Restoring Barley Hall
The restoration of Barley Hall took years. Explore how we restored it and brought York’s medieval history to life for a new generation.
Acquiring the Hall
It was known that there had been a medieval building in this area, but the house itself wasn’t recorded as medieval until 1980. Even then, the full extent of the medieval structure wasn’t discovered until 1984, when the site was sold for redevelopment.
Investigation and research got underway and it became clear very quickly that this was an exciting site. In 1987, York Archaeology, then known as York Archaeological Trust, bought the property. The hope was to restore it to show how it may have looked in the medieval era, allowing visitors to explore York’s history. They had already brought York’s Viking past to life through the JORVIK Viking Centre, which opened in 1984.
The Investigation
In 1987, YAT carried out a thorough archaeological examination inside the building, which later expanded into the courtyard area. These investigations proved incredibly valuable in piecing together not only the medieval layout but also the history of the building.
One thing that became clear was that the building had been changed over time. Floor levels seemed to have changed and timbers were moved around the building depending on the needs at the time. Despite this, we were able to piece together the shape of the Hall in the medieval period.
The timbers were tree-ring dated and showed how the building had been constructed over time. For example, the timbers in the Northern Chamber revealed that they had been felled in the spring of 1360. The Hall, on the other hand, was a bit more ambiguous, but the results suggested it had first been built around 1430 and then substantially rebuilt around 1515.
Despite all these fascinating discoveries, only 30% of the original wooden timbers were usable.
Restoring the Hall
The newer façade was stripped away and a new timber frame was built off site. Over the course of ten days, the new frame was then moved into place, which proved incredibly challenging given the physical constraints of the neighbourhood.
In a surprising coincidence, York Archaeology had been involved in an excavation at Clifton and discovered a medieval fireplace. This was brought over to Barley Hall and placed at the centre of the Great Hall.
In 1993, after six years of investigation and restoration, Barley Hall was opened to the public once more.
