Wandesford Hospital, York: Colonel Moyser and the Yorkshire Burlington Group

Richard Boyle, third Earl of Burlington (1694–1753), was a Yorkshireman, and his role in the north of England was significant, both as a designer and as an authoritative arbiter of taste. His position as Lord Lieutenant of both East and West Ridings of Yorkshire paralleled his land holdings at Londesborough near Beverley, the location of his family seat, and at Bolton Abbey, in Wharfedale. Significantly, his acceptance of a commission to supply the Corporation of the City of York, the social capital of the north, with a design for the new Assembly Rooms resulted in one of his most radical works. Burlington's authorship of the Assembly Rooms is established, but less well known is how he also worked collaboratively in the county, alongside a group of craftsmen and gentlemen amateurs. One of these collaborators, James Moyser, can now be shown to have been responsible for the execution of Wandesford Hospital in York (Fig. 1).