Three Museums. One Powerful Story: discover another side of Ripon at this unique Yorkshire attraction

Yorkshire’s fascinating Victorian past is waiting to be discovered in this unique three-museum collection in the historic city of Ripon.

Ripon Museums is a collection of three historic museums, all within a few minutes’ walk of one another, which together take visitors on a journey through the lives of ordinary people and the closely connected worlds of poverty, welfare, crime, punishment and justice. It’s a story that, while rooted in Ripon, sheds light on the experiences of people across Victorian England.

There are plenty of hands-on exhibits to help visitors get a very real flavour of what life was like for ordinary people, and they are all in the very buildings where their lives and fates played out.

You could stand in the very dock where defendants once waited to learn their fate; put your head and hands in the stocks; visit whitewashed barred cells where people could find themselves incarcerated, and discover what life was like without the safety nets of today’s welfare state if you happened to fall on hard times.

The three museums are all linked by the same social history thread. Seen together, they reveal how closely poverty, welfare, crime, punishment and justice could be connected – and how the systems and attitudes of the past shaped the lives of ordinary people.

Here visitors can discover the stories of those people – at times literally walking in their footsteps – and find out what life was really like for those who fell into poverty or found themselves caught up in the criminal justice system.

One surviving story shows how closely those institutions could be connected. In 1891, 28-year-old James Smith, described as having “no fixed residence”, was staying in Ripon Workhouse’s casual ward. After refusing his assigned work and tearing up his clothes, he was brought before the magistrates. Asked why he had destroyed them, Smith said they were “filthy dirty, and had not been washed for two months.” His case offers a glimpse of how quickly someone experiencing homelessness could move from the Workhouse into the justice system.

Visit all in one day, or take advantage of the Triple Pass, an annual ticket which covers all three attractions and allows you to return time and again. Current prices are £19 per adult for all three museums, £10.50 for a child (under fives free) and £38 for a family and friends pass for two adults and three children.

Bringing the past to life

Ripon is a city with history at its heart, and its museums tell a distinctive part of that story. The Workhouse Museum & Garden, Prison & Police Museum and Courthouse Museum are all remarkable historic buildings in Ripon city centre.

Visitors can begin at the Workhouse Museum, following in the footsteps of the people who entered its doors when poverty left them with few other options – from entering the gate, to the baths and fumigation area and onwards to the cells where vagrants slept.

The museum focuses on human stories and the experiences of the people who lived here, as well as exploring the harsh and controlled conditions of workhouse life. Visitors can also discover the deliberately plain and repetitive diet served to those living in the Workhouse.

Those who have visited before are in for some surprises. The museum has undergone a major transformation this year, reopening in July following the redevelopment of its historic Residents’ Block as part of Ripon Museum Trust’s £3.3 million Inspiration for a Fairer Future project, made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Previously inaccessible and altered areas of the building have been brought back into use, with historic doorways, fireplaces, stone floors and other original features revealed as part of the work. The result gives visitors more opportunities to explore the building itself and discover the experiences of the people who lived and worked there.

But the story doesn’t end at the Workhouse.

A short walk takes visitors to the Prison & Police Museum, where the focus moves from poverty to crime and punishment.

Set within the former Liberty Prison, visitors will find themselves inside the original cells, discover how policing developed and explore some of the punishments faced by those who broke the law.

The journey then continues at Ripon’s Courthouse Museum.

This elegant Georgian courthouse, which remains largely unchanged since it was built in 1830, offers an insight into the other side of the justice system. Here you can enter the courtroom, stand in the dock and see the rooms where magistrates and jurors once decided the fate of those brought before them.

A day out to remember

Seen individually, each museum tells a fascinating story. And as they are just minutes apart, it’s easy to make a day of it and visit all three as part of a wider day exploring Ripon.

Seen together they tell a powerful, connected story, revealing how closely poverty, welfare, policing and justice could intersect in Victorian life. They reflect the world of Victorian England while offering a distinctive perspective on Ripon’s past through the experiences of ordinary people who lived, worked, sometimes struggled and found themselves caught up in these systems.