Visiting the Library

Opening Times

The Library is overseen by our Cathedral Librarian, with public access supported by a rota of trained Library Volunteers who staff the Reading Room. Opening times may vary depending on volunteer availability and on services or events taking place in the Cathedral.

The Chained Library and Muniment Room are only accessible on pre-booked tours, but can be viewed from the Reading Room ith opportunities for enchanting photographs.

Accessibility

The Library is reached by a staircase near the Cloister Door in the South Transept. Visitors are warmly welcomed whenever the Reading Room is open; however, readers who require a quiet space for study may be given priority, and only assistance dogs are permitted.

Tours

Step into the past with a guided tour of the Chained Library and Muniment Room, offered on selected dates throughout the year. Led by our knowledgeable and enthusiastic Cathedral Guides, these tours provide a wonderful opportunity to explore the Chained Library’s history and to see selected treasures from the collection up close in the Muniment Room.

Click on the button below to find out more and book your place via Eventbrite.

Get Tickets

 

The Chained Library

Wells Cathedral’s Chained Library was built over the East Cloister following instructions in the will of Bishop Nicholas Bubwith who died in 1424. It was the largest medieval library in England when it opened in the 1450s, and is one of only four such chained libraries in the country.

The Chained Library at Wells Cathedral houses books published before 1800. These were collected by the canons in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and reflects their wide-ranging intellectual interests. The core of the collection of some 2,800 volumes is theology, but science, medicine, history, exploration and languages are also well-represented. There are some good examples of manuscript books but the medieval contents of the Library were lost at the time of the Reformation.

The strength of the collection is in printed books, the earliest being a Pliny Naturalis Historiae printed in Venice in 1472 by Nicholas Jenson. Other early books include Vesalius’ De Humanis Corporis Fabrica of 1555, which is the book of anatomy that heralded the advent of biology as a subject, and the earliest complete atlas of the world by Abraham Ortelius which was first published in English in 1606. The set of Aristotle’s works published in Venice in 1497 belonged to Erasmus and has his signature and annotations.

The Reading Room

The Reading Room was created in 2002 in order to allow much wider access to the post 1800 books and journals.

The collection complements and extends that of the Chained Library, with modern translations and commentaries on theological and spiritual works as well as books on history, biography, archaeology and all aspects of Cathedral life. It acts as a resource centre for the cathedral’s Guides, Friends, volunteers and anyone interested in the Cathedral’s development over the years.

Catalogues and Research Enquiries

Wells Cathedral has added the catalogue of its approximately 4,000 books in the Chained Library to its website for illustrative purposes in response to enquiries about the scope of the collection. Click on the buttons below to download the catalogues.

Chained Library Catalogue (.pdf) Reading Room Catalogue (.pdf)

For library research enquiries, please contact: librarian@wellscathedral.org.uk.