Peterborough Cathedral has a fascinating and well stocked library available to the public for research and academic projects. We deal with a steady stream of enquiries and personal callers wishing to research family history, local events and Cathedral connections or personnel. The library does not have regular opening hours but can be accessed for research by arrangement with the Librarian.
As well as religious texts and commentaries from the 19th and 20th centuries, there are documents relating to the Cathedral itself and a large collection of cuttings relating to Cathedral and City events over the past two centuries. There is also a collection of bound copies of early 19th century local newspapers as well as Cathedral and Diocesan magazines and periodicals.
We have a substantial collection of local History texts, some books on national History to which the Cathedral has links and also Calendars of the proceedings of various Medieval and Tudor Courts including Court of Chancery records. The Library has a fascinating history too. In the Middle Ages the Abbey of St. Peter, St Paul and St Andrew had an impressive library of volumes. Many of these were dispersed at the Reformation and much of the remaining library was wantonly destroyed by Cromwell’s soldiers, at the time of the general desecration of the cathedral in 1643.
The revival of the library began in 1672 under Dean John Duport, but the main enlargement came under Bishop White Kennett (1718-28), a noted writer and an avid collector of antiquarian books, many of which he eventually donated to become the basis of a re-vitalised Cathedral Library. White Kennett’s Library was housed in the New Building and through the early 18th century a series of acquisitions continued to expand this collection, but then interest and acquisitions went into a steep decline. In 1780s the Library was removed to the Trinity chapel over the Porch. This represents the bulk of the Cathedral’s collection of rare and antique books, which was removed from the Cathedral in 1970 and deposited in the Cambridge University Library.