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08
Jul
Ripon Workhouse Museum to open historic cellar to the public
Ripon Workhouse Museum looks set to expand – downwards – if a listed building application to open up the cellar is granted.
Access to the understorey of the grade II listed building has for many years been filled in, but during work to refurbish the main block and kitchen block, a steel beam was found to have deteriorated, and the infill had to be removed to enable its repair.
Now, Ripon Museums Trust has applied to keep the cellar open and conserve it, so that it can be incorporated into the museum.
According to the heritage statement submitted by Leeds-based architect Page\Park, the cellar is a:
...space of considerable heritage significance, retaining much of its original form, layout, and fabric, including fixed stone furniture associated with the preparation and salting of food during the building's use as a workhouse.
Clockwise from top left: a brick arch; a lightwell; a stone slab table, probably used for food preparation; and the original stone staircase.
The work includes structural and masonry repairs, and “sympathetic building services”, such as electric lighting.
In a covering letter submitted with the application, Page\Park states:
The proposals have been carefully developed to minimise intervention to historic fabric while reinstating the historic relationship between the cellar and the floors above.
The works are considered to provide a heritage benefit through the removal of a later alteration, the repair and conservation of significant historic fabric, and the reintroduction of an appropriate and sustainable use for a previously inaccessible part of the building.
Ripon Workhouse Museum is one of three museums in the city, run by Ripon Museums Trust. The other two are the Prison and Police Museum and the Courthouse Museum.
The Workhouse Museum has been undergoing major redevelopment, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and is due to reopen to the public on Tuesday, July 21.
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