Yorkshire Museum facts for kids

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Yorkshire Museum

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Established	1830; 195 years ago (1830)
Location	Museum Gardens, York, England
Type	Archaeological and Natural Sciences Museum
Visitors	163,805 (2018–19)

The Yorkshire Museum is a super cool museum in York, England. It first opened its doors in 1830. This makes it one of the oldest museums in England!

The museum has five main collections. These cover amazing topics like animals, plants, rocks, ancient history, coins, and even space. It's a great place to explore and learn about the world around us.

History of the Museum

The museum building in the early 1900s

The Yorkshire Museum was started by a group called the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. They wanted a place to keep their growing collections of rocks and ancient objects. At first, the museum was in a smaller building in York. But it quickly became too small for all their treasures.

In 1828, the society received a special gift from the King. They got 10 acres of land that used to belong to St Mary's Abbey. This was the perfect spot for a brand new museum.

The main museum building is called the Yorkshire Museum. It was designed by a famous architect named William Wilkins. He used a Greek Revival style, which looks like ancient Greek temples. It's a very important historic building. The museum officially opened in February 1830.

A rule for getting the land was that the area around the museum had to be a botanic gardens. So, beautiful gardens were created in the 1830s. Today, these are known as the York Museum Gardens.

In 1831, a big science meeting was held at the museum. It was the first meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

In 1912, the Tempest Anderson Hall was added. This building is an early example of using strong, reinforced concrete. It's used for talks and conferences.

During World War II, in 1942, a bomb nearly hit the museum. The explosion still damaged the roof and windows. The museum's caretaker, Reginald Wagstaffe, helped clean up. He said they threw away "seven large bath-tubs" of broken glass and rock samples!

Over time, the museum faced money problems. In 1961, the Yorkshire Philosophical Society gave the museum and gardens to the people of York. The local council then took care of it. In 2002, the York Museums Trust was created. This group now manages the Yorkshire Museum and other important sites in York.

The museum closed for a big makeover in 2009. It reopened on August 1, 2010, looking fresh and new. The museum staff did most of the work themselves!

The museum sometimes closes for a short time to save money or do repairs. For example, it closed for the winter in 2021. But it always reopens with exciting new things to see!

Amazing Collections

The Yorkshire Museum has four main collections. These are so important that they are called "designated collections." This means they are famous around the country and even the world! The museum started collecting things in the 1820s. They began with animal bones and fossils from a place called Kirkdale Cave.

Biology Collection

The biology collection has over 200,000 items! These include both animals and plants. Most of the collection is made up of insects.

You can see two specimens of the extinct great auk. There's also an almost complete skeleton of an extinct moa, which was a huge bird. The museum also has bones from animals that lived in Yorkshire about 125,000 years ago. These include elephants, cave bears, and hyena from Kirkdale Cave.

Geology Collection

The geology collection has more than 112,500 rocks, minerals, and fossils. Most of these are fossils, with over 100,000 samples! These include important fossils from different time periods, like the Carboniferous, Mesozoic (dinosaur age), and Tertiary periods.

Astronomy Collection

York Observatory

The astronomy collection is mostly kept in the observatory building in the museum gardens. Some telescopes are also at the York Castle Museum. Volunteers help run the observatory.

Archaeology Collection

The final known inscription of the Roman Ninth Legion.

The archaeology collection is huge, with almost a million objects! These items date from about 500,000 BC all the way to the 1900s. Many of the Roman, Viking, and Medieval objects are from the York area.

After the museum's big update in 2010, the first gallery showed off Roman items. It focused on objects from Eboracum, which was Roman York. You can see a large statue of the Roman god Mars. There's also an interactive display about the lives of Romans found in York.

A very special item on display is the last known record of the famous Roman Ninth Legion. This stone carving shows the legion rebuilding a wall in Roman York. Experts say it's one of the best Roman carvings ever found in Britain!

The museum also has some prehistoric tools made by a famous forger from Yorkshire, Flint Jack.

Special Items to See

The museum has many unique and important objects. Here are just a few:

Geological Wonders

The Middlesbrough meteorite, a space rock that fell to Earth.
Alan the Dinosaur, the oldest long-necked dinosaur fossil from the Yorkshire coast.

