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Yorkshire's historic Canals - Huddersfield Narrow Canal nr Marsden

Royal Pump Room Museum, Harrogate Historic Spa Town

Micklegate Bar, York's Great City Gates

Leeds Sweated Worker (homeworker) returning garments to a Leeds Clothing Factory, Leeds Industrial Museum, Armley Mills

Yorkshire Canals & Railways, Skew Bridge Gauxholme across the Rochdale Canal near Todmorden

Salts Mill, Saltaire. World Heritage Site

Grand Hotel, Scarborough. Yorkshire Victorian Architecture

Bolton Brow Chapel along the Rochdale Canal at Sowerby Bridge

Gibson Water Mill at Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge (NT)

Yorkshire History Industrial Maritime Museums National Coal Mining Museum Salts Mill

Yorkshire sat at the heart of the industrial revolution in England, and today the region's many industrial museums, historic canals, heritage steam railways and striking Victorian architecture are testament to Yorkshire's industrial history. In Yorkshire's inland cities and large towns - Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Wakefield, York and Huddersfield fascinating industrial museums explore the history of Yorkshire's textile, clothing, steel, coal and railway heritage. Discover the history of Yorkshire's canals at superb visitor centres such as the Standedge Tunnel & Visitor Centre along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal near Marsden.

Along Yorkshire's coast the focus is maritime history at centres such as Hull and Whitby. Hull boasts famous son, anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. Wilberforce's house in Hull is now a museum exploring the history of one of England's foremost abolitionists. In Whitby visit the Captain Cook Memorial Museum sited in the house where Cook was apprenticed. Also on the Yorkshire coast, Scarborough is Britain's first seaside resort - Bathing Machines were used here first in 1735 but by then Scarborough was already well known as famous spa town. Scarborough's stunning Victorian seafront architecture including the Spa Theatre complex on South Bay is a feast for the eyes. Rural folk and countryside museums are to be found in both the Dales and Moors. Head to Hutton le Hole in the North York Moors for the Ryedale Folk Museum and in the Dales to the Dales Countryside Museum at Hawes and the Nidderdale Museum at Pateley Bridge. On the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park more Yorkshire historic spa town centres are at Harrogate and Ilkley. As historic centre, revealing an eclectic mix of Viking, Roman, Medieval and Georgian history and architecture, York is understandably one of Yorkshire's historic hotspots. Some of the best of England's Roman and Viking archaeological finds are on show at the Yorkshire Museum in York alongside more on York's Viking history at the Jorvik Viking Centre, York's historic Micklegate Bar gates, city walls, gothic minster and churches and Georgian homes.

Yorkshire Industrial History & Yorkshire Canals

Yorkshire's industrial heritage is revealed in the region's many industrial museums and historic sites. The birth of the industrial revolution can be traced to Yorkshire - look to the county's many historic canals including the Leeds Liverpool Canal, the Rochdale Canal, the Aire & Calder Navigation, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Chesterfield Canal. Note too the many heritage steam railways in Yorkshire culminating in the National Railway Museum at York. Yorkshire's fascinating textiles and clothing industry heritage is explored in-depth at the Bradford and Leeds Industrial Museums set within historic mammoth mill sites. The National Coal Mining Museum for England is aptly placed in Yorkshire near Wakefield on the site of Caphouse Colliery and Hope Pit. These two historic pits sit on the western edge of the Yorkshire coalfield and evidence suggests they were first mined in 1789. An underground tour is here down Caphouse.

West Yorkshire has some of the most fascinating labour and industrial history in the UK - a hotbed of non-conformity which stretches back before the Chartist Movement of the first half of the 19th century. Dig deeper into West Yorkshire's rich labour history and you'll discover Luddite uprisings around Huddersfield at Marsden, resistance to the poor law and Chartist uprising in and around Halifax and Huddersfield, religious evangelism, symbolic paternalist business strategies at Salts Mill Saltaire, the rise of the labour movement and the Labour Party, women's suffrage and organised working women.

Many of Yorkshire's mills survive today as cutting edge arts centre. The two most well known are World Heritage Site Salts Mill at Saltaire near Bradford, once home to the mighty worsted woollen mill owned by Sir Titus Salt. Salt built Saltaire village around the mill to keep his workers firmly under his paternalist hand. The other mighty Yorkshire mill now arts centre is Dean Clough in Halifax, once home to the largest Victorian carpet mill - Crossley Carpets. Other mills now art centres are to be found across Yorkshire, including some earlier smaller mills like Farfield Mill at Sedbergh in the Dales and historic watermills Gibson Mill within Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge and Thwaite Mills near Leeds.

