New Guildhall exhibition looks beyond Beverley

A new exhibition opens at the Beverley Guildhall on Friday, 23 March, with a preview on 21 March. “Beverley’s Satellite Villages”, looks beyond Beverley itself to the six villages that lie in a neat circle surrounding the town, and includes Walkington, Bishop Burton, Cherry Burton, Leconfield, Tickton and Woodmansey.

The museum curator, Fiona Jenkinson, said: “The fact that these six villages have survived from much earlier settlements, and all lie about three miles from Beverley, is no coincidence; it would have been about an hour’s walk for the villagers to get to Beverley’s market.

“Walkington, Bishop Burton and Cherry Burton all resemble each other, lying in little dry valleys on the lower slopes of the Wolds, while the other three have a different form as a result of their location on the wetter flat land on the edge of the Hull valley. We therefore felt it was interesting to consider all six villages as a group, although there would have been sufficient information to do a separate exhibition on each!”

"The exhibition is packed full of information about each village, looking at the histories of each village from earliest times, how each has developed to the present day, and often including features such as the churches, schools, pubs, local businesses and so on. In the case of the estate villages of Leconfield and Bishop Burton there is also a brief history of the Percy and Hall-Watt families, which have explained why these two villages have developed differently to the other four."

 “Beverley’s Satellite Villages” opens on Friday, 23 March and runs until 13 July, 2018. There will be an opportunity to view the exhibition at the weekend on Saturday, 7 April when the Guildhall is open for the New Paths Music event.

The Guildhall is located in Register Square next to the main post office. It is open from 10am to 4pm every Friday and from 10am to 1pm every Wednesday until 30 April, and then 10am to 4pm on Wednesdays from 2 May. Admission is always free.