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Ghosts and Hauntings in Beverley and East Riding
76 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1987
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October 20, 2023
I have a theory on why there are so many hauntings in England and not many at all in "the New World". English houses, even ones which are not very old, are very poorly insulated, draughty (weather-stripping is for wusses?!), often rely on ancient sewer systems (no grey water separation, and when it rains, you smell sewer gases in your bathroom!), and are frequently exposed to British weather. As a result, much, much hot tea is consumed. And it is common occurrence to reassure children waking from nightmares with a cup of hot chocolate (last three books I've read have all referenced this practice!). So we've got noisy, moaning, groaning, bumping houses and stinks, sudden gusts of wind and changes in temperature, cold spots (again... insulation! Or maybe someone just slapped floorboards over an old well!), AND AN OVER-CAFFEINATED POPULACE UP AT NIGHT. Tea's also a diuretic.
Now combine this with a taste for telling ghastly and ghoulish stories from long ago (fair's fair here - there is a LOT of history here to draw from!), and voila! Ghosts.
This is what I tell myself, anyway. It is currently a dark and very stormy night (Storm Babet), near to Hallowe'en. And I've just read that there's a reputed plague pit from the 1300s under my favourite shortcut to the shops. Guess I'll be giving that one a miss on Hallowe'en, just in case!
All of the sketches of a ghost girl on Highgate, or the photograph of the phantom man in the shop at Wednesday Market, have all "fallen short" of publication standards, but I must take their word for their authenticity.
Referenced commercial landmarks in 1987 have changed so much that I've had to Google them (for example, the shop at the corner of Dyer Lane and Saturday Market is now a travel agents, I think? At least the sketches of the buildings are clear. And the former "The Royal Oak" pub (which was formerly "The Drum and the Monkey") is now just a private house on Keldgate. And The Black Swan pub was on Highgate somewhere, but they don't want to identify the street address for the privacy of the inhabitants. And some places even the authors couldn't place for certain, like Gilby's Yard).
There appear to be several Quaker graveyards in the Lairgate area; and most interestingly of all, there are tunnels under the Minster connecting the Friary and/or the oldest pub in town, the Sun Inn. I love tunnels. I also love pubs.
Oh yes, apparently the skull of Anne, daughter of the lord of the manor of Burton Agnes Hall, has (at her request) been bricked up into the wall. If I go at Christmas, I'm going to have to ask. I like the sound of Anne - also a dog person and a home body. I hear you.
And speaking of Christmas, there are a pair of ghosts of sister nuns (Pech family) who rise to attend Christmas Eve Mass at Beverley Minster.
Also worth mentioning - there are apparently still (or at least were in 1987!) vicars appointed to "attend to" hauntings by the Church of England, and the vicar of Bridlington (Tom Willis) was at time of publication, and he wrote an introduction which opens with "Ghosts certainly do exist." And they do house blessings to help the ghosts find peace. I'll have to keep this in mind.
Disappointingly, the haunting of Burn Butt Lane in Driffield has nothing to do with bums.
Maps would have been helpful, and I found the book to be not as full of hard data or archival support as I'd like - surely they could have included some old newspaper articles about hauntings as images? There's one that is so clearly just an urban legend (lonely old lady, told by a member of the clergy that there's a ghostly presence in her home, and says, "Oh don't chase 'im off! 'e's company!" No specific location given to that tale, unsurprisingly).
I don't often read books like this, so am perhaps not the best person to review them. But this seemed... quickly turned out. I would have liked more depth in re: folklore, further supportive evidence, photographs of the homes as they are today (they interviewed some people who lived in haunted places - might have at least taken a snap of the attic room, etc.!). At least one house in North Bar Within was deliberately not given a very exact address for real estate considerations..! And they might have dredged the Beck by the Forrester's Arms for that pig's skull.
One last further thought - spare a thought for these ghosts. Many of them just seem like fellow introverts who would like people to pipe down or clear off. I can relate. ;)
Now combine this with a taste for telling ghastly and ghoulish stories from long ago (fair's fair here - there is a LOT of history here to draw from!), and voila! Ghosts.
This is what I tell myself, anyway. It is currently a dark and very stormy night (Storm Babet), near to Hallowe'en. And I've just read that there's a reputed plague pit from the 1300s under my favourite shortcut to the shops. Guess I'll be giving that one a miss on Hallowe'en, just in case!
All of the sketches of a ghost girl on Highgate, or the photograph of the phantom man in the shop at Wednesday Market, have all "fallen short" of publication standards, but I must take their word for their authenticity.
Referenced commercial landmarks in 1987 have changed so much that I've had to Google them (for example, the shop at the corner of Dyer Lane and Saturday Market is now a travel agents, I think? At least the sketches of the buildings are clear. And the former "The Royal Oak" pub (which was formerly "The Drum and the Monkey") is now just a private house on Keldgate. And The Black Swan pub was on Highgate somewhere, but they don't want to identify the street address for the privacy of the inhabitants. And some places even the authors couldn't place for certain, like Gilby's Yard).
There appear to be several Quaker graveyards in the Lairgate area; and most interestingly of all, there are tunnels under the Minster connecting the Friary and/or the oldest pub in town, the Sun Inn. I love tunnels. I also love pubs.
Oh yes, apparently the skull of Anne, daughter of the lord of the manor of Burton Agnes Hall, has (at her request) been bricked up into the wall. If I go at Christmas, I'm going to have to ask. I like the sound of Anne - also a dog person and a home body. I hear you.
And speaking of Christmas, there are a pair of ghosts of sister nuns (Pech family) who rise to attend Christmas Eve Mass at Beverley Minster.
Also worth mentioning - there are apparently still (or at least were in 1987!) vicars appointed to "attend to" hauntings by the Church of England, and the vicar of Bridlington (Tom Willis) was at time of publication, and he wrote an introduction which opens with "Ghosts certainly do exist." And they do house blessings to help the ghosts find peace. I'll have to keep this in mind.
Disappointingly, the haunting of Burn Butt Lane in Driffield has nothing to do with bums.
Maps would have been helpful, and I found the book to be not as full of hard data or archival support as I'd like - surely they could have included some old newspaper articles about hauntings as images? There's one that is so clearly just an urban legend (lonely old lady, told by a member of the clergy that there's a ghostly presence in her home, and says, "Oh don't chase 'im off! 'e's company!" No specific location given to that tale, unsurprisingly).
I don't often read books like this, so am perhaps not the best person to review them. But this seemed... quickly turned out. I would have liked more depth in re: folklore, further supportive evidence, photographs of the homes as they are today (they interviewed some people who lived in haunted places - might have at least taken a snap of the attic room, etc.!). At least one house in North Bar Within was deliberately not given a very exact address for real estate considerations..! And they might have dredged the Beck by the Forrester's Arms for that pig's skull.
One last further thought - spare a thought for these ghosts. Many of them just seem like fellow introverts who would like people to pipe down or clear off. I can relate. ;)
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review