Kelham Island Museum explores Sheffield's industrial history, particularly its steel heritage, via working machinery, exhibitions, activity areas and events. Situated within some of Sheffield's oldest industrial buildings on a man-made island. Sheffield is rich in industrial history and for an introduction into steel making and metal work Abbeydale is the place to start. This site has been used for iron making for over 500 years. Here you'll find forges, water wheels, crucible furnaces and more. Staying in South Yorkshire, The Elsecar Heritage Centre and craft workshop is located on the former site of the Earls Fitzwilliam Iron works and colliery near Barnsley. The Dearne and Dove Canal also runs through the site, and there's plenty to do including a tour of the Newcomen Beam Engine or there's ample craft workshops and specialised shopping on offer. Or why not take the kids on the Elsecar Steam Railway which runs between Rockingham Station at Elsecar to the Hemingfield Basin on the Dearne and Dove Canal.

Yorkshire Maritime History Hull & Whitby - William Wilberforce & Captain Cook

Hull's old town area around High Street is the city's location for the main museum quarter. A cultural feast of museums and Georgian architecture, the museum quarter is a good place to start your city break in Hull.

In the Museum Quarter sits the Hull and East Riding Museum, Streetlife Museum of Transport, Wilberforce House Museum and the Arctic Corsair, Hull's last side fishing vessel (sidewinder) dating from 1960 the Arctic Corsair is moored up on the riverbank near the Transport Museum with guided tours available. Kids will love Hull's Hands on History Museum on South Church Side housed in the old grammer school dating from 1347. William Wilberforce attended this school, which was also the site for Hull merchants guilds meetings on the first floor of the Tudor building. Today the museum offers a ground floor dedicated to Victorian Britain, with plenty of hands-on exhibits. The Second Floor plays host to 'The Story of Hull and its People' exhibit focusing on the social history of the city alongside an ancient Egypt display. Move to Hull's Marina to tour the Spurn Lighship which once served as navigational aid for ships entering the River Humber. For comprehensive guides to all of Hull's museums check the weblinks right. The Hull Museums Collections webguide offers a superb introduction to Hull's numerous historical themes including Hull and the Sea, William Wilberforce and Slavery, Transport and How we used to live.

Internationally acclaimed in his day, Captain James Cook was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle and circumnavigate and chart New Zealand and the east coast of Austrailia. The founding of both these nations can be traced to Cook. Whitby's links with James Cook are an integral part of his life and successes. Cook apprenticed here in Whitby under the guidance of Quaker shipowner John Walker and the award winning Captain Cook Memorial Museum is housed within what was John Walker's house where Cook would have stayed.

Cook was born not far from Whitby in Marton-in-Cleveland in 1728 and there are various sites in this North Yorkshire area around Whitby linked to this great circumnavigator (see the Cook Country Tour webguide right for details). Through themed exhibit rooms, numerous documents and artefacts pertaining to Cook, Gainsborough paintings and maps and models the Cook Museum in Whitby really is the definitive history of the life and work of Captain James Cook. More exhibits on Cook can be viewed at the superb Whitby Museum situated in Pannett Park west of Whitby Station.

Yorkshire Historic Architecture & Spa Towns

Scarborough on the Yorkshire Coast is Britain's first seaside resort. Bathing machines were first used here in 1735. Prior to the bathing machines however Scarborough had already made a name for itself as historic spa town after the famous Spaw Waters were discovered on the site of the Spa Theatre complex on South Bay. The South Bay area of Scarborough is particularly rich in Victorian architecture. Here along the spectacular Scarborough esplanade sits the famous Spa Complex of theatres dating from the 1880s. Around the town particular architectural highlights include the Rotunda Museum on Vernon Street dating from 1828, the spectacular Grand Hotel built in 1867, the historic Spa cliff lift up from South Bay which first opened in 1875 (still working today, the Spa Cliff Lift in Scarborough was the very first funicular railway to open in the country. Two other cliff lifts- St Nicholas and Central Tramway are also along South Bay) and the more modern Stephen Joseph Theatre, the town's one time Odeon Cinema dating from the 1930s. Scarborough's lighthouse in the harbour area dates from 1931 whilst Peasholm Park dates from the pre-First World War Edwardian period. Scarborough's art gallery sits within an Italianate villa on The Crescent which dates from the 1840s and the recently renovated stunning Rotunda Geology Museum, designed by the 'Father of Geology' William Smith dates from 1828.

