Castle Museum, York

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To our suprise we found the York Castle Museum to be the most impressive attraction we visited in York. The displays are generally all quite interesting but the Victorian Street is bigger, better and more detailed than it looks on the publicity or we had expected - it really is quite something!

The York Castle Prison section which I think is newish is quite inovative and fairly creepy whilst being very educational (mind your head on the low doorways!).

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This is one of my favourite museums in England - OK some of it is not that interesting - the toys and some of the costume galleries but it is worth visiting for the recreated street scenes. Here you can walk down an authentically recreated Victorian street and discover the sights, sounds and smells of York over 100 years ago. Meet a friendly policeman, talk to the people who work in the shops, play ganes with the toy maker and so on. In the poor quarter you can even see rats hiding in the darkness!

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IMHO, the "Castle Museum" is misnamed. It's not a museum ABOUT a castle, nor is it a museum IN a castle. It just happens to be located NEXT TO a castle, but that's not the same thing.

Okay, now that's I've gotten that off my chest, I can say that I enjoyed visiting the so-called Castle Museum and I would recommend it to other people. What it is: an interesting assortment of rooms and displays which highlight the evolution of the city of York from the middle ages to the present, with a strong focus upon the life of ordinary people. This museum was a pioneer in the development of local social history; there are fascinating glimpses at typical houses and farmsteads over the centuries. The Victorian Street is another interesting feature. Finally, one wing of the museum is given over to a description of crime and punishment in York. Easy to spend a full afternoon here.

I'm sure you've haerd this already, but it's the largest medieval gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, and both cathedral and mynster.

Every wall, ceiling design, window, and curved stone tells you a story.

Don't miss the Great East Window which contains the world's largest area of medieval stained glass in a single window.

Although it is called Castle Museum, this place has nothing to do with castles ,princes, queens etc. it shows how everyday things in the daily life of normal, everyday people have changed over the years. From dresses to toys, cooking , cleaning in the household to the risks of childbirth, just about everything is covered. I especially liked the Victorian streets with the lifesized shops.
Until July 31,2005 there is display of the postcard collection:We are the people.
You need a few hours for the museum, it's too good to just run through.

My parents first took me to the Castle Museum when I was about 7 or 8 years old and it was one of those pleasurable experiences you never forget.
It was about 25 years later when I made my next visit and I enjoyed it just as much and I’ve been back a couple of times since.

The most memorable thing about this museum is its cobbled streets. It has a reconstruction of a small shopping centre with a selection of old shops for you to look around. They always remind me of a picture you find on a box of Chocolates. Any moment I expected a character from a Charles Dickens novel to walk down the street.

The second thing I remember was from a later visit. There are a lot of domestic appliances on show dating back from their first introduction to more modern versions such as televisions and radios. I smiled when I saw a gas heated clothes drier which had laths across the top to lay your wet clothes over. My mother had one of these and I remember her putting the turkey in it at Christmas to keep it warm while the rest of the dinner was cooking!

Sorry I haven’t got any photos of the inside but I haven’t been in since I started writing these pages, I did however take a snap outside when I visited last time.

Castle Museum is well worth a visit as well, it houses an excellent collection of military uniforms and weapons and the main feature is a fully restored Victorian street. What used to be the dungeons have been transformed into small shops, which show you what the old trades used to be like and the tools they used.

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The Castle Museum is situated along with the Crown courts, the building used to be the Old Female Prison and opened as The Castle Museum in 1938 in the area where the main body of the castle was, the only remaining part of the castle is the Keep (Cliffords Tower) which still stands on it's man made Motte.

The collection was started by a Local Doctor and the museums collection has grown rapidly since and soon outgrew the female prison and spread into what was once the old Debtors prison.
The museum has a recreated Victorian street called Kirkgate where you can experience the sights, sounds and the people of York from over a 100 years ago. You can go inside the shops and meet the people who work there. There is also Half Moon court, built in the shape of the old prison yard where you can see Edwardion Yory as it would have been in the first years of the 20th century.
The rest of the museum houses authentic household room scenes as well as toys and clothes from the past,
There are items in galleries from the Civil War and Second World War and you can also visit the Cell in what was the old County Gaol (later becoming the Debtors prison) where the now legendery highwayman Dick Turpin spent his final night before being taken to the Gallows.

Adult £8.00
Concession £7.00

Tickets last for a full year!

There is a cheaper option for one time entry only.

Child Free with a paying adult (includes concessionary adults)

Residents with a York Card - Free

Wheelchair user plus one carer - Free


Closed 25th and 26th December and 1st January