Upcoming Events

Stolen Things installed, excerpt, 2019 from Paul Rooney on Vimeo. Stolen Things focuses on the 'voice' of 14 year's old Ann Lupton, a former defendant accused of shoplifting in 1853. The artwork's spoken and sung words and sounds are created using a variety of courses including the childhood memories of Ripon Museum volunteers, the chords of the Taylor Swift song…

Come along and see the Secrets in the Cellar exhibition at the Prison & Police Museum, 4th March - 12th May.   Deep underground below Ripon Town Hall, Ripon Museum staff and volunteers work to catalogue, pack and research the museum's objects and stories. Secrets in the Cellar reveals what happens behind the scenes at the museum…

Victorian Easter at the Workhouse. All three museums are open 10am - 4pm.  Easter activities take place: 11am - 3.30pm Mon 15th April - Fri 19th April  Mon 22nd April - Fri 26th April We’re celebrating Easter Victorian style at the Workhouse. Make marbled eggs and weave a willow nest to put them in and find…

Ripon Museum Trust is pleased to introduce Son of Town Hall  -  "It’s part balladry, part performance art, and totally cool. … Think Simon & Garfunkel lost at sea, and you get a sense of the mythic world at play here." - Philadelphia Inquirer “Sensational!” - John Platt, WFUV “Nothing short…

Do you have criminals, victims of crime, workhouse inmates, or vagrants in your family tree?  As part of Local History Month, join Ripon Museums, the North Yorkshire County Record Office and Our Criminal Past to discover how to trace workhouse or criminal stories in your family history. With experts Peter Higginbotham – Workhouse records; Heather Shore (Leeds…

Was that a movement in the shadows? Did you hear chains clanking in the corridor? Don't let the flickering light play tricks on you as you experience Ripon Liberty Prison by candlelight.  Part of the Museums at Night, this event is aimed at adults.  Please note that the tour will be conducted by candlelight and floors…

Vagrants, tramps, rogues and vagabonds, beggars: the 'houseless poor' have regularly been the target of government legislation and police attention.  Ripon Museum's summer exhibition explores vagrancy during the Victorian period within the workhouse, prison and court systems, and examines the realities of homelessness today. Entry to this exhibition is included within usual admission prices.

Help us to make a community mosaic for the Workhouse Garden.  We're creating a space for reflection and contemplation in the garden and we need your help to create a mosaic on the theme of 'home'.  Drop-in and add to our mosaic.

The world’s first cycling theatre company, The HandleBards, pedal from venue to venue with all the set, props and costume necessary to perform environmentally sustainable Shakespeare across the globe. Join their all-female troupe at the Workhouse Museum for a bicycle-powered production of Shakespeare’s ’The Tempest’ like no other. In usual HandleBards style, expect riotous…

JOHN KIRKPATRICK The Solo Christmas Show “CAROLLING & CRUMPETS” Come along to the hugely popular John Kirkpatrick's concert which presents a revised programme of songs and tunes that reflects his new CD release of seasonal material, Carolling & Crumpets. Magical songs of wassailing, wren-hunting, stirring the fire, and incessant feasting, all come dressed up in a glittering…