The York Castle Museum is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

located in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England, on the site of

York Castle York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York, England. It consists of a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings, which were built over the last nine centuries on the south side of the River Foss. The now-ruined ...

, which was originally built by

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

in 1068. The museum itself was founded by John L. Kirk in 1938, and is housed in prison buildings which were built on the site of the castle in the 18th century, the debtors' prison (built in 1701–05 using stone from the ruins of the castle) and the female prison (built 1780–85).

Museum and history

Foundation

In 1931 John Lamplugh Kirk, a physician and amateur archaeologist based in

Pickering, North Yorkshire Pickering is a market town and civil parish in the Ryedale district in North Yorkshire, England, on the border of the North York Moors National Park. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is at the foot of the moors, overloo ...

, advertised for expressions of interest from sites who wished to house his large collection of objects relating to the study of Social History. Although he received responses from sites in Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Batley, Doncaster and York, it was the latter which was ultimately successful. The Female Prison was bought by the City of York Corporation in 1934 and modified to house the Kirk Collection of "bygones", opening as the Castle Museum on 23 April 1938. A major attraction of this new museum was the recreation of a late Victorian street, named 'Kirkgate'; this was the first of its kind in Britain.

Second World War

Violet Rodgers started as the Deputy Curator in 1938. Kirk died in 1940 and Rodgers ran the museum, which remained open, during the Second World War. During this time she expanded the education offer and developed an interactive approach to the collections by allowing visitors to handle objects. She left the museum in 1947 when she emigrated to Poland.

Post-war and 20th century

The debtor's prison was added to the castle display spaces in 1952. The Edwardian 'Half Moon Court' (an annexe to the eastern edge of the debtor's prison) was added in 1963. The Raindale Mill was opened at the back of the site in 1966.

21st century

A new £18 million redevelopment of the site was announced in 2017 as part of the 'Castle Gateway Project'. A redevelopment team was announced in February 2019. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

the museum, along with the other York Museums Trust sites, closed to the public on 23 March 2020. It was announced in July that the museum would reopen on 1 August (

Yorkshire Day Yorkshire Day is a yearly celebration on 1 August to promote the historic county of Yorkshire, England. It was celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society in 1975, initially in Beverley, as "a protest movement against the local government re ...

) 2020. The museum was forced to close a second time from 5 November 2020 as part of new national restrictions in England. It reopened on 2 December 2020 with a temporary 'Christmas on Kirkgate' experience featuring decorations,

nutcracker doll Nutcracker dolls, also known as Christmas nutcrackers, are decorative nutcracker figurines most commonly made to resemble a toy soldier. In German tradition, the dolls are symbols of good luck, frightening away malevolent spirits. While nearly ...

s, snow, and music. York was moved into Tier 3 Restrictions on 31 December 2020, forcing the museum to again close. It reopened, on 19 May 2021. In January 2023 a wall on the outside of the Female Prison was daubed with "offensive graffiti". A 17-year old boy was boy was subsequently arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage and being in possession of articles to commit criminal damage. On 27 September 2023 the Female Prison part of the museum was closed to the public as a precaution, following the discovery of RAAC in its roof. A report presented to the City of York Council on 9 April highlighted that this partial closure of the museum resulted in a loss of revenue of £400,000. CEO Kathryn Blacker called on the support of local MPs and the UK Government for emergency financial help because the Castle Museum was one of only three museums in the UK to have RAAC and the only listed building.

Buildings

York Castle Museum consists of several individual structures located to the immediate south of Clifford's Tower, within the former castle bailey. It is surrounded by part of the

wall on its southern side, and beyond that the

River Foss The River Foss is in North Yorkshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Ouse. It rises in the Foss Crooks Woods near Oulston Reservoir close to the village of Yearsley and runs south through the Vale of York to the Ouse in the centre of ...

. In 1969 a gallery was built to link the museum in the Female Prison with the Debtors' Prison.

Debtor's Prison

The Debtor's Prison was originally built as the County Gaol in 1701–1705. It is a three-storey building with a central range and clock turret flanked by projecting wings built with Tadcaster limestone and brick walls, and a lead and slate roof. The prison's most notable inhabitant was

Dick Turpin Richard Turpin (bapt. 21 September 1705 – 7 April 1739) was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's trade as a butcher ea ...

, who was incarcerated in the 1730s before his trial at the York assizes. His cell forms part of the exhibition in the current museum.

Female Prison

The Female Prison and yard were built in 1780–83 at a cost of £1,540 and to a design by Thomas Wilkinson and John Prince. The frontage of this building matches that of the Court building on the opposite side of the bailey. The prison was altered and wings added in 1802 with a podium and steps added in 1820–50. The front of the building is constructed from sandstone ashlar with the inside of the portico rendered. The prison was bought by the City of York Corporation in 1934 opening as the Castle Museum in 1938.

Raindale Mill

Raindale Mill is a reconstructed early-19th-century flour mill which was moved from the North York Moors to the grounds of York Castle Museum in the 1960s. It was opened to the public in 1966. File:York Castle Museum from Clifford's Tower (2).JPG, The two prison buildings, as seen from Clifford's Tower File:York Castle Museum.jpg, The Female Prison building File:Musée York Castle York 1.jpg, The Debtor's Prison building File:Water Mill, York Castle Museum - geograph.org.uk - 100871.jpg, Raindale Mill

Curators

Galleries

Current exhibitions

* Kirkgate – a recreated Victorian Street, named after the museum's founder, was redeveloped and expanded in 2012. * Toy Stories – a history of children's toys. * The Sixties. * Recreated period rooms including a Victorian parlour and a 17th-century dining room. * The Cells – a display about life in the prison – was opened in 2009 in the cells of the old Debtors Prison. The former Condemned Cell, possibly once occupied by

, can also be visited. *1914: When the World Changed Forever – opened in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. * Shaping the Body: Food, Fashion & Life – an exhibition about changes in fashion, opened on 26 March 2016.

Past exhibitions

*1993–1994: 'Stop the Rot'. A special exhibition about museum conservation. *pre-2004 to 2004: 'Spotless'. An exhibition about cleaning. *April 2000 to April 2016: 'From Cradle to Grave'. An exhibition about birth, marriage, and death. *1 April 2017 to 1 April 2018: 'Chocolate: York's Sweet Past'. *13 July 2018 to 28 April 2019: 'A Personal Collections of Vivien Westwood's Shoes'. *22 March 2019 to 22 March 2020: 'The Museum of Broken Relationships', an exhibition about the stories and objects relating to broken relationships.

Awards

*Visit York Awards 2015 – Visitor Experience of the Year (Finalist). *Little Vikings Awards 2017 – Best Attraction (Winner). *Little Vikings Awards 2019 – Best Attraction (Highly Commended). * Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence.

References

External links

Feargus O'Connor & York Castle – UK Parliament Living Heritage

British Pathé – Kirkgate 1952Kirkgate on Google Streetview

Knipe, K. 1867. ''Criminal chronology of York castle; with a register of criminals capitally convicted and executed at the County assizes, commencing March 1st, 1379, to the present time''
{{Authority control Museums in York Defunct prisons in North Yorkshire History museums in North Yorkshire Prison museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 1938 York Museums Trust