[4] It continued to grow under the Normans, when its trading industry was first established, and eventually became a significant wool-trading town and the tenth-largest settlement in England.

The first structure built in the area, which at the time was known as Inderawuda (meaning "in the wood of the men of Deira"), was a Christian church dedicated to St John the Evangelist.

[10] Around the 850s, the now developed monastery was abandoned in a hurry; historians presume this was because of the invasion of the so-called Great Heathen Army of Vikings who had invaded England, and established the Kingdom of Jórvík in the Yorkshire area.

[10] Before the Battle of Brunanburh, possibly located further north than Beverley, the King of England at the time Athelstan visited Inderawuda, he prayed all night and saw a vision saying he would be victorious: in return he helped the town to grow greatly.

[10] The name of the town was changed to Bevreli or Beverlac, meaning beaver-clearing or beaver-lake, in the 10th century; a reference to the colonies of beavers in the River Hull at the time.

[11] In the 12th century, Beverley developed from a settlement of several thousand, to an extensive town, stretching from around the North Bar area to the Beck in an elongated pattern, it was granted borough status in 1122 by Thurstan.

[10] Local Beverley man Cardinal John Fisher was martyred along with Thomas More for refusing to accept the Tudor King Henry VIII as Head of the Church of England.

[14] Beverley was visited by John Leland, the man known as the "father of English local history", he wrote of the town in some detail, estimating the population of the time at around 5,000.

[10] Beverley Minster was threatened with demolition by its new owners who wanted to profit from selling its stone and lead, however the local people led by wealthy merchant Richard Gray saved it from this fate.

[16] After being turned away from Hull, the king spent three weeks as a guest in a house at North Bar in Beverley, where he was openly greeted with the ringing of St Mary's Church bells.

[10] Beverley Minster managed to escape this fate, in part due to the prominence of the Percy family and the fact that the church housed memorials to their ancestors.

[10] The English Restoration with Charles II coming to power was generally well received in Beverley, and his royal coat of arms was hung in the Minster and remains there.

[10] The replacing of old timber buildings with new ones in the Georgian style helped the town recover in prestige, with the religious structures also undergoing restorations.

[10] Beverley's religious associations remained during the 19th century: as well as the majority Anglican faith, there were several non-conformist religions practised such as Methodism with John Wesley previously having preached there; with the completion of the Catholic Emancipation and the refoundation of the Catholic hierarchy, the Diocese of Beverley in 1850 was chosen to cover Yorkshire, before being divided into two dioceses.

During the Middle Ages, Beverley was governed by aldermen known as the twelve keepers, they oversaw the general running of the town and the maintaining of law and order.

[36] In the modern day the school hosts around 800 pupils and has received favourable reports from Ofsted, however, in 2013 it was determined as requiring improvement.

Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the United States first arrived in Beverley in 1850 and quickly established a local congregation.

The sport has a long history in Beverley, with evidence of a permanent race track reaching back as far as 1690, while its first grandstand was built in 1767.

[51] Beverley is home to one of the last pubs in the world to still use authentic gas lighting; The White Horse Inn (or "Nellie's" to the local population) is owned by the Samuel Smith Old Brewery company.

The last surviving Blackburn Beverley aircraft XB259 (named after the town, and built nearby in Brough) was on static display until the museum closed due to a funding shortfall in 2003.

This and the neighbouring former Hodgsons Tannery is now occupied by Flemingate – a shopping centre including Dunelm, H&M, Sports Direct, restaurants and cafes, and is also home to a Parkway Cinema and Premier Inn.

The police station on Norfolk Street is part of the court complex built in about 1805, including a sessions house and a prison.

The East Riding Theatre, housed in a former nonconformist chapel originally built in 1910, is a community initiative launched by a group of local volunteers and film and television actor Vincent Regan.

First opened to the public in December 2014 and seating 200, it is run as a not-for profit organisation and a registered charity and presents regular drama productions and musical performances.

In the early days the fairs were places for trading goods and animals, and were useful for meeting people and finding news of what was happening elsewhere in the country.

As the fairground equipment became larger and heavier and the use of the motor vehicle became more widespread, Saturday Market place was no longer suitable for the purpose.

In 2002, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, against the wishes of a large number of the residents sold the Morton Lane car park to Tesco, leaving the Town with nowhere to hold the fair.

The council offered space on the Westwood to hold the fair but the organisers together with the solicitors of The Showmen’s Guild demanded that they were allocated a site ‘within the walls of Beverley’ stating that The Royal Charter gave them that right.

[10] The railway station, designed by George Townsend Andrews, is now a Grade II listed building and has an elegant overall roof.

Beverley is the main setting for Domini Highsmith's "Father Simeon" trilogy: Keeper at the Shrine (1994), Guardian at the Gate (1995) and Master of the Keys (1996).