New Beverley U3A Local History Group Walk May and June 2018 … · 2019. 11. 28. · property and recording the name and occupation of the person responsible for cleaning. This document

Beverley U3A Local History Group – Walk May and June 2018

Georgian Beverley 1805 led by Ann.

I joined this walk on its second outing in June. We met in Coronation Gardens in North Bar Within

where Ann said she was going to tell us mainly about life in Beverley in 1805 which was the height of

the Regency period. There were sometimes up to 800 militia men in town at that time because of

the threat of invasion from Napoleon, which was finally removed in October that year when Britain

won the Battle of Trafalgar. The Napoleonic Wars did not end until Waterloo in 1815.

It was a time of growth and prosperity in Beverley as wealthy people with large country estates in

the area had town houses built, generally close to the road but with substantial land behind. These

families would come to Beverley to meet their friends at the races, the theatres, at the Assembly

rooms on Norwood, and at a Spa on Swinemoor. The fashionable roads were North Bar Within and

Without, Newbegin and Norwood. Together these areas paid 76% of the tax on employing male

servants and 87% of the tax on four-wheeled carriages. Keldgate, Saturday Market and Toll Gavel

paid very little and Beckside and Flemingate nothing at all.

The population of the town was around 6000 so people would know each other and most

manufacturing, buying and selling was done locally which led to a growing middle class amongst the

craftspeople and shopkeepers.

The layout of the town was little changed from medieval times when streams which are now

underground meandered through the streets from the Westwood to the Beck. There were 18th

century buildings in lanes running of the main streets and early 19th century industrial and working

class housing in Beckside and Flemingate.

In 1805 the Mayor John Lockwood wished to enforce the Beck Act of 1745 which said that

householders were responsible for cleaning the frontage of their properties up to the middle of the

road. He commissioned Frances Tadman to carry out a survey, measuring the frontage of every

property and recording the name and occupation of the person responsible for cleaning. This

document still exists in the Treasure House Archives; it pre-dates the first useful census by 36 years

and gives an insight into the town as it was in 1805. The fine for not cleaning was a farthing per foot

to pay someone else to do it.

We left the gardens to look at the terrace of houses (no’s 55-63) which are to the left of North Bar.

They were built around 1780 with bay windows on some added at the end of the 19th century. Most

are 21 feet wide so would cost 5d 1 farthing to clean the street in 1805. No 63 was lived in by

Christopher Geldart, a flax dresser, and the others by two Misses Constable, Mrs Trollope, Mrs

Mackrill and Mrs Sampson.

Bar House was built in the early 18th century for William Middleton, Alderman and builder, who had

several brickworks in the area. An earlier house on the site is reputed to be where Charles 1 and his

two sons stayed at the start of the Civil War.

The house to the right of the Bar and the one next to it were built in the late 18th century but most of

that row are timber framed 17th century houses re-fronted in the 18th century. In 1805 they were

lived in by a cabinet-maker, a coachman, a grocer and a whitesmith. The Royal Standard was an Inn

as was the property at the end of this row (now The Beverley Dresser) where the bracket for the sign

is still visible. This slightly taller building which completes the row was originally 3 houses; the other

two lived in by a Mrs Russell and a Mrs Hewitt. Each house had 2 cellars, so six altogether, 3 of which

are under the road.

St Mary’s Manor was built in 1815 to replace an earlier house which was closer to the road, and it

was the owner of this house who purchased land for a burial ground where the Coronation Gardens

are now.

The 15th century

building now taken up

by St Mary’s Arcade

was three properties

in 1805 where John

Peacock (a

Cordwainer or

shoemaker) and

Isabella Raines were

each responsible for

cleaning 17 feet of

frontage, while cow

keeper Wm Smith had

only nine feet.Ann

then advised us that if

we looked at the upper floors of the building which now has five shop fronts from Carol Bird

Interiors it is easy to see that it had been a coaching Inn which was run by Elizabeth Charter in 1805

who had to pay 1s 11d 3 farthings to clean the 95 feet of the frontage. Soldiers and militiamen were

billeted here at various times, one kept a bear for bearbaiting on the Westwood. What is now known

as Tiger Lane was known as Crab Lane in 1805 and the remains of gate hinges show that it was the

private entrance to the Tiger Inn stables.

The pump outside St Mary’s Manor was listed

on the survey as one of 900 of which only 33

were owned by the corporation, the rest being

in private hands. The lack of mains drainage led

to typhoid contaminating water until the

installation of a piped water supply in 1883 and

a sewage system in 1889.

The building which is now Pizza Express was

built in 1861 to house the Water Board. A Dr

Hull lived on one side of Waltham Lane and a

lady described as Widow Wigglesworth on the

other and another Cordwainer where the Lee

Garden restaurant is now.

The Beverley Arms was known as the Bluebell

in 1805 and had a 60 foot frontage having been

built in 1794. The site of the 1967 extension with the archway to the left-hand side of the building

was held by John Ayden an Alderman and wine merchant in 1805.

We then turned to walk down Hengate noticing that the road had been raised on the left-hand side

opposite Nellies (The White Horse) so that residents did not have to step into the filth on the road,

which left the older houses on the opposite side below the level of the road.

We crossed over at the traffic lights to what is now

Sleepers restaurant with flats above and many of us

remember as the Regal Cinema. The cinema built a new

front on the Assembly rooms which dated from 1761

and were an important part of the social life of the town

for 200 years. Originally there was a central ballroom

with side rooms for cards and afternoon tea.

Next to this is what has been described as Beverley’s best Georgian house, Norwood House, which

was built in 1765 for lawyer Jonathan Midgley, who was twice mayor of the town. There were three

acres of gardens and it was an expensive house with a Westmoreland slate roof, a statement of his

wealth, but this did not mean long life and happiness for his family. On his death his wife inherited

the house and then his elder daughter Anna. His younger daughter Mary eloped with Mr William

Beverley; she climbed out of the dining room window and walked down Pighill Lane in the rain (now

Manor Road) to the Westwood where a chaise was waiting to take them to Gretna Green. However,

Mary inherited the house on her sister’s death in 1795 before herself dying and leaving the house to

her husband who eventually went bankrupt and fled the country.

Another scandalous couple inhabited Norwood House in 1905 when the dowager Countess of

Ravensworth, a 59-year-old society lady, moved in with her new young husband William James

Wadsworth who was 27 and had previously been her groom. . William Wadsworth was born in

Goodmanham so perhaps that is why they came to Beverley after their wedding.

We saw the hoops on the gateposts which were used to support a bar which was placed across the

gateway to protect the grounds from wandering livestock when a cattle market was taking place.

In 1908 Norwood House became part of Beverley High School for girls, the first secondary provision

for girls in the town. In 1999 it was no longer needed by the school and responsibility was passed to

a group of Trustees who have tried to raise money for a restoration and find a long- term use for the

building.

We walked past the bus station on Sow Hill stopping to notice the sliding Yorkshire casements on the

Tandoori shop on the corner of Ladygate and back onto North Bar Within where in 1805 Dr Berkeley

lived at what is now the Barbour shop and William Boyes, a furrier, at what is now William Brown

estate agent.

Ann promised to tell us more of the details of the town in 1805 on another walk. I was struck by the

mix of people who had lived in these streets we know so well, doctors and cow keepers, widows and

maiden ladies in amongst grocers and shoemakers.

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photos HK