Life in the REAL Hogwarts
The books in the historic Cathedral Library seem to enjoy their increasingly varied and interesting visitors who make their way up the medieval stairs, says Cathedral Library Development Officer, Mari James.
Every Monday and Friday afternoon a dedicated, hard-working team of volunteers and choral scholars help in the Library. Every week there are enquiries on a wide variety of subjects from various parts of the world. We find answers where we can in our records; service registers, books and registers of christenings, marriages and burials that have taken place in the Cathedral since 1724. It can be very satisfying to track down a specific answer to a vague question and pass it on.
The visitors who make their way up the medieval spiral stone staircase are often fascinated by the treasures of shelves of rare books they find at the top, dating back 500 years and more. We have often heard comparisons to Hogwarts. We have Library guide notes in a range of languages. Our medieval Dutch introduction to the full works of Erasmus comes off its shelf almost as often as the medieval Welsh Brut y Tywysogion.
Many of the books transport their visitors to bygone eras. We share some of the first Bibles and Prayer books in Welsh; sayings of Martin Luther smuggled into Britain; a book of Canon Law from a Bishop of St Davids in 1505 which is still used today; services on the Gunpowder Plot; 1776 maps of the British Empire in North America and that's without the range of early science, medical, herbal and natural philosophy . Academics on holiday have often found original copies they have never seen of works on which they are experts.
Specialist groups are increasingly coming to visit us. The roll call this year will include the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust, the Monuments Society, the Stone Forum. In July, the British Archaeology Association will be visiting us for their annual conference for the first time in their 150-year history. They have promised not to leave their second visit quite so long. And all this feels like preparation for June 2025 when the Cathedral Archives, Libraries and Collections Association will hold its triennial three-day conference with us – their first conference ever in Wales.
As we close the doors after each public session, we think we hear the books heaving their sighs of relief that they can rest the next day, before happily welcoming back more appreciative and interesting readers, researchers and visitors. And we give thanks for the scholars and bookaholics through the ages who collected books on the big topics of their day, so that we can have these glimpses into the past of the Cathedral to care for and share today.