Beverley And Howden

[poliphilo]

My mother-in-law likes garden gnomes. Ailz bought her three very large ones from an eBay seller in Beverley- which gave us a reason to drive over to the East Riding and look at a couple of wonderful gothic churches.

This is Beverley Minster







And this is Howden Minster

Comments

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I realize this is possibly a dumb question, but what is the origin of the term 'minster' in relationship to churches? And/ or - what is the difference between a cathedral and a minster?

Beautiful photographs - as always.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never been sure what the difference was, so I consulted wikipedia. It turns out "minster" is an anglo-saxon word meaning "monastery". It was originally applied to churches with a college of priests attached, but these days it's simply an honorary designation that gets applied more or less at random. Some minsters- like Southwell and York- are cathedrals, others- like Beverley and Howden- are simply very large churches.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Thank you.