First Mercers' Hall
From the 14th century onwards the Mercers’ Company held its meetings in the Hospital
of St Thomas of Acon, a monastery founded about 1220 to commemorate the birthplace
of St Thomas Becket.
This later resulted in an arrangement whereby the Hospital sold the Company a
plot of land adjoining its church. Between 1517 and 1524 the Company built a small
chapel of its own on this land, with the first Mercers’ Hall above it, fronting
Cheapside.
After the dissolution of the Hospital by Henry VIII in 1538 the Company was able
to buy all the Hospital buildings from the Crown. One of the conditions of this
sale was that the Mercers maintained a church on the site, and hence the Company
is unique among the livery companies of London in having its own chapel.
One of the characteristics of the medieval companies was that they were associations
for common worship, and a number of ancient trusts still provide for the preaching
of sermons in the chapel.
The first Mercers’ Hall was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
