Thirsk Museum

Thirsk Museum was established in 1975 with the aim of preserving objects that were disappearing from everyday use, but which told something of the history and customs of past generations who had lived and worked in Thirsk.

One infamous exhibit is the Busby Stoop Chair: Thomas Busby, coiner and drunkard, murdered his father-in-law Daniel Auty in 1702. He was arrested, tried and condemned to death by hanging.

After his execution his corpse was suspended in chains from a gibbet erected at the lonely crossroads where the Busby Stoop Inn now stands. The inn takes name from the post or stoop on which his remains could be seen.

The place was said to be haunted by his ghost, and a chair at the inn gained a sinister reputation. Wartime bomber pilots thought it unlucky to sit there, and in the 1970s some fatal accidents were linked with the chair.

In 1978 the landlord asked for the chair to be removed to the Museum, and hung out of harm's way. It has not been sat on since.