Chetham’s Library in Manchester, England, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Chetham’s Hospital, which contains both the library and Chetham’s School of Music, was established in 1653 under the will of Humphrey Chetham (1580–1653), for the education of “the sons of honest, industrious and painful parents”, and a library for the use of scholars. The library has been in continuous use since 1653.
The 15th-century Baronial Hall that houses Chetham’s Library.SourceThe manor house of the Lord of the Manor, in the centre of the medieval town of Manchester, stood on a sandstone bluff, at the confluence of the River Irwell and the River Irk. In 1421, the rector of the parish church, Thomas de la Warre (Lord of the manor of Manchester), obtained a licence from Henry V to refound the church as a collegiate foundation. He donated his manor house for use as the college of priests’ buildings for the collegiate church (later to be the cathedral). There was accommodation for the warden, eight fellows, four clerks, and six choristers.
FlickrThe Manchester Free Grammar School for Lancashire Boys was built between the church and the college buildings between 1515 and 1518. The college was dissolved in 1547 by the Chantries Act and sold to the Earl of Derby. It was re-founded as a Catholic foundation by Queen Mary and again disbanded by Protestant Queen Elizabeth I. In 1578, the collegiate church was re-founded by charter as Christ’s College and re-occupied by the warden and fellows. In the Civil War, it was used as a prison and arsenal. In 1653, the college buildings were bought with the bequest of Humphrey Chetham, for use as a free library and blue coat charity school. At that time, there was no facility for independent study in the north of England and Chetham’s will of 1651 had stipulated that the Library should be “for the use of scholars and others well affected”, and instructed the librarian “to require nothing of any man that cometh into the library”.
Source:Pete Birkinshaw/FlickrThis was the meeting place of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels when Marx visited Manchester in the summer of 1845. The economics books Marx was reading at the time can be seen on a shelf in the library, as can the window seat where Marx and Engels would meet. The research they undertook during this series of visits to the library led ultimately to their work on The Communist Manifesto.
The library holds more than 100,000 volumes of printed books, of which 60,000 were published before 1851. They include collections of 16th- and 17th-century printed works, periodicals, and journals, local history sources, broadsides, and ephemera.
Source :Plashing Vole/FlickrPaintings featured as a part of the library’s vast fine arts collection library include portraits of William Whitaker, the Reverend John Radcliffe, Robert Thyer the Reverend Francis Robert Raines, and Elizabeth Leigh.An Allegory with Putti and Satyrs, oil on canvas, attributed to the sixteenth-century artist and Netherlander Vincent Sellaer, is also a prominent part of the Chetham’s Library collection.
Source :Plashing Vole/FlickrChetham’s Library has been accredited by Arts Council England and is one of 1,800 museums across the nation to have qualified as an institution acting in accordance with Arts Council England’s new Designation Scheme. Such designation declares Chetham’s Library collections of great national importance.One of the most substantial collections pertains to Belle Vue Zoo and Gardens, Manchester’s most renowned entertainment attraction and zoological center, in operation from the 1830’s to the 1980’s. The collection contains thousands of posters, programmes, and photographs, as well as the financial and business papers of the owner, John Jennison. While collection objects are currently available for review onsite, a 2014 grant of £45,000 obtained by Chetham’s Library, will allow curators to make the collection available to online users, via digitization projects.
An aisle inside the library.Source
It operates as an independent charity, open to readers and visitors free of charge. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 9am-12:30pm and 1:30pm-4:30pm. Anyone can access the library, however, readers and researchers must make an appointment at least one business day in advance.
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