This museum relives the history of York and its surroundings from the Roman invasion via the Viking period and Middle Ages. The Middleton Jewel and the Middleton Ring, both of which were probably linked to the Neville family from Middleton Castle (south of Richmond), are the central pieces of the medieval period. The section devoted to the Abbey of St Mary, a Benedictine house founded in 1088 by William II Redhead, houses ruins that date back to the 13C.