There's a darker side to the idyllic cathedral city
All are centrally located, and there’s a theme which connects them. There’s the Workhouse Museum, not far from the city square, which looks at the life endured by those who ended up there in this rather grim segment of social history, the Prison and Police Museum, and The Courthouse.In essence, visitors can see the sweep of the social and justice system across the centuries, and all within a short walking distance of the other.
Helen Thornton, the Director of Museums in Ripon, describes the development of the service as a “long, and slow osmosis.”“It’s a process which is still on-going. But that is the nature of anyone involved in this field, where-ever they may be in Yorkshire or indeed, the world,” she says. “Museums are always evolving, adding to their treasures, and working out the best way to display them and to interpret them. Museums can never ever be allowed to stand still.
“One of our plans is to install a lift, so that the first floor becomes completely accessible to all, and which will enable us to tell even more of the workhouse story, and to interpret it better, and more coherently – at the moment, it only gives half the picture”.Being in the workhouse was a matter of scorn – and derision. The kindest term for someone who slept and worked under its roof, was “an inmate”. Then there were “paupers” and “rogues”. And “vagrants”.
But what the Ripon Museums – and other attractions in the vicinity have done – is to recognise that they need to all pull together, so each month, there’s a meeting of a good-sized group, and they discuss trends, plans and campaigns. They include delegates of the museums, the Cathedral, Newby Hall, Lightwater Valley, Fountains Abbey and Visit Ripon among many others, and they share thoughts and data.
“We even had full ‘mock trials’ at the courthouse. The youngsters just love the role play. At first, a lot of silliness goes on, and then when they too can put on a wig, or a hat, or a cotton shift, whatever it may be, they are drawn into becoming part of living history.”
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