The Merchant Taylors Hall was THE PLACE for theatrical entertainment in York during the early years of the 18th Century

From 1705 until the first York Theatre Royal was established by Thomas Keregan in 1734, he, his predecessors, and their players provided the City’s regular theatrical entertainment in the Merchant Taylors Hall. The Hall, therefore, played a very significant role in the history of York’s theatre at that time.

In more detail -

The earliest references in Merchant Taylors’ Minute Books to the use of the Hall as a theatre are:

· in 1705 when Mr Gilbert and his Company paid Twenty Shillings weekly to the Master Mr John Riveley and

· in  1711 when Thomas Agar, the Manager of the Duke of Norfolk’s Players paid One Guinae to the Master Mr George Barnatt.

In 1715  the Hall was let to the same Mr Agar for 6 weeks at the Lent Assize and 6 weeks at the Autumn Assize on payment of forty shillings for each assize.  Then in the following year he took a 7 year Lease of the Hall  on payment of £12 per year, the Duke of Norfolk’s Players having by then, been accepted as York’s regular players. 

Thomas Keregan – he had been one of their regular players for 10 years - took over the Duke of Norfolk’s Players in 1724 and took a 10 year Lease of the Hall for the same twelve weeks each year.   

Interestingly, Keregan’s application to sink a cellar in the Hall under the stage, indicates that he intended to use under-stage machinery such as traps “for the better performance of the plays” although there is no evidence that it was proceeded with. 

At the end of the 10 year Lease, Thomas Keregan obtained the City’s permission to build a playhouse, which thereafter resulted in only occasional use of the Merchant Taylors Hall as a theatre – for which one of the surviving fliers, for a play performed in the Hall in 1739, is shown. 

G Wilford – Nov 2024