Alistair Hardaker | Image: Ripon Museum (James Glossop Photography)
Ripon Workhouse Museum reopens on 21 July following restoration of its Residents’ Block, with the original cellar opened to visitors for the first time.
Ripon Workhouse Museum reopens to the public on 21 July following a £2.8 million redevelopment.
The reopening marks the completion of conservation and restoration work carried out as part of the Inspiration for a Fairer Future project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Other supporters include the Wolfson Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation and North Yorkshire County Council.
The £2.8 million restoration of the Residents’ Block forms part of a wider £3.3 million project. The Residents’ Block, the largest building on the site, is where paupers ate, slept and worked. It was acquired by Ripon Museum Trust in 2017 but had fallen into disrepair after years of changing uses, including as a care home and council offices.
The funding allowed the trust to repair the roof and windows and reinstate historical features. Restored rooms include the Old Men’s Day Room, Kitchen and Dining Hall, and the original workhouse cellar, which has been opened up for the first time.
Dr Laura Allan, curator at Ripon Museums Trust, said: “The cellar is particularly exciting as it’s the only part of that building that had been untouched since it was turned into council offices. It has the massive original meat block table where the workhouse pigs would be butchered, trough and sink. It’s like glimpsing behind the curtain, seeing how it truly was.”
The museum’s new displays allow visitors to be shut inside a vagrants’ cell and listen to the sounds of a night behind its locked door, sweep the yard, and pick oakum from old ropes. Younger visitors can search for hidden mice in the kitchen, use traditional weighing scales to portion meals, and spin an interactive wheel in the Guardians’ Room. Families can dress in replica workhouse uniforms for a photo.
The reopening also introduces new spaces, including the museum’s Discover Space, for exhibitions and creative activities.
Alexa Vernon, director of Ripon Museums Trust, said the project “is about preserving important heritage, creating opportunities for communities and young people to engage with history, and inspiring visitors to reflect on how we can build a fairer future.
“We want people to leave feeling not only informed, but also more compassionate, thoughtful and connected to the stories of those who came before us.”
The Workhouse Museum is one of three museums run by Ripon Museums Trust, alongside the Prison & Police Museum and the Courthouse Museum, all within walking distance of each other.
