York Castle Museum

Suzie - This museum is the history of Yorkshire and was the brainchild of Dr John Kirk of Pickering, Yorkshire who wanted to preserve the vanishing ways of life, especially rural life. Dr Kirk was a collector and he gifted his collection to the City of York in 1935 when it outgrew it's previous home.

Dr Kirk's collection even allowed for a recreation of a full scale Victorian Street of York inside the museum and it was named Kirkgate. This street has the sights, sounds and smells included and it's wonderful! Visitors can even go into the stores and try on hats, obtain goods and buy sweets!

A new exhibition opened today celebrating the rich history of the York Gypsy and Traveller Community to raise awareness and understanding of Gypsies and Travellers family groups through photography, visual art and the spoken word. It was fantastic and very informative.

There was also a permanent exhibition on how the First World War affected Yorkshire and her people. There was even a recreation of a trench from the war.

The museum opened on 23 April 1938 and as mentioned before, is on the site of York Castle commissioned by William the Conqueror. A prison was also built on the site in the 18th century and it was here that Dick Turpin was housed before he was hanged in 1739.

Nik - This place was awesome and so very detailed. Of particular interest was the recreation of a York Street, complete with shop fronts, horse and carriage and ambient sounds.Read more