York Castle Museum, England--Part I

The York Castle Museum is located, unsurprisingly, on the grounds that formerly were the castle. Clifford's Tower (the center of the castle) is across the parking lot. The buildings that make up the museum were courts and prisons.

Formerly the Debtors' Prison

Formerly the Assize Court

Formerly the Women's Prison

Inside are exhibits on Yorkshire life through the centuries, including a fantastic recreation of a Victorian Street. Before we got to the street, we saw various historic rooms on display, including an 1850s Moorland cottage and a 17th century dining hall.

Moorland cottage circa 1850

Dining Hall circa 1650

The toy department display was popular with J and L especially since it was interactive. It had some historic sweep, but mostly was limited to the last century. I guess toys just don't last!

Non-interactive bicycle

The old ball-in-the-cup game

Two winners!

Portable merry-go-round

A Christmas Day living room circa 1950

Old game consoles

J in the royal reading chair

Another room had displays about life and death in Yorkshire, from birth through childhood and marriage to death. The children weren't very interested so we moved through quickly.

Hearse and Horse

The Victorian Street was an entirely different matter for J and L. They ran around and discovered as much as they could, especially short cuts that would loop back around to the beginning. The toy shop wasn't open and therefore not interesting, but the school room was a favorite.

L ready for Victorian rain

Shops

A whiskey barrel (fake, sadly)

L in the schoolroom

Teacher's area

Other cool things were the jail cell and the padded cell (which was not photogenic), along with a clock maker's shop. We had to buy a sweet from the candy shop but L ate it so quickly I couldn't get a snap of her snapping it up.

Prison room

Clock maker shop

In the next post, we'll see the prison part of the museum as well as the Sixties exhibit (groovy!) and the mill.