Built in 1409 at a recorded cost of £96 0s 11½d, North Bar is believed to be England’s earliest surviving brick-built town gate. Much of its beauty lies in the brickwork: the long, slender medieval bricks create shifting patterns of colour, texture and extraordinary patina.
Get up close. The delight is that traffic can still pass through it. From 1934, East Yorkshire even commissioned double-decker buses with distinctive “Beverley Bar” roofs, specially shaped to negotiate its pointed Gothic arch.
For me, its singularity lies in what it still does: it makes arrival tangible. Passing beneath the vaulted brickwork - from North Bar Without to North Bar Within - I feel the town close around me. This is not simply a monument observed from a distance, but a threshold still performing its ancient office. Every passage through it feels like a small welcome. Once inside, I feel comforted - as though Beverley itself has drawn me in.
Connect with me on: Bluesky / Instagram / Facebook / X / Tumblr / Flickr / Vimeo / Pixelfed / Pinterest
Member discussion