York Castle Museum
York Castle Museum is one of the most enjoyable and accessible social history museums in Britain, occupying a set of historic buildings within the York Castle complex and bringing the history of everyday life in Britain from the seventeenth century to the present day to life through remarkably vivid and carefully curated displays. The museum was founded in 1938 using the remarkable collection of historical objects accumulated over many years by Dr John Lamplugh Kirk, a Pickering physician who devoted his life and income to preserving the material culture of ordinary Yorkshire life at a time when industrialisation was sweeping away the pre-modern world with extraordinary speed. The museum's most celebrated feature is Kirkgate, a recreated Victorian street of complete shopfronts, paving and gaslit atmosphere that allows visitors to walk through a fully three-dimensional reconstruction of Victorian commercial life. The individual shops, each fitted out with period stock, signage and equipment representing different trades from a Victorian apothecary to a confectioner, a saddler, a toy shop and a pawnbroker, create an immersive experience that communicates the texture of Victorian urban life more effectively than conventional display cases could achieve. The adjoining Half Moon Court recreates an Edwardian street for the early twentieth century period. The museum's collection ranges across virtually every aspect of domestic and social history. The Fashion Gallery traces clothing and personal style from the Georgian period to the present day through an impressive collection of dress and accessories. The Toy Story gallery explores the history of childhood through toys and games, and temporary exhibitions tackle specific periods and themes in depth. The prison cells within the Debtors' Prison building, part of the castle complex, have been preserved and interpreted to tell the history of crime, punishment and imprisonment through the cases of specific individuals held here. The museum also houses the cell where the notorious highwayman Dick Turpin was held before his execution at York in 1739, one of the most visited individual spaces in the building for visitors who know the romantic mythology attached to this historical criminal figure.