The Merchant Adventurers' Hall is a medieval

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

hall in the city of

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and scheduled ancient monument.

History

The majority of the Hall was built in 1357 by a group of influential men and women who came together to form a religious fraternity called the Guild of Our Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1371, a hospital was established in the undercroft for the poor people of York and, in 1430, the fraternity was granted a royal charter by King Henry VI and renamed 'The Mistry of Mercers'. It was granted the status of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York by

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

in 1581. The principal parts of the building are the Great Hall, the chapel and the

undercroft An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area which is relatively open ...

. The Great Hall is a

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

structure and was built over a five-year period. It is the largest timber-framed building in the UK still standing and used for its original purpose. The roof of the hall is of two spans supported by a row of large central timber posts. It includes complex

crown post A crown post is a term in traditional timber framing for a post in roof framing which stands on a '' tie beam'' or ''collar beam'' and supports a ''collar plate''.Alcock, N. W.. Recording timber-framed buildings: an illustrated glossary. London ...

s and is held together by wooden pegs. The undercroft, like the Great Hall, is divided in two by its supporting row of timber posts. The undercroft also provides access to an attached chapel built for the use of the ill and poor in the hospital as well as the members of the Merchant Adventurers' Guild. It is still used for worship. The Hall belongs to and is still regularly used by The Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York, who, although no longer dedicated to mercantile activities are prominent in York and still exist as a charitable membership group. The company has an extensive set of records, with documents dating from the 13th century and accounts dating back to 1432. The

Borthwick Institute for Archives The Borthwick Institute for Archives is the specialist archive service of the University of York, York, England. It is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. The Borthwick was founded in 1953 as The Borthwick Institute of Histori ...

at the University of York holds photocopies of many of the medieval deeds, account rolls, rentals, and of Guild minutes for the period 1677–1985. From 1918, the Company appointed Maud Sellers as an honorary archivist of its historical material - Sellers was a historian with an interest in the site and was involved in its restoration and study from 1895. Works of art in the hall include a painting by Jan Griffier entitled "Dutch snow scene with skaters", a painting by

Joseph Farington Joseph Farington (21 November 1747 – 30 December 1821) was an 18th-century English landscape painter and diarist. Life and work Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Farington was the second of seven sons of William Farington and Esther Gilbody. His ...

depicting the Old Ouse Bridge at York and a portrait by

William Etty William Etty (10 March 1787 – 13 November 1849) was an English artist best known for his history paintings containing nude (art), nude figures. He was the first significant British painter of nudes and still lifes. Born in York, h ...

of his brother, John Etty. It is a short walk from this hall to the Merchant Taylors' Hall in York, another medieval guildhall but in less original condition.

Gallery

File:The Merchant Adventurers Hall The Great Hall.jpg, The Great Hall File:The Merchant Adventurers Hall Governors Parlour Room.jpg, The Governors Parlour Room File:The Merchant Adventurers Hall The Undercroft.jpg, The Undercroft File:The Merchant Adventurers Hall Chapel.jpg, The Chapel File:The Merchant Adventurers Hall.jpg, Exterior File:Merchant_Adventurers_Hall,_Fossgate_entrance_-_geograph.org.uk_-_854734.jpg, The Gatehouse

References

External links

The Merchant Adventurers' Hall

The Borthwick Institute for Archives
{{coord, 53.9579, -1.0788, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Grade I listed buildings in York Grade I listed livery halls Guildhalls in the United Kingdom Museums in York History museums in North Yorkshire Timber framed buildings in Yorkshire Fossgate

History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links