Beavers - in Beverley?!

Two alternatives have been proposed for the origins of the name Beverley . The commonly-quoted explanation is that it meant ‘beaver stream/lake’ but other experts have suggested it might derive from a word for pagan shrines which were once found in the area in pre-Christian times. The modern observer, examining the area around Beverley, could be forgiven for being more than a little sceptical about the beaver explanation. I must confess that I was myself

We need to understand, however, the way that the landscape around Beverley has changed since the Middle Ages. The arable farmland which characterises the Hull Valley today only exists because of the construction of the drains that crisscross the area. Many of these drains were constructed in the Mediaeval period, often by monastic houses such as Meaux Abbey and Watton Priory (such as the Monk Dyke nr Leven). Before drainage, most of the low lying ground in the Hull Valley was very wet. A look at a modern map shows that word ‘Carr’ occurs frequently in the Hull Valley, but rarely on the Wolds (e.g. Weel Carr, Tickton Carr, Molescroft Carr, North Carr at Thearne, Lockington Carr, Watton Carr, Hotham Carr and North Frodingham Carrs). These are areas of well-drained arable fields today but the word ‘carr’ denotes an area of wet woodland and shows that these places were once much wetter and extensively wooded. There were also extensive marshes and several large meres in the East Riding which have vanished (such as Wallingfen near North Cave and Oxmarrdyke near Gilberdyke, for example). Botanical evidence is still to be found today in small pockets of wet ground (Pulfin Bog at Eske, for example) and along the margins of the drains, where a wetland flora occurs akin to that of the Fens in East Anglia.

This would have been exactly the sort of territory beavers like. Beavers live exclusively in a wet habitat, modifying or expanding areas of standing water and water channels in order to store food, build their homes  and travel about their territory whilst trees are essential for food, and for dam and lodge construction.  

So when you put together the historical accounts, local placenames and botanical evidence along with the lifestyle of the beaver, the more fitting its place seems on our town’s coat of arms.