Ripon Museum Trust is an organisation of dedicated, enthusiastic and skilled individuals who look after three unique heritage buildings, their collections and visitors with a team of over 140 volunteers. The Trust is a volunteer driven organisation with volunteering at the heart of everything we do.
We have a wide selection of volunteers from across the spectrum, from 8 to 90 and from all walks of life. We have volunteering opprtunities in every part of our operation from gardeners to guides, from admission to administration, from learning to leading, we can find a role that will suit any skills, experience or enthusiasms you may have.
We have a wide selection of volunteers from across the spectrum, from 8 to 90 and from all walks of life. We have volunteering opprtunities in every part of our operation from gardeners to guides, from admission to administration, from learning to leading, we can find a role that will suit any skills, experience or enthusiasms you may have.
Services
Our three sites within the centre of the city of Ripon in North Yorkshire tell the unique story of the Liberty Courthouse, Prison and Victorian Workhouse. Together the three museums tell a sorry and interwoven story of Law and Order in times past. Malefactors would be incarcerated at the Prison or Police Station before being taken to the Courthouse for trial.
The grim atmosphere of the Workhouse Museum has been carefully maintained in order to give visitors a sense of what life in a Victorian Workhouse could have been. Start your visit in the original Gatehouse building, which contains the Guardians' Room, Bathing Area, Vagrants' Cells and Receiving Ward for inmates.
Discover what being the Liberty of Ripon meant at the Courthouse Museum and learn about what happened in a courtroom in the 1800s. Experience standing in the dock and waiting for your sentence! Our elegant Georgian Courthouse remains virtually unchanged since it was built in 1830. Following closure of the Magistrates Court in 1998 it was opened as a museum a year later.
Enter the grim prison with whitewashed cells and barred windows. On the ground floor is a history of policing in Yorkshire from the Anglo-Saxons to the formation of professional policing. Upstairs, crime and punishment is the theme - with many hands-on activities to help imagine the horror of the Victorian prison regime.
Alongside our historic sites, Ripon Museum Trust holds a collection of around 9000 objects, relating to our sites, themes and stories. We have an especially significant collection of objects relating to the police service in Yorkshire and the Humber, dating from the late 1800s to present day. Police equipment, including lamps, communication equipment, crime scene investigation kits.
Reviews (3)
Julie Carr
Nov 04, 2021
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Julie Simpson
Jul 21, 2021
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Only had chance to visit the workhouse as didnt find out till too late that the other 2 don't open till 1 pm. It took ages to find the workhouse from the police museum, as didn't know you could park outside if disabled. it was really interesting, the best workhouse museum I've been to. The staff were very helpful too.
Nicola Ventress
Jun 19, 2021
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