The Borough Gaol, which contains fourteen cells and three airing yards, is now little used, the borough prisoners committed for trial being sent to the East Riding prison. This gaol, as we have observed, occupies the site of the ancient Hanse House, which was used afterwards as the hall and prison of the East Riding. The old town gaol was the chantry chapel of John de Ake, situated in the Cross Bridge* (now Toll Gavel), and was an antique building of stone. It was disused as a prison and pulled down in 1805, and the present gaol being vacated by the East Riding, after the erection of the new House of Correction, without North Bar, was then used as the town gaol. EAST RIDING REGISTER OFFICE, Register Square. - This institution was established on the 29th of September, 1708 (6th of Queen Anne), for the registration of all deeds, conveyances, wills, &c., affecting property within the East Riding of the County of York. The office was originally held in Well Lane, but the present building was erected by order of the East Riding magistrates in 1800. It is completely fire proof, and is well adapted for the preservation of the public records, &c., deposited in it; and the cost of its erection was about £900. At the same time the present residence of the Registrar, which stands in the garden contiguous, was built; the sum of £650. being allowed by the magistrates towards the expense of that building, Mr. H. Legard, the then Registrar, defraying the extra expense from his private purse. At his death, Mr. Legard left a close adjoining the Register garden to the Registrar for the time being, which adds much to the comfort as well as the appearance of the residence. The present Registrar is Mr. John Maister, and the Deputy Registrar is Mr. Joseph Hind. The Registrar is chosen by the freeholders of the East Riding possessing an estate of £100. annual value.

The Dispensary for the sick poor was established in Lairgate, in 1823, and is now held in a neat and appropriate building in Register Square, erected for the purpose, in 1828. It is supported by voluntary contributions, and the gratuitous attendance and advice of the medical gentlemen of the town. The benefits derived from the institution are essentially important. Since its establishment, to September, 1854, a period of thirty years, the number of patients admitted was 15,984; of which number, 12,367 were discharged cured; and 2,003 relicved. During the past year, 752 patients have been admitted, of which 587 have been discharged cured. The income of the institute for the year 1854, was £168.; and the expenditure, £111. Mr. Charles Harris is the apothecary.

* There is still, though unseen, an archway, which serves as a watercourse into Walkergate drain, formerly called Walkergate Beck. (See pp. 224, 225, and 277.)

The Beverley and East Riding Mechanics' Institute, Cross Street, was established in 1832. On the 30th of October, in that year, several respectable inhabitants of the town, who were impressed with the want of a Mechanics' Institute, held a meeting in the Minster school-room, Charles Brereton, Esq., the then Mayor, in the chair. This meeting, after passing several resolutions, calculated to carry out the object, and appointing a provisional committee, adjourned to the 7th of the following month, when the institution was finally established; and for several years the meetings of the society took place in the Minster school, kindly granted by the Rev. Joseph Coltman. Soon after his death the friends of the institute found it necessary to exert themselves, by raising subscriptions for the erection of a suitable building. The plot of ground upon which the present hall stands, was purchased of the Town Council, for the sum of £150.; the members of the institute subscribed, either in cash, work, or materials, to the amount of £233.; James Clay, Esq., M.P., and George Rennie, Esq., of London, presented the munificent donation of £50. each, for the same purpose, and many

handsome subscriptions were received from other persons. The erection of the Lecture Hall commenced in 1841, and was completed in the beginning of September, 1842. Subsequently a Library and Reading Room have been added, in accordance with the original plan; but a considerable portion yet remains unfinished, for want of funds. In the year 1846 this institute was united with the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes. The number of members now on the books is about 250. The library, which contains about 1000 volumes, is open on Monday and Thursday evenings; and the Reading Room is open every evening. Lectures are delivered every Tuesday evening during the winter months. The President for the present year is R. Hodgson, Esq. (the Mayor), and the Treasurer is Mr. Joseph Hind.

News Rooms. A very neat Doric building in Cross Street, erected in 1831, contains the Subscription News and Billiard Rooms. The News Room of the Reform Association, established in 1837, is in Toll Gavel; and that of the Conservative Association, founded about the same time, is in North Bar Street.

Beverley and East Riding Public Rooms, Norwood. ----The edifice containing the assembly or ball room, together with the card and tea rooms attached to it, was erected by subscription, in shares of £25. each, in 1763. It is a brick building in the Grecian style, having a stone pediment and plinths of the same material. Adjoining this, at the back, is a very large lofty room, which was built in 1840, by subscription, in shares of £10. each, for the purpose of holding the meetings and dining the members of the Beverley and East Riding Agricultural Association, as well as for the exhibitions and meetings

of the Beverley and East-Riding Floral and Horticultural Society. These societies being now defunct, and no assemblies being held in the rooms, they are let for concerts, balls, exhibitions, &c., and the two bodies of shareholders have merged into one.

The Temperance Hall, in Well Lane, is a neat brick building, erected in 1845, at a cost about £380. It will seat about 500 persons, and is well adapted for lectures and other meetings.

The North Bar is the only one remaining out of five, which formerly protected and ornamented the town. It is undoubtedly of some antiquity, but a coating of plaster and whitewash, with which the whole erection has been covered, has obliterated every vestige by which its age might probably have been determined. An incision under the archway shows the place in which the portcullis was suspended, when this gate had its drawbridge across the deep fosse or ditch which ran on the north side of it. The arms of the Wartons, by whom it probably was "repaired and beautified," still remain upon the Bar.

There is no Theatre at present in Beverley. The first place devoted to theatrical purposes here was a building in Walkergate, near the Methodist Chapel. A theatre was afterwards built in Cross Street, on the spot now occupied as the National School. The last regular theatre here was erected in 1804, in Lairgate, near the entrance to the grounds of Beverley Hall, but for several years the "histrionic art" has not been patronised, to any extent, in Beverley.

