Ripon Workhouse Museum

About the museum

Ripon has had a workhouse on this site since the late 1770s, when the poor were first housed in the former Allhallows Hall. After the town joined a poor law union in 1852, a new and larger workhouse was built in the mid-1850s. The institution housed paupers, and its separate block for homeless travellers stayed in use for many years: vagrants could stay for two nights at a time and were not allowed back for 30 days. The practice lasted into the 1960s, and many local people still remember men waiting outside for the doors to open.

The buildings now form one of the most complete surviving Victorian workhouses in Britain. The museum is run by Ripon Museum Trust, a registered charity that also looks after the Prison & Police Museum and the Courthouse Museum in the city centre.

A visit starts in the original gatehouse, where visitors follow the route of an inmate from admission in the Guardians' Room through bathing and fumigation to the cells where vagrants slept. Displays and rooms in the main buildings explain daily life, work and food in the workhouse. At the back of the site is the kitchen garden, which was once tended by the inmates to feed them. Today it is cultivated with 1860s gardening techniques and grows heritage fruit and vegetables.

Highlights

• Original gatehouse, with the Guardians' Room, baths and fumigation area
• Vagrants' cells from the casual ward
• Kitchen garden grown with 1860s methods and heritage crops
• Audio guide and stories of real workhouse inmates
• One ticket option for all three Ripon museums

Permanent exhibition

• Workhouse Museum and Garden – Follow the route of a Victorian inmate from the gatehouse through the baths and fumigation process to the vagrants' cells, then explore the kitchen garden.

Founded

1996

Operated by

Ripon Museum Trust

Admission & discounts

All tickets are valid for 12 months with unlimited return visits. Tickets can be bought on the day at any of the three museums. Blue Light Card holders receive 10% off. Annual tickets and donations are eligible for Gift Aid.

Accessibility

• Partially wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

The museum is mostly on one level, with two rooms on the first floor that can be reached by an access lift (100 cm x 148 cm). The stone stairs to the first floor are worn and uneven, with a handrail. Doorways and corridors are wide enough for wheelchairs and mobility scooters, but floors are uneven and some areas have low lighting. Accessible toilets are on the ground floor in the Vagrants' Block and the Main Block. The Workhouse Garden is fully accessible by a ramp. Assistance dogs are welcome.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Stroller-friendly
• Baby changing facilities

Family activities such as craft workshops, trails and Victorian games run in the school holidays. Prams and pushchairs are welcome, but the historic building has uneven floors, narrow doorways and stairs; a lift is available. Baby changing is available at the museum, and breastfeeding is welcome.

Getting there & parking

The three Ripon museums are within about five minutes' walk of each other along paved streets.

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Museum shop

There is no cafe. Visitors can eat a picnic on the benches in the kitchen garden. A dedicated museum shop is on site.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit