Ripon Workhouse Museum

The Workhouse Museum in Ripon occupies the former Ripon Union Workhouse on Allhallowgate, a site used for poor relief since 1776. The present main block was completed in January 1855, with a separate block for vagrants added in 1877. Following the introduction of the welfare state, the building was renamed Sharow View in the 1940s and continued to serve social-care functions before Ripon Museums Trust began converting it into a museum from 1996. The main block and its gatehouse are both Grade II listed buildings, recognising the survival of a substantial and largely complete Victorian workhouse complex.