Historic Yorkshire spa towns sit on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park at Harrogate and Ilkley. For a complete history of how Harrogate became such a famous spa town visit the Royal Pump House Museum and Sulphur springs. Royalty and fame have visited including Charles Dickens and Princess Alexandra. You'll also find some pretty surreal displays - such as an Edwardian Hotel scene and sample a glass of the famous Harrogate water.

Nearby Ilkley is the site of the White Wells Spa cottage where bathers have been partaking in spa baths since 1703! Ilkley's spa town history via cartoons and advertisements of the Victorian spa heyday period - 'The Pleasures of the Water Cure' are revealed in the town's Manor House Museum.

The larger Pennine Yorkshire towns hold some hidden treasures indeed, particularly architectural gems. The outstanding late Georgian and Victorian architecture in Halifax is a feast for the eyes. Architect Charles Barry was commissioned for Halifax's magnificent Victorian town hall dating from 1863 whilst late Georgian historic Piece Hall first opened in 1779 as a market centre for handloom weavers to sell their cloth. Halifax's Victorian Borough Market contains stunning decorative iron work whilst Victoria Theatre, originally late Victorian Victoria Hall situated on Commercial street dates from 1901.

Yorkshire Roman, Medieval & Ancient History

Roman Malton on the edge of the North York Moors, otherwise known as Derventio is given particular attention in the acclaimed Malton Museum. An outstanding collection of Roman artefacts has been uncovered in the Malton area through the 20th century including Roman pottery, a Roman cheese press, Roman keys, chalk figurines, sandals and more. The restored Malton Roman Goddess painted wall plaster is not to be missed within the Malton Museum Roman collection exhibit. More fascinating finds, this time Medieval, were also uncovered at Wharram Percy in the Yorkshire Wolds south of Malton and many of these too are on display at the Malton Museum.

York's choice of both historic sights and exciting museums is outstanding. A number of medieval buildings are scattered around the ciy including St Mary's medieval church and medieval townhouse Barley Hall off Stonegate. Jorvik Viking Centre is actually situated on an archaeological site in York where remains of the original Jorvik viking city have been found. For a thorough archaeological insight into York and Yorkshire through the various historical periods head for the Yorkshire Museum and Gardens. The remains of the medieval St Mary's Abbey are on the lower floors here.

Two pre-historic sites of national interest sit near Scarborough - the Standingstone Rigg Bronze Age burial site and the Mesolithic Settlement at Seamer - Star Carr. Little evidence remains of the settlement at Star Carr, but there have been numerous findings here of wooden tools and artefacts which you'll find on display at the spectacular Rotunda Geology Museum in Scarborough town centre. A lake once sat on the Star Carr site which dates from 8700BC, but today it's waterlogged. Access Star Carr via the footpath from Main Street Flixton on the east side of the A64.

Standingstone Rigg Bronze Age burial mound sits just on the edge of Harwood Dale forest off the Scarborough/Whitby Road. Central stones remain on the mound but excavated cup and ring marked stones are now on-show in Scarborough's museums.

Yorkshire Rural Fok Museums

The award winning Ryedale Folk Museum is spread over three acres and digs deep into the history of Ryedale and the North Yorkshire Moors as far back as the Iron Age. On-site attractions include a fascinating reconstructed Iron Age Fort, Victorian Gardens and Victorian Classroom, a Moorland Industries exhibit exploring particularly the 19th century history of mining in the Rosedale area, a Manor House and Crofter's Cottage, a chemist, village shop and metal forge.

The award winning Hornsea Folk Museum is housed within an 18th century farmhouse. This acclaimed museum has featured on tv several times and is where to head to dig deep into the history of the North Holderness region. Exhibits are extensive and Hornsea Museum can easily fill a whole fun packed family day out. The museum reveals the lives of the Burn Family who occupied this farmhouse from 1645 to 1945.

Dales Countryside Museum Station Yard, Hawes DL8 3NT Tel: 01969 666210.

The Nidderdale Museum, King Street, Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire Dales. HG3 5LE Tel: 01423 711225

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