A NEW book gives a fascinating insight into the building of one of York's most magnificent medieval halls.

Before The Merchant Adventurers: Building The Hall gives an almost day-today account of the building of the great hall from 1357 onwards.

It details the rich merchants who contributed to the cost of the building; the workmen - carpenters, masons, tilers and daubers (plasterers) - who carried out the work; and the materials which were used.

There's only one problem, for the general reader at least - it is written mostly in Latin...

That probably means it isn't going to be a bestseller, admits Bob Hale, one of the dozen members of The Latin Project, a group which dedicates itself to transcribing and publishing some of the many medieval York records written in Latin. It will mainly be of interests to scholars, archivists and those interested in York history who have a smattering of Latin.

The book is essentially a transcript of a remarkable document: the account book of the 'Fraternity of Jesus and Mary, York', the religious fraternity which originally built the hall 660 years ago as a hospital for the poor and needy.

The book records, week by week, the construction costs of the hall, for which more than 500 trees were felled and thousands of bricks and tiles bought.

York Press:

Part of a page from the account book. Picture: Jill Redford

Boatloads of stone from Tadcaster were shipped or carted to the site, as was sand, lime, straw, plaster, iron and lead. The accounts also detail the names and wages of the craftsmen who built the hall, and the costs of their materials, tools and refreshments - and gives a glimpse into the charitable work of a religious organisation helping the poor and needy just a few years after the Black Death.

These are the earliest York guild accounts known - and in fact, it isn't clear whether there is anything quite like them anywhere else.

That they survived at all is a miracle. They were stored in an oak trunk - and have survived countless floods over the last 660 years.

Before The Merchant Adventurers: Building The Hall is available, priced £10, from the Merchant Adventurers Hall or from King's Manor.