Workhouse to open cellar for first time since 1930

A museum has submitted an application to open up a cellar that has been inaccessible since 1930.

Ripon Workhouse Museum's operators, the Ripon Museum Trust, have applied to North Yorkshire Council for permission to reinstate the staircase to "facilitate essential conservation works within the space" before it can open to the public.

Alterations to the Grade II listed building would involve removing infill blocking off the cellar, allowing the repair of a deteriorating steel beam identified during previous works.

Restoring the underground room would "further enhance the authenticity of one of the best preserved Victorian workhouses in the country", the planning document stated.

The cellar has retained many original features, including stone furniture associated with the preparation and salting of food during the building's use as a workhouse.

Work would also include "essential conservation works", including masonry repairs and the introduction of "sympathetic building services to support the future use of the space as part of the museum", the application stated.

Ripon Museum Trust's portfolio includes the Workhouse Museum, Prison and Police Museum and Courthouse Museum.

The workhouse was built in 1854 and was in institutional use until the founding of the NHS in the 1940s, after which it became a care home for the elderly.

Last year, a £2.5m grant from the National Lottery allowed the building's "leaky roof" to be fixed, alongside other essential repairs.

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