Secrets in the Cellar at Ripon Police Museum

This exhibition focuses on how the curatorial team care for the many collections which are kept in storage.

Almost all of the objects on display in Secrets in the Cellar have been in storage in the cellar of Ripon City Hall for several years and are not usually on display in the museums.

The exhibition explores some of the behind the scenes work done to care for and manage collections to best practices standards.

Leah Mellors, the Curator at Ripon Museums said: “We’ve been re-focusing our attention on our amazing collection which is rarely seen by the public.

“The museum’s Collections Team which consists of volunteers and staff work on our collections on a weekly basis and enjoy spending time with these rarely seen objects.”

Relating to the prison and police service in Yorkshire and the Humber, the objects in Secrets in the Cellar range from crime scheme investigation kits and truncheons, to mugshots and bicycles.

Secrets in the Cellar runs from March 4-May 12. Stolen Things runs until May 31 in the Courthouse Museum.

At the Prison and Police Museum, visitors can sit in a prison cell, hear the door slam shut and imagine the harsh conditions of Victorian prison regimes.

And they can try on prison uniforms, imagine the horror of being set in the pillory, strapped in a restraint chair or hung in chains. Turn the crank, carry out shot drill or work the treadmill.