Norwich Cathedral Library

13/10/2025

24/09/2025

It was a great pleasure to welcome back former Canon Librarian Clifford Offer to give a talk in the library “Remembering Aethelberht of East Anglia: king, saint and martyr”. Clifford addressed the “cold case” of the murder of Aethelberht, questioning whether King Offa has been wrongly accused. Whilst the historical evidence is limited, Clifford shone a light on the little-known figure for whom the Cathedral’s Ethelbert Gate is named.

10/07/2025

These titles are currently in transit from the book fair at Leeds International Medieval Congress to Norwich Cathedral Library.

22/10/2024

We were delighted last Thursday to welcome Dr Oliver Nicholson to speak about “The Christian Cicero” as part of our celebration of our oldest printed book, The Divine Institutes, by Lactantius. Jerome referred to the elegance of Lactantius’s Latin as “a torrent of Tertulliqn eloquence”, and we were tested to a similarly eloquent discourse from Dr Nicholson.

05/07/2024

Our 2024 Annual Library Lecture is presented by James Willoughby, a historian and bibliographer who follows research interests in medieval books and texts.

13/10/2023

At Listening Lunch today we responded to Prisons Week by reading from ”Sarah Martin, prison-visitor of Great Yarmouth”. An almost exact contemporary of Elizabeth Fry, Sarah Martin first entered Great Yarmouth gaol in 1819. This book, published in 1872, tells of her pioneering work in bringing religious observance, gainful occupation and basic education in literacy to the eclectic population in the gaol.

15/09/2023

The Library teamed up with Schools and Family Learning today to offer a family drop-in event of craft activities for Heritage Open Days. The children made beeswax candles, mitres, stained glass windows and mosaics, as well as marbling paper. Here are some of the colourful results of their endeavours, alongside a Bible from the collection with marbled endpapers.

12/09/2023

The reading at last Friday’s Listening Lunch was from Transport of Delight, a year’s diary of the life and work of the Revd Jack Burton, Methodist Minister and bus driver. Jack Burton died on 1 August 2023, and his funeral was held at Norwich Cathedral on the morning of Friday 8 September. The reading was the library’s contribution to celebrating the life of this much-loved member of the Cathedral’s worshipping community. The bus is parked outside the library!

22/08/2023

See some of the Library's historic books and explore the development of book-making through the centuries.

14/08/2023

The Dean of Norwich last week led a group on a journey in the footsteps of George Herbert, so the current featured historic library book is The Temple: sacred poems and private ejaculations, by George Herbert (1667). The library is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10am to 4pm