The Gas Works, on the Hull Road, were erected in 1824, by the late Mr. John Malam, of Hull, and were afterwards purchased by the Commissioners for lighting, watching, &c., the town. They are now under the management of the Local Board of Health. The entrance to the works is by a noble arch, of the Grecian order, with neat iron gates. There are two gasometers, the oldest of which will contain about 18,000 cubic feet of gas; and the other, erected in 1846, will hold 25,400 feet. The present price of gas is os. per 1,000 feet. Mr. John Foxall is the manager.

Pastures. The common pastures of Beverley, belonging to the freemen, contain 1,174 acres, in the following proportions :---Westwood, 504; Hurn, 110; Figham, 297; and Swinemoor, or Swinemere, 263. Figham and Swinemoor banks, containing each 14 acres, and Lund banks, 15 acres, belong to the Corporation. About an acre of land, called Bull's Close, is rented and added to Hurn common, by means of which a more convenient entrance is obtained. As we have seen at page 195, Westwood was granted, in 1380, by Archbishop Neville, and most probably Hurn was included. Figham is

The

supposed to have been granted by Archbishop Wickwane, for, as has been observed at page 185, that prelate ordered that no villain of Woodmansey should put cattle into the pasture of Figham. It is clear that the burgesses were in possession when that order was made, in 1284. The gift of Swinemoor, although there is no direct evidence to prove it, is likely to have proceeded from the same source, namely, the Archbishop of York, as lord of the fee. The roll of accounts of the Twelve Governors show that Swinemoor was equally their property in 1344. The inhabitants of the parish of Bishop Burton claim to be entitled to a right of stray for pigs in a certain part of Westwood pasture, called Burton Hill, but which right has not been exercised for many years past.

In consequence of the Municipal Corporation Act having abrogated the powers and authority which were vested in the late Corporation, relative to the freemen's pastures, without giving similar powers to the new Town Council, an application was made, and an Act of Parliament obtained in 1836, for the purpose of granting to a body of Pasture Masters (to be annually appointed by the freemen at large), such powers as were necessary for the protection and regulation of the rights of the freemen and their successors for ever. Under this Act the burgesses elect yearly, twelve Pasture Masters and two Auditors. Every pasture freeman or his widow is entitled to stock the common pastures, agreeably with the regulations made by the Pasture Masters, which regulations vary from time to time. On Swinemoor certain copyhold tenants of Beverley Water Towns enjoy the privilege of stocking, to a prescribed extent, in common with the burgesses. The pastures are open from May 14th to Feb. 1st, and those cattle gates belonging to poor freemen or their widows, who cannot afford to purchase stock, are let for their full value, and the profits are paid to the claimants. The Lord of the Manor of Beverley Water Towns claims a yearly quit-rent of £5. out of Westwood and Hurn.

Beverley Races take place annually, on a good Race Course on Hurn pasture. Races were occasionally run in Westwood, but it was not till the year 1767 that they were established annually. In that year the commodious stand was erected at a cost of £1,000., raised by the sale of 330 silver free admission tickets. After having been discontinued for several years, these races were revived in 1848, and now yield two days good sport, in the month of June. The course is oval or pear shaped, once round being about 100 yards short of a mile and a half. The straight run in, with a gradual rise, is nearly half a mile.

The Railway Station is situated at the south east end of the town, on the

site of the Commandery of the Knights Hospitallers. (See page 276.) It is a neat red brick building, with a considerable quantity of glass in the roof. This, the Hull, Bridlington, and Scarborough branch of the North Eastern Railway, was opened in 1846.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.-A Grammar School in Beverley is supposed to be coeval with the Collegiate Society of St. John. Two Fellowships, founded at Cambridge, in 1526, would imply that this school was a free school to the natives of Beverley, who were educated by the "prests," as referred to by Grainger. The establishment of the present school, after the dissolution, is likewise lost, and no satisfactory account can be obtained of its origin and foundation, either before or after the Reformation. As far back as can be traced, it has been for instruction in Latin and Greek to the sons of burgesses; but owing to the want of a sufficient regular endowment, it has been customary, during the past century, for the master to receive payment for free scholars, the amount of that charge being fixed from time to time by the Corporation, who have the general government of the school, and appoint the master. The school was formerly kept in an ancient building, at the southwest corner of the Minster Yard, which being very ruinous, was taken down, in 1814; and it was then removed to the present premises in Keldgate, which were purchased, repaired, and altered, by the Corporation, at a considerable expense. The master has no permanent stipend from any endowment, except an annuity of £10., left by Dr. Metcalf, in 1652 (which sum is at present in abeyance, owing to Metcalf's charities being in Chancery). Previous to the Municipal Act, the Corporation paid the master a voluntary gift of £90. per ann., which, in addition to Dr. Metcalf's gift, made up his salary to £100. per ann., besides the school and master's house, for which the Corporation charged merely a nominal rent of 20s. per ann. And this was considered a sufficient compensation to the master, for his having to receive and educate the sons of the freemen of the town, on payment by them of 40s. a year each. But by the operation of the above-mentioned Act, the master is obliged to pay the Corporation a reasonable rent for the house and school, and he is deprived of all the other advantages previously enjoyed, with the exception of Dr. Metcalf's gift; the payment for the sons of freemen has consequently been increased, and is now six guineas a year each. The Corporation still retain the privilege of appointing the master, who is allowed to take boarders. The present master is the Rev. Charles Easther. The school-room is spacious and convenient; the master's residence large and commodious; and the play ground, which is about two acres in extent, contains a Fives Court, erected in 1823.