In 700, John the archbishop of York founded a monastery with a church dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist. He attached an oratory to the church and installed nuns in the oratory. This monastery was founded on the site of a monastery that was supposed to have originally been founded in 126 AD and destroyed in 450 AD. Dugdale considers this story improbable (Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 2, 127).
Yolfrida, the daughter of a patron, was nun at the monastery and was buried there upon her death.
Athelstan refounded the monastery as a house for secular canons in either 828 or 928 (Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 2, 128).
Supposedly, the minster contained the relics of St. John of Beverley, the founder, who was officially canonized in 1037 largely due to the efforts of archbishop Aelfric.
Joannis Lelandi antiquarii De rebus britannicis collectanea, Volume 3:3, 153
Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 2
Monastery of St. John of Beverley, in Yorkshire
Collegiate Church of St. John at Beverley, 1302-1304."
The Victoria History of the County of York3:353-59 available online at ">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36303&strquery=st.%2... [Victoria County History]
There is no mention of nuns at this location after 866 when the Danes destroyed the community.