Prehistoric Treasures

The Star Carr Pendant, the oldest piece of art from the Middle Stone Age in Britain.
Parts of the Star Carr Frontlets, which are deer headdresses from the Middle Stone Age.
The York Hoard, a collection of Stone Age flint tools.
The Towton torcs, two gold necklaces from the Iron Age.

Roman Finds

The Wold Newton hoard, a collection of 1,857 Roman coins.
The Head of Constantine the Great, a piece of a marble statue of a Roman Emperor.
The Statue of Mars, a Roman sculpture of the god of war.
The Heslington Hoard, another collection of 2,800 Roman coins.
The Ivory Bangle Lady, the skeleton of a Roman woman from the 300s AD.
The Ryedale Hoard, Roman copper artifacts.

Early Medieval Gems

The Coppergate Helmet, an amazing helmet from the 700s found in York.
The Ormside Bowl, a beautiful silver bowl.
The Bedale Hoard, a collection of Viking silver jewelry and an Anglo-Saxon sword.
The Escrick ring, a gold and sapphire ring from the Anglo-Saxon period.
The Gilling sword, a late Anglo-Saxon sword found in a river.
The Vale of York hoard, a Viking silver vessel filled with coins and jewelry.

Medieval Marvels

The Middleham Jewel, a gold pendant with a sapphire and religious carvings.
The Cawood sword.
The St Mary's Abbey Figurine, a small, beautiful figure of Christ found in 1826.

Objects from the archaeology collection
Bun of Roman hair from the late third to early fourth century
Ormside bowl
The front of the Middleham Jewel showing the Crucifixion of Jesus
The 8th-century Coppergate Helmet
The 9th-century Gilling sword with silver decorated handle
Carved Medieval Boss from St Mary's Abbey
Marble bust of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great
The Bedale Hoard of Viking silver and gold
The St Mary's Abbey Figurine

Fun Events and Exhibitions

The museum hosts many exciting events and special exhibitions throughout the year.

Finds Days

On "Finds Days," you can bring objects you've found to the museum. Experts will help you identify them! This helps build a better picture of the past.

Roman Festival

Every year, the museum and gardens host the Eboracum Roman Festival. It's a fun event that celebrates Roman history in York.

Curator Battle

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the museum was closed, they started a fun online competition. It was called the 'Curator battle'. Museums from all over the world competed to show off their "creepiest" or "sassiest" objects. This online game helped millions of people see the museum's collections!

Past Exhibitions

Yorkshire Museum

The museum has shown many amazing exhibitions over the years.

In 1976, "The Viking Kingdom of York" exhibition was very popular. More than 78,000 people came to see it!
In 1982, another Viking exhibition called "The Vikings in England" opened. Even the Prince of Wales came to open it! Over 235,000 visitors saw it. This exhibition won a special award for being so good.
In 1984, "A New Look at the Dinosaurs" was a huge hit. Over 320,000 people saw it! A science magazine called it "the best thing on dinosaurs you are ever likely to see."
In 2006, an exhibition about "Constantine the Great: York's Roman Emperor" was very important. It attracted over 58,000 visitors.
In 2013, a special facial reconstruction of King Richard III was shown at the museum.
In 2018, the "Yorkshire's Jurassic World" exhibition opened. It featured marine and land fossils from Yorkshire. The famous nature expert David Attenborough opened this exhibition!
In 2023, a new exhibition called "The Ryedale Hoard: A Roman Mystery" opened. It focused on a collection of Roman copper artifacts.
Also in 2023, a family-friendly exhibition called "Mary Anning Rocks!" opened. It featured a model of a statue of the famous fossil hunter, Mary Anning.
In 2024, a new exhibition about the ancient site of Star Carr opened. It showed objects that had never been seen by the public before, like the world's oldest hunting bow!

Theft and Return

In 2012, two Stone Age hand axes were stolen from a display. But don't worry, they were returned to the museum a few months later! A private dealer who bought them helped the police get them back.

The Yorkshire Museum Ghost

Some strange things were reported at the museum in the winter of 1953 and early 1954. The caretaker, George Jonas, said he saw the ghost of a man in old-fashioned clothes. He also said a book kept falling off its shelf by itself!

Many people witnessed the book falling, especially on Sunday evenings. On January 27, 1954, eight people went into the library to see it happen. They even signed statements saying what they saw! They felt a coldness around their legs, saw the book move off the shelf, and saw its pages still moving when it was on the floor. Spooky!