York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum is located in York, North Yorkshire, England and named after the former York Castle that stood on the original site. It’s one of Britain’s leading museums, famous for its military, social and costume collections.
York Castle Museum is best known for Kirkgate, a recreated Victorian street, which gives the visitors of the museum a real sense of entering another age. The gas street lighting, the cobbles, the mounting block and the rows of shop windows are all original to the period of Victorian-era Britain.
York Castle Museum was founded by Dr John L.Kirk in 1938. Dr John Kirk was a North Yorkshire country doctor who collected everyday objects with an idea to preserve them for future generations. This collection of his became the core of York Castle Museum’s exceptional collection.
The museum is housed in two prison buildings which were built on the site of the castle in the 18th century, the Debtors Prison and the Female Prison. Men and women were kept separate, as well as those awaiting trial and those who had been convicted. It was all designed to be modern and functional. 
The finished building is an example of English baroque architecture. On the lowest floor of the building were the cells for the felons, on the upper floors were situated the debtors, the left hand wing was for the governor of the goal, and the right hand wing for the chapel. Outside of the building there are exercise yards, these too are separated for each type of inmate.
York Castle ceased to be a civil prison by 1900, whereupon it was handed over to the military authorities who used it as a detention barracks. In 1929 the military left the building and it was sold to York Corporation. In 1938 York Castle Museum opened in the Female Prison, where the Kirk Collection was situated. In 1952 the Debtors’ Prison became part of the Museum.
York Castle Museum Collections
There are three major displays at the York Castle Museum: the Social History, the Military History and the Costume History collections.
The Social History collection is an amazing gathering of objects, with items from every day life from the past four hundred years. There is also a collection of early domestic equipment, giant dolls houses and childrens toys.
The Military History collection is composed of armour from medieval to civil war to modern day. The York Castle museum has one of the biggest collections of English Civil War armour in the country.
The Costume History collection includes men’s, women’s and children’s clothes, as well as accessories, household furnishings and needlework, covering a span of time over two hundred years. It’s one of the greatest collections in the country.
In 2008 a new gallery was opened, The Sixties, which represents the music, fashion and everyday life of this exciting decade.
York Castle Museum will be of interest to people of all ages, giving them an opportunity to experience the atmosphere of Victorian Britain, as well as the chance to see a large number of extraordinary and mundane objects and their place in history.
The museum is open to visitors every day from 10:30am to 5:30pm.
Address:
The Eye of York
York
North Yorkshire
YO1 9RY
01904 687687
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