Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Specific Location: Beverley

Folklore

Llyn-Yr-Avave or the Beaver Lake

According to Oliver’s Beverley and The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England by Robert Charles Hope (1893),‘The origin of Bever-lee, the town of Beverley, which was in the ancient wood Deira, is referred to in the old religious ceremony of drawing the shrine, or emblematical Beaver, out of the lake in the wood, and placing it in security on an eminence in the sight of the assembled

Articles / Folklore

Riding The Stange

‘This is another species of popular punishment which formerly prevailed at Beverley, but is now deservedly fallen into desuetude. The ceremony was performed when a husband had been guilty of beating his wife, or vice versa ; and was as follows.

Hauntings

Awd Simmon Beeather

A Glossary of Words used in Holderness (1877) gives the following description for the word Simmon and mentions an associated ghost. ‘Simmon, pounded brick or tiles, used by brick-layers for colouring the mortar. Beating simmon was formerly the hard labour punishment in Beverley Borough Gaol.

Ancient Sites / Folklore / Folktales / Wells

Cobbler’s Well

The following story of Cobbler’s Well was printed in ‘County Folk-Lore Volume VI – Examples of Printed Folk-Lore Concerning The East Riding of Yorkshire (1911)’ which was edited by Eliza Glutch. ‘In a hollow on Beverley Westwood is a stone trough, into which a spring of exceedingly cold pure water once flowed abundantly.