York Castle Museum consists of several individual structures located to the immediate south of Clifford's Tower, within the former castle bailey. It is surrounded by part of the York Castle wall on its southern side, and beyond that the River Foss. In 1969 a gallery was built to link the museum in the Female Prison with the Debtors' Prison.
Debtor's Prison
The Debtor's Prison was originally built as the County Gaol in 1701–1705. It is a three-storey building with a central range and clock turret flanked by projecting wings built with Tadcaster limestone and brick walls, and a lead and slate roof. The prison's most notable inhabitant was Dick Turpin, who was incarcerated in the 1730s before his trial at the York assizes. His cell forms part of the exhibition in the current museum.
Female Prison
The Female Prison and yard were built in 1780–83 at a cost of £1,540 and to a design by Thomas Wilkinson and John Prince. The frontage of this building matches that of the Court building on the opposite side of the bailey. The prison was altered and wings added in 1802 with a podium and steps added in 1820–50. The front of the building is constructed from sandstone ashlar with the inside of the portico rendered. The prison was bought by York Corporation in 1934 opening as the Castle Museum in 1938.
Raindale Mill is a reconstructed early-19th-century flour mill which was moved from the North York Moors to the grounds of York Castle Museum in the 1960s.
Museum
In 1931 John Lamplugh Kirk, a physician and amateur archaeologist based in Pickering, North Yorkshire advertised for expressions of interest from sites who wished to house his large collection of objects relating to the study of Social History. Although he received responses from sites in Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Batley, Doncaster and York, it was the latter which was ultimately successful. The Female Prison was bought by the York Corporation in 1934 and modified to house the Kirk Collection of "bygones", opening as the Castle Museum on 23 April 1938. A major attraction of this new museum was the recreation of a late Victorian street, named 'Kirkgate'; this was the first of its kind in Britain.
Curators
Galleries
Current exhibitions
Kirkgate – a recreated Victorian Street, named after the museum's founder, was redeveloped and expanded in 2012.
Recreated period rooms including a Victorian parlour and a 17th-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.
