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 territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

hall in the city of

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

, England. It is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

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 Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) was King of England from 1422 to 1461 and 1470 to 1471, and disputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child of Henry V, he succeeded to the English throne at the age of eight months, upon ...

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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

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 Vault (architecture), vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground (street-level) area whi ...

. The Great Hall is a timber-framed 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. Londo ...

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 The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...

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 depicting the Old Ouse Bridge at York and a portrait by William Etty 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 Fossgate Grade I listed buildings in York Grade I listed livery halls Guildhalls in the United Kingdom History museums in North Yorkshire Museums in York Timber framed buildings in Yorkshire

History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links