The Minster Ravens. I.

The bells are ringing and their all-enveloping song provide the soundtrack for the trip to Beverley. It is a sunny, but cold and windy, afternoon as I approach the Minster. I intently look to the southwest tower, scanning the window ledges. It is an awesome feeling to visit the Minster while knowing that a pair of Ravens had their eerie there, long ago. Nelson (1907) in his book, Birds of Yorkshire, gives some tantalising details on the pair of ravens nesting on Beverley Minster until 1840. As it was often the case at the time, the adults were left well alone, but the young were taken every year. Apparently a mason called Gray would take the young from the nest with a borrowed fishing net. I was puzzled by the line “the young were distributed to the hostelries in the town” as I assumed to be cooked. But, no, they were not for eating! A few days later, reading the following excerpt from the Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalist Union (1898), I understood what the nestlings, obviously taken alive with the fishing nets, were for:

Many years ago the Raven used to breed in the Mausoleum at Castle Howard, but has now disappeared from there. This nesting place supplied familiar living specimens to the hostelries at various places along the old York and Scarborough turnpike road.

It appears that obtaining nestlings and trading them alive to be kept as pets was a profitable undertaking, so this together with relentless direct persecution by game keepers and egg collecting may have contributed to the demise of Ravens as breeding birds across England in the XIX century.

***

I enter the Minster. An old man welcomes visitors and hands leaflets. I ask him if it is possible to climb the towers. He informs me there are roof tours, but a visit to the tower may be arranged. I need to speak to little Flint, I just missed him, he is in charge of the bells. Indeed, I notice that the bells have stopped ringing.

I step outside and walk around the Minster. No ravens, but their smaller relatives abound. A small flock of Jackdaws are calling from the large trees on the yard. A few fly over the roof, against the wind. There is also a pair of Crows on Hall Garth. Beverley is a green town even now, surrounded on the west and east sides by large commons still used for grazing cows and horses, I can see why a pair of ravens would like to settle here. I need to arrange that trip to the towers to have a look at Beverley from a Raven's perspective.

The South West tower, presumably the one holding the nest on a ledge by a window.

The west towers.

Highgate, maybe ravens once fed on these cobbled stones.

A pair of carrion crows poses in front of the south west tower.

Carrion Crow with the minster as background.

Jackdaw, one of 11 settled on trees.

More Information

Nelson. 1907. Birds of Yorskhire. Full text available at Biodiverity Heritage Library.