Experience three museums and
one great day out in North Yorkshire at Ripon Museums.

Discover the history of
poverty, crime and punishment in Yorkshire with a visit to Ripon’s Workhouse
Museum, Prison & Police Museum and Courthouse Museum. Each museum is
located in an original historic building in the centre of Ripon.

Have you ever wondered what
it would be like to be poor in Victorian England? Before the welfare system was
introduced, those without the means to support themselves would often end up in
the workhouse. Soak up the grim atmosphere of the Workhouse Museum, which has
been carefully maintained in order to give visitors a sense of what life in a
Victorian Workhouse was like.

Get locked up at the Prison
& Police Museum. Sit in a prison cell, hear the door slam shut and imagine
the harsh conditions of Victorian prison regimes. Imagine the horror of being
set in the pillory, strapped in a restraint chair or hung in chains. Turn the
crank, carry out shot drill or work the treadmill.

Discover what being the
Liberty of Ripon meant at the Georgian Courthouse Museum and learn about what
happened in a courtroom in the 1800s. Experience standing in the dock and
waiting for your sentence!

We
love to welcome groups to our museums and can arrange a visit that will suit
your party, whether you’d like to visit one museum, two museums, or all
three.

Our
knowledgeable and entertaining guides will take you on a tour of the museums,
telling the story of the buildings themselves as well as what went on inside. We
can also provide teas and coffees with biscuits, scones or cakes or a
buffet lunch for your group.