Yorkshire Museum of Farming - History and Collection

History and Collection

The museum opened in 1982. It was originally designed to house a growing collection of farm machinery that had been donated by various farms from North and East Yorkshire to the East Yorkshire Farm Machinery Preservation Society and stored at Burton Constable.

The core of the collection focuses on the development of the mechanisation of farming during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A wide variety of items are on display, divided between two main exhibition galleries, the Four Seasons Gallery and the Livestock Gallery. A number of rare breeds of livestock are kept on site, including a Togenburg goat 'Jeffrey' who has been made an honorary member and mascot for the RAF 609 (West Riding) squadron since March 2010.

The Four Seasons Gallery looks at the farming year, and the different practices and tools which are used across the four seasons. There is also a granary display and a recreated Victorian ironmonger's shop.

The Livestock building considers the rearing and farming of a variety of types of livestock. This also includes a display of the contents of the James Herriot's (Alf Wight) veterinary surgery.

The museum is also home to a large manuscript archive which can be viewed on appointment. Subjects covered in the archive include: manorial documents, agricultural machinery manufacturers' accounts, the Women's Land Army, the Derwent Valley Light Railway, the Cleveland Bay Horse Society, and a huge array of miscellaneous accounts, correspondence, certificates, photographs, maps and prints. There is also a sizeable library on-site which contains numerous historic journals, manuals, text books, and magazines. This can be accessed by appointment.