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Beverley Minster          The history of Beverley Minster starts with the life of St John of Beverley who was born in 640AD. He was a monk at St Hilda`s abbey at Whitby and was consecrated Bishop of Hexham in 687.  He also ordained the Venerable Bede and features in the Bedes history of England.  John became Bishop of York in 705 and eventually returned to the Abbey he had founded in Beverley.  He died in 721 and his remains are buried in the Minster.
The Church St John founded was eventually destroyed by the Danes but rebuilt by King Athelstan some 200 years later.  The present building was begun on the site of the earlier Churches in 1220 and eventually completed in 1420. Very little of the earlier building remains except some re-used stone. Two pieces of furniture do exist which pre date the present building, one is the Fridstol or Sanctuary chair carved from a single block of stone, definitely a relic from the earlier Saxon Church on the site.  The other is the Font which definitely dates back to Norman times.
Beverley Minster fell on bad times at the time of the dissolution and it was only the efforts of the local people who persuaded Queen Elizabeth I to save some of the confiscated endowments that helped to preserve the Parish Church.
Today the twin towers of the Minster built of Magnesium Limestone soar above the town and the Minster is greatly admired for its architectural symmetry & harmony in the absence of a central tower.

Ripon Cathedral            On entering you will be standing in the oldest Cathedral in England, the first stone church was built by Wilfred in 672, the original and surviving crypt is one of the oldest Christian Shrines in England.  It is interesting because it is built to what was believed at the time to be the exact dimensions of Christ’s Tomb.  The original church was destroyed in 950 and the second laid waste by the Norman’s in 1069. the present building therefore dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries.  Many interesting things to see in this lovely building including the Harrison organ which dates back to 1914.
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Selby Abbey
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Sheffield Cathedral        Formerly the Parish Church of Sheffield and the history of Christianity on this site go back nearly 1,000 years.  It was in the early 12th Century when William de Lovetot built the first Church on this site.  The present Cathedral was started in 1439 and is perpendicular in style with a crocketed spire. However, this building has been extensively altered and enlarged over the centuries.
The Shrewsbury chapel was added in about 1520 by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield, George Talbot the 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, as a private family chapel with a burial vault beneath.
St Georges Chapel is dedicated to the York and Lancaster regiment formed in 1758 and disbanded in 1968.  During the First World War it was known as the “Sheffield pals” and many members were killed on 1st July 1916 during the first day of the battle of the Somme.
St Katherines Chapel celebrates the ministry of women in the church and was added to the church in the 1700s.  The chancel, sanctuary, tower & spire were built in the 15th Century and formed the structure of the Medieval parish church.  The Sanctuary is the most Easterly part of the original church and the East wall contains several stones from the original Norman Church, dating back to the 11th Century.  The Crypt is dedicated to All Saints and is situated beneath St Georges Chapel constructed with arches and vaulting.

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York Minster                    The Minster is York's chief glory, appropriate to the dignity of an Archbishopric, built between 1220 and 1470, it contains England's greatest concentration of medieval stained glass, principally from the 13th and 14th Centuries.  The two most famous windows being the five sisters and the magnificent 15th Century east window, the largest in the world.  The Ministers length is 518ft and is 241ft wide at the transept.  The central tower rises 198ft and is the largest lantern tower in Britain.  The 14th Century Chapter House with seven lovely window walls has no central support for its conical roof, just the great buttresses on the eight sides.  The Choir was completed by 1400 and its great climax the east window with 2,000 sq ft of ancient glass by John Thornton of Coventry was finished in 1408, the massive towers came last.
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