The Royal Pump Room Museum

Housed in Harrogate's premiere Spa building and site of Europe's strongest Sulphur Well, The Royal Pump Room Museum tells the story of Harrogate as a Spa. Displays show why visitors from all over the World visited the 'Queen of the Inland Spas' - the social side of 'spawning' such as the history of Harrogate's Stray, shops and Hotels and of course the old spa treatments. You can still see the sulphur wells, and no visit to the museum is complete without a taste of the water!

The programme of temporary exhibitions provides an opportunity to see selections from the 20,000 items in the reserve collections, ranging from ancient Egyptian artefacts to items from the 1960's.

In 2006 come and explore 'Behind the Seams at the Museum' where you can see the wonderful textiles and costume collection. You will find everything from early Coptic textiles from Egypt to 'Crimplene'®.

Almost everything on display comes from the museum . These were started in the 1950s. In the beginning local people gave examples of 19th century costume, household textiles and needlework tools. Nowadays we are collecting objects from the late twentieth century. Younger visitors will find an activity area with supersize knitting needles and a knitting Nancy, Binca bookmarks, paper weaving, colouring sheets, trails and quizzes.

There is access for people in wheelchairs. There are swing doors at the entrance, and the toilet is suitable for people with disabilities.