Barley Hall

About

 

Visitor update: Barley Hall is now open, and we are making sure that everyone enjoys a safe visit, while still experiencing everything that we have to offer. Find out more here.  Please pre-book online!

Barley Hall is a stunning medieval townhouse, once home to the Priors of Nostell and a Lord Mayor of York. Until the 1980s the house was hidden under the relatively modern façade of a derelict office block. Only when the building was going to be destroyed was the amazing medieval building discovered and its history revealed.

The building has now been lovingly restored to its original splendour with stunning high ceilings, beautiful exposed timber frames, and possibly the only horn window in England. It has been decorated to replicate what it would have looked like as the Snawsell home around 1483 and boasts a magnificent Great Hall. Visitors to Barley Hall will find themselves immersed in medieval England.

Plus, discover our Magic & Mystery exhibition, which explores the fine line between science, religion and magic in medieval society.

Please note that Barley Hall is an historic building and features uneven floors, narrow stairs and steps between rooms. Facilities such as accessible toilets and a lift are unavailable due to the nature of the building.

Please call 01904 615505 to discuss your access requirements.

There is more information on access on our website.

Educational visits (Covid-19 secure)

Following government guidance, we have introduced a number of new measures to keep school visitors to Barley Hall safe, including restricting the number of people in the attraction, ensuring social distancing and adding extra cleaning and hygiene precautions for visitors, staff and volunteers.

Our procedures have gained the ‘Good to Go’ certification from Visit England, so visitors can be assured that we have followed government and industry COVID-19 guidelines. Our website offers further information on these measures, under Social distancing and safety, but we require all schools intending on visiting the attractions to make use of the COVID-19 Advice for Visiting Schools document, which contains important information for teachers undertaking a school trip with us.

Virtual outreach

If you can't visit at the moment, or you are too far away to make a day trip, you can invite a host of historical characters or our friendly archaeologists into your classroom with our Virtual Outreach sessions.  Click here for more details.