An ancient Library where books are, literally, under lock and key…

Nowadays you can easily and quickly print your own book, but in the middle ages book printing would involve hundreds, even thousands, of hours of labour writing and copying books, making them a relatively rare and therefore valuable commodity.

So how to keep these valuable books accessible, but safe? Chained Libraries!

The purpose of chained libraries was to allow the books to be read, but not stolen. Each book having its own chain sufficiently long enough to allow the book to be taken from it’s shelf and read, but not removed from the library itself.

Hereford Cathedral’s Chained Library in England is the worlds largest surviving ‘Chained Library’, dating way back to 1611. The books are still kept under lock and key in their original chains

Take a look at BBC Culture’s video as they explore the chained library with its librarian, Dr Rosemary Firman, and get an insight into some of the 229 medieval manuscripts still locked into it’s shelves.

Back to Blog