York Castle Museum
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York Castle Museum occupies the site of York Castle, originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The museum was founded by Dr John L. Kirk, from Pickering in North Yorkshire, in 1938, and is housed in prison buildings which were built on the castle site in the eighteenth century. The York Castle Museum is housed in a former debtors' prison and an adjoining former women's prison, both of which are Grade I listed.
One of the museum's most famous displays is the reconstructed street, Kirkgate, that has been hugely influential in museums displays worldwide. There are various displays which range from recreated Jacobean dining rooms to infamous Victorian criminals and all the way to the Space Age and the swinging Sixties. The interactive galleries hold thousands of historic objects that really bring the past to life.
Galleries include-
Kirkgate- a recreated Victorian Street, named after the museum's founder. This was redeveloped and expanded in 2012.
Toy Stories- A history of children's toys.
Recreated period rooms including a Victorian parlour and a seventeenth 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 Dick Turpin, can also be visited.
1914: When the World Changed Forever - Opened in 2014 to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.
Raindale Mill, a reconstructed early nineteenth century flour mill which was moved from the North York Moors to the grounds of York Castle Museum in the 1960s.
York Museums
| Bar Convent Museum |
Henry VII Experience |
Jorvik Viking Centre | National Railway Museum |
| Richard III Experience |
Roman Bath Museum | York Castle Museum | Yorkshire Museum |
| Yorkshire Museum of Farming |