The congregation later became Independent. (fn. 515) Registers of baptisms survive from 1701. (fn. 516)

Well Lane.

A congregation using a stable there for services, including baptisms and marriages, by 1689 was probably Presbyterian. Well Lane was evidently replaced by Lairgate. (fn. 517)

SALVATION ARMY

Holme Church Lane.

The Temperance Hall was registered in 1881. (fn. 518)

Norwood.

The assembly rooms were registered in 1881. (fn. 519)

Walkergate.

After the closure of Wilbert Lane in 1985 the corps met in the former Methodist Sunday school. (fn. 520)

Well Lane.

The Temperance Hall was registered in 1881. (fn. 521)

Wilbert Lane, the Citadel.

The existing meeting places were replaced by the Citadel, built in 1885-6. (fn. 522) Its construction, to designs by E. J. Sherwood of London, involved an early use of laminated timber trusses. (fn. 523) It was of red brick with stone dressings in a plain north German Gothic style. There were 1,200 sittings. (fn. 524) It was closed in 1985 (fn. 525) and later demolished.

UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

Lairgate.

The former Congregational chapel was used from 1972 until 1976, when the congregation was amalgamated with that of Toll Gavel Methodist church, (fn. 526) and the building was later demolished.

Toll Gavel, United Church.

The former Methodist church was used from 1976 by an amalgamated congregation of the United Reformed and Methodist churches. (fn. 527)