St Anthony's Hall

View of frontage on Peasholme Green.

The hall was built in the mid-15th century by a Confraternity of St Anthony. In the 16th century the Confraternity was responsible for the Creed Play which was performed in September 1483 in the presence of Richard III.

From the mid-16th century until 1705 the hall had many uses, for example as a jail, an armoury, a hospital, and even as a place for indoor archery practise. In 1705 it became the Blue Coat School, and this continued until 1947. During the 17th century the upper floor was rebuilt with brick walls to replace the timber framing.

In 1947 the hall was renovated by the city and became a repository for a collection of diocesan archives under The Borthwick Institute for Archives. It was taken over by the University of York in 1965 and recently it was purchased by York Conservation Trust which has overseen a major refurbishment, including the underpinning of two sides. Currently the hall is to be the site of a Quilt Museum and Gallery and the new home of The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles which hopes to open in the spring of 2008.

Photo: taken 4 June 2007
Photo Copyright Dave Woodcock 2008.

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This page last modified Wednesday, 14 January 2009.     Site owner: Dave Woodcock, who is solely responsible for the site contents.