The Workhouse Museum - Ripon

Almost all the buildings of the 1854 Ripon Union Workhouse have survived. In 1996 the Trust opened the Workhouse Museum in the cell block which had originally housed male vagrants. Care has been taken to recreate its grim atmosphere.

Imagine being deloused in the ablution room, sitting down to a bowl of gruel in the dining room and being locked into one of the 14 cells at nightfall. At daybreak there would be work to do, in exchange for a pint of porridge - chopping wood or breaking stones in the work yard.

An insight into the harsh conditions of life experienced by the poor in Victorian times, both in and out of the Workhouse, can be gained from a visit to the 'Hard Times Gallery"

www.riponmuseums.co.uk