The Workhouse Museum and Gardens, Ripon

We left the Cathedral (see my last post) and  followed the signs to The Workhouse Museum.

It was a well kept building and the volunteers, nearly all of them dressed in costume were very welcoming. The first part of the building that you enter is the gatehouse.  People arriving here would be admitted and although their circumstances were pretty dire they would at least be washed, clothed and fed and have a roof over their heads. 

This part of the gatehouse building houses the Guardians' meeting room - above.  Some workhouses were better than others, the monies they received were administered by the guardians and some were less scrupulous than others.

The room where people waited to be accepted for admittance to the Workhouse.

Above the day to day rules and regulations of the workhouse.

The bathing area

Clean clothes and regulation wear.

Receiving ward for inmates.

Vagrant's Cells

Vagrants were offered one nights stay and an evening meal in return for a completed task of work which would be designated by the Master or Matron.  Possibly working in the garden or cleaning out the pigs.

Across the yard from the admittance area and overnight cells was the workhouse proper.  The garden in front has recently been restored.

At the front of the building are the living quarters of the Master and Matron who were usually a married couple.

The kitchen where food was prepared for the inmates.  Food like soup, meat pie, suet and rice puddings, porridge and gruel were all on the list provided for the Poor Law Board in 1866.

The volunteer school master waiting for his pupils.  Children were taught the basics in the workhouse.

The doctor waiting for his patients.

The workhouse was pretty self sufficient growing their own fruit and vegetables in the garden and keeping a pig and chickens.

The present gardens were a joy to walk around, they were well tended and looked very productive.

This museum has some very dedicated volunteers both in the building and the garden.

It seems to have been a bumper year for poppies, where ever we travelled we saw lots of them  along the road side verges, in fields and gardens.

Whilst we were in the kitchen we saw this recipe chalked on the wall.  It was a recipe for Wilfra Cakes which were traditionally made in Ripon each year on August 1st which is the saints day of St Wilfred who founded the cathedral we looked at in my last post.  It was made as a treat for the inmates on that day.

" August 1894 - for some years it had been the custom to augment the normal workhouse dinner on St Wilfred's Sunday by the addition of broad beans in parsley sauce; this year the Master and Matron thought something should be done at tea time and one and a half dozen large fruit tarts were served and greatly appreciated."

I saw this book in the Museum shop and bought it as it looked an interesting read (which it was) and also I was hoping it would have some mention of the Wilfra cake inside,  unfortunately it didn't but I looked it up as soon as we got home.

 I then decided I would try the recipe we'd photographed in the museum.  It's just sweet, shortcrust pastry both top and bottom and a mixture of apple, Wenslydale cheese and sugar as a filling.

It was very tasty.

A few days later I bought a copy of Landscape magazine for August.  I usually only treat myself to two or three copies a year as it is quite expensive.  

Imagine my surprise when I found a recipe for Wilfra Apple cake inside as part of an article on seasonal, local and traditional food. 

Link to more on Wilfra Cakes

Link to more on the Ripon Workhouse Museum