BARLEY HALL
Residents of the Hall
In our re-creation of Barley Hall, we have chosen to focus on the life and times of Master William Snawsell, probably the Hall's most distinguished resident, who lived and worked in York under Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII. When you visit Barley Hall, we ask you to imagine that you are visiting Master Snawsell's home towards the end of the reign of King Richard III - so the year is 1485 and the Battle of Bosworth, where Henry Tudor won the throne of England, is just on the horizon...
William Snawsell was born in about 1415, in York. His family had originally come to York from the parish of Snowshill in Gloucestershire in the early fourteenth century, but we first hear of William himself in 1429, when his grandmother Alice bequeathed him her "red chest"; Mistress Alice's will is preserved in the records of the Minster. William's father was a goldsmith and William followed his father in this trade. In 1457, he had a shop built in the Minster Gates. Right next to the minster close itself, this was the most prestigious trading address in the city, so Master William was clearly doing very well.
At some point, he married Joan Thweng. This was an advantageous marriage as Joan, unlike William, was of noble birth and her family had some powerful connections. The Thweng family was from Sheriff Hutton, a village just to the north of York, and would have known the powerful Neville family who held the castle at Sheriff Hutton. Joan's cousin Agnes Thweng was married to Thomas Wytham, Chancellor of the King's Exchequer from 1453-1464 and later a councillor to Richard Duke of Gloucester, who became King Richard III in 1483. The green popinjay pictured was part of the Thweng coat-of-arms. Joan gave William three surviving children - a single son, Seth, and two daughters, Isobel and Alice.
Master William Snawsell rose to become an important man in the government of York. In 1459 he was a City Chamberlain, with financial responsibilities, and in 1464 he was Sheriff of York. It was around this time that he moved into the property now known as Barley Hall. The upward trajectory of his career was fixed, and in 1468 he was made Lord Mayor of York. Lord Mayors of York serve for a year, but it was one of the peculiarities of the office in medieval times that, although the Mayor himself is a lord only for a year, his wife gets to keep the title of Lady: the Mayor's a lord for a year and a day, but his lady's a lady for ever and aye. Presumably, this must have pleased Lady Joan...
After his year in office as mayor, William Snawsell continued to serve the city as an alderman for a further twenty-three years, and he is frequently referred to in the records of the city. Notably, on the accession of Richard III in 1483, he was one of the aldermen who undertook the gruelling ride to Middleham Castle to congratulate Richard's son and heir Edward. Certainly it would appear that like most of the leading men of York William was known to, and approved of, King Richard; once again, when the city council marked the news of Richard's death at Bosworth in 1485 "to the great heaviness of this city", William's name is near the head of the list of councillors. Nevertheless, he went on to serve loyally under King Henry VII before resigning as an alderman in 1492 on the grounds of ill health. He would have been well into his seventies.