Ripon Museums

Uncover hidden histories at Ripon’s award-winning museums and enjoy a great day out.

Our three historic sites in the centre of Ripon tell the unique story of the Liberty Courthouse, Prison and Victorian Workhouse. Ripon Museums are the home of law and order in Yorkshire. Visitors can trace the historic journey through poverty to crime and punishment, understand the impact this history has on our lives today and explore the ways we might seek to create a fairer society.

Ripon Workhouse & Garden
Explore England’s most complete workhouse and explore the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable members of Victorian society. Discover the Museums’ history and uncover stories of separation, poverty, and social inequality as you see how people lived, worked, and slept in the workhouse. Enjoy costumed guides, audio tours, family trails, dress-up activities, and drop-in activities. The museums offer a glimpse of life before the welfare system and provide a thought-provoking and memorable day out.

Surviving workhouse gardens are rare, making our four gardens even more special. The gardens have been carefully and sympathetically restored by our team of volunteers who use Victorian horticultural practices coupled with a 21st century attitude towards the environment and a sustainable future. We invite visitors to roam all three gardens and enjoy the variety of heritage vegetables, fruit, plants and herbs which give a flavour of what life was in a Victorian Workhouse.

Prison & Police Museum
Discover what life was like for Victorian prisoners. Tread the stone stairs, worn by the feet of inmates and have a go at the tough punishments they were given as they served their time in the cells. Sit in a prison cell, feel the door slam shut, and imagine the harsh conditions of Victorian prison life before becoming a character of the past trying on prison and police uniforms. Contemplate the horror of being placed in the pillory, restrained in a chair, or hung in chains. Visitors can experience hard labour turning the crank, performing shot drill, and climbing the work treadmill. Then when head downstairs and explore the evolution of policing throughout history, take your own fingerprints, and riding our police motorbike.

The Courthouse Museum
Step into the role of the Magistrate at the bench and pronounce the verdict to the accused standing nervously in the docks, awaiting their fate. The remarkable Courthouse Museum provides a rare chance to delve into our justice system, virtually unchanged since its construction in 1830.

When can you visit?
We are open 7 days a week. Our Workhouse & Gardens and Prison & Police Museums are open from 10am to 4pm. The Courthouse Museum is open from 1pm to 4pm.

Find us:
The three museums are within walking distance of each other in the Ripon city centre.
Workhouse Museum, HG4 1LE 
Courthouse Museum, HG4 1QS 
Prison & Police; Police Museum, HG4 1LX 

Tickets – Our tickets are valid for 12 months with unlimited return visits. Children 5 and under are free.

Three museum annual pass
Visit all three museums with our annual pass which gives entry to the Workhouse Museum & Garden; Prison & Police Museum and the Courthouse Museum:

Adult: £19.00

Child: £10.50

Concession: £18.00

Family & Friends: £38.00

Small family: £28.00

 

Individual museum annual pass

Courthouse Museum
Adult (16+) £4.50
Concession £4
Child (6-15yrs) £3.75

Workhouse Museum & Garden
Adult (16+) £11
Concession £10.50
Child (6-15yrs) £7.50

Prison & Police Museum
Adult (16+) £8.50
Concession £8
Child (6-15yrs) £6