York Castle Museum

York Castle Museum stands on the site of the old York Castle, just south of Clifford’s Tower. The museum occupies two 18th-century prison buildings: the Debtors’ Prison built in 1701–05 and the Female Prison built in 1780–85. A later gallery links these two buildings across the former castle yard. Raindale Mill, a reconstructed 19th-century flour mill, was moved here in the 1960s. The museum was founded by John L. Kirk and opened in 1938 with a recreated Victorian street called Kirkgate. The museum holds objects of social history collected by Kirk and expanded by Violet Rodgers during the Second World War. Dick Turpin’s cell is part of the Debtors’ Prison display. Recent exhibitions include ‘Toy Stories’, ‘The Sixties’, and period rooms such as a Victorian parlour. A 2012 redevelopment of Kirkgate added back alleys and a slum dwelling to show a wider view of Victorian life. The Cells display opened in 2009 inside the old prison cells. Visitors walk along Kirkgate’s cobbled street lined with shops and houses from the 1870s. The Debtors’ Prison shows the cell once used by Dick Turpin before his trial. The Female Prison’s sandstone front and internal portico remain as built in the 18th century. Raindale Mill’s waterwheel turns beside the river Foss. Temporary exhibitions change regularly, and the museum’s changing displays reflect everyday life across several centuries.