Ancient artefacts from Beverley Minster sold at auction for £39,000

Bargain Hunt presenter Caroline Hawley was on her feet for three hours at the Minster at the weekend selling off objects including 20 stone pinnacles, dating back to the 13th century.

Despite bids from China, USA (New York), Mauritius, Bulgaria, Portugal, Sweden and Ireland, they all ended up in the hands of UK collectors.

The sale is part of an ongoing fundraising drive to raise millions of pounds to repair roofs, windows and crumbling stonework at the Minster and St Mary’s in the town.

The top bid for a pinnacle was £4,400, while a 19th century hand cart originally used to take stone and scaffolding to the Minster raised £1,000.

Brass lights from the church raised over £1,700, while items donated by the public, included a nine carat gold pocket watch which fetched £500. The total raised was just under £39,000.

Martin Needler, former chair of the Beverley Minster Old Fund, came up with the idea of the auction in aid of the Two Churches One Town Charity. He said: “To raise nearly £39,000 was absolutely unbelievable. Never did I think that a little idea of - “What can we do with all this stuff in the workshop yard?” - would turn into such a successful event.”

Tim Carlisle, chairman of the Two Churches One Town charity added: “We’ve got two gothic churches that are famous in Europe and considered to be the best of that build.

"What nobody wants is the nightmare scenario of having to close these buildings because they’re unsafe.”

Mrs Hawley said: “It’s very hard to predict what these types of lots will raise, especially rare ancient artefacts, but I must say the response was fantastic, with some great results.”

People can still donate to the charity by submitting items to Hawley’s Auctioneers for a special section in future auctions. The next is on September 9 to10 at Beverley Racecourse when cameras for Bargain Hunt are currently planned to be in attendance.

To contact Hawley’s email [email protected] or call 01482 868193.