From Anglo-Saxon times, criminals on the run were allowed to claim sanctuary at certain great churches. At Durham, the hunted man would rap on the north door and, after taking him in, the monks would toll a solemn bell before providing him with clothing (marked with a yellow cross), bed and board within the church for thirty-seven days.

At Beverley Minster in North Yorkshire, the welcome for wanted criminals was even warmer than at Durham, for repeat offenders too. Even at Beverley, however, it was a case of ‘three strikes and out’, and nowhere could the wanted man simply hole up indefinitely: he must eventually face the courts, become a monk, or accept lifelong exile abroad.

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