East Riding Museums

Stump of stone cross on overgrown base, near to a wooden fence. The refuge crosses were a feature of medieval Beverley (and indeed other towns). A line of them ran about a mile out of town, roughly in a circle. Being withing this boundary supposedly protected fugitives from justice. The ultimate sanctuary was the cross on the altar of the Minster. This particular cross still survives today, at the edge of the road leading from Beverley to the Humber Bridge. This drawing has been attributed to Caroline Ann Brereton, who was an amateur artist in Beverley in the mid 19th century - very little is known of her. She usually signed herself C.A.B., but after her marriage when she became Mrs Caroline Hartley the signature A.H. sometimes appears. In this case the signature AH appears bottom right, along with the date, whilst a monogram and the number XVI appears bottom centre. Card mount.