Merchant Adventurers' Hall

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The back of the medieval Merchant Adventurers' Hall showing the timber frame construction

The Merchant Adventurers' Hall is a medieval guild–hall in the city of York, England. The major part of it was built in the fourteenth century by the Guild of Our Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary, of mercers, which was granted the status of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of York by Queen Elizabeth I in the sixteenth century. The main part of the building consists of the Great Hall and the undercroft, which was originally a hospital or almshouse for poor people of York.

The Great Hall is a timber-framed structure and was completed by 1368. 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.

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 York Guild of Merchant Adventurers, a charitable membership group. They have an extensive set of records, with documents from the 1200s and accounts dating back to 1432. The pre-1960 archive is described in ‘A Guide to the Archives of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of York’ by David M. Smith, (Borthwick Texts, York, 1990) and a listing is available on the Access to Archives website. The Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York holds photocopies of many medieval deeds, account rolls, rentals, and of Guild minutes for the period 1677-1985.

The Hall is open to be visited by the public and can also be hired for parties and special occasions. It is licensed for weddings.