The train ride to Hull was about an hour and comprised of five stops, little one street towns. As you are traveling, to left of the train the river Humber comes into view as you get close to Hull. Let me tell you, we don't have rivers like this in California, this sucker is big. I imagine that this is what the Mississippi must look like because it is freaken far from one shore to the next. The Vikings used to use Humber to access its tributaries to do some of their raiding. The Humber flows into the sea. There is this bridge on the river that looks like it is probably the size of the Bay Bridge in the Bay Area, to give you a rough idea. So I was pretty excited to see the Humber because this is yet another thing that I have been studying for the last couple years- and there it is!
Hull reminded me a lot of an old industrial city in America- with that said, since coming to England only London has given me that same feeling. Actually, I thought Hull was a lot like Oakland; a few high rises, dock yards, old food factories, warehouses, high rise apartments, and kind of run down. It even had some graffiti, which looked like American graffiti. So if anyone wants to move out of the US, but you want to keep the same American feeling- I would recommend Hull.
I waited for twenty minutes before the second train arrived, and twenty more minutes and two stops later I was in Beverley. While York is clearly a city, Beverley reminded me a lot of a York but it was much smaller- about the size of a town. The people there were really friendly though, and I spoke with a couple of the locals as I walked the streets and conducted myself as a tourist. The Minster in Beverley was not hard to spot. Again, Beverley is this small little town, and the Minster there is huge! You cannot miss it. It is by far and away the largest building in the town.
Now, I have to say, that when I thought of a cathedral before I came to England, I had certain preconceived ideas about what one would look like. I always seem to forget a sticky little matter called the Reformation, and didn't even occur to me about the obvious damage that would have been done to churches all over England during it. Beverley though is far enough off the beaten path, that they didn't go ape-shit and destroy their church- so it had a lot of its original Gothic architecture still intact. Because of this, Beverley really satisfied my eye for its attention to detail. Statues still adorned and crowded the outside and inside, whereas in all the other cathedrals I have been to they have been mostly destroyed. And inside Beverley Minster, the Gothic architecture was just awesome- the detail exquisite! I honestly could have spent a day in the Beverley Minster. I have to say that it is the most beautiful church I have been to here so far because of the detail still intact. I asked the lady that was working at the Minster about the Reformation, noting how other churches here suffered so much from it, and she said plainly 'Well, we here at Beverley have always taken great care of our parish church.' I just smiled.
On the negative side, the stain glass at Beverley was all relatively new and plain except for one large window. I wasn't impressed with the glass- it was par for these kinds of churches. But the Gothic architecture, the carvings all over the church, the wood cuts (which are not medieval but beautiful!), and just the general preservation of the church was really impressive. Unfortunately, a lot of the really finely carved stuff was in dark wood, which is REALLY hard to get pictures of because of the lighting. Also, the Minster itself is crowded on all sides by houses, so I couldn't really get a picture at a distance of it. I just took samples around it. Also, they have the perimeter around the Minster gated off, and I asked if I could get in- and they guy said 'Only if you're getting married!' I laughed, and I told him that was likely never to happen. So I couldn't get close up shots of a lot of the statues that adorn the outside.
In addition to that- I am sure you were all waiting for this because this seemed to be the major topic of conversation before I left- NEWS...NEWS...NEWS... IT IS FREAKEN COLD! Ok, when my nose freezes, that is one thing, but when I start loosing sensation in my cheeks- Whoa! It has gotten freaken cold in the matter of a week. I was walking around the outside of the Minster, and I couldn't feel my fingers when I was shooting the pictures! I had to rely on the camera noise to assure me that I pressed the stupid button. Waiting in the train station to return, I told these to old English women that I was from California- they just started laughing and said 'That is why you look like your going to freeze to death!' They got a good laugh out of that. I honestly dare not leave my room without a beanie or gloves now. So there you have it.
General History- Beverley was built in three stages- starting in 1220 and ending in 1420. Any pictures of wood carvings are 18c, and the little carvings of things along the walls are 14c! The Percy Canopy- which is by far the coolest thing I have seen in any church I think so far- is mid-14c. It is unbelievable because of its exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail. Amazing! Enjoy!
