450 years of Shrewsbury Library history

 

I have visited our county town of Shrewsbury for at least 25 years & often take visitors there because the town is regularly used for filming period dramas. It has over 200 listed buildings, its cobbled streets, churches & authentic black & white buildings photograph very well. 

We were booked to do a course in the Library, & while I knew where it was, I had never been in to it. The entrance is behind the statue of Charles Darwin who was born in our county, went to school there & set off on his famous travels from the hotel on Wyle Cop. 

The Library is a grade 1 listed building, with a long history of over 450 years. 

It was originally a school, founded on a Charter by King Edward VI in 1552 to provide education to the town. 

The earliest part is Riggs hall which dates back to mid 1400's and was incorporated in to the building later on. 

After our course, were advised to go up to the reading rooms upstairs after our course & duly took the broad stairs up to explore.  The windows are set in deep stone walls - solid & ancient. 

What a gem the reading rooms / library was. 

Large open ceilings with bright windows looking down on the town below & across to the Castle & the beautiful railway station. 

The Darwin reading room with its pale vaulted ceiling has windows with heraldic symbols. 

The room was hushed with several adult students working on laptops at the various tables. 

The creamy white ceilings & walls give this space a sense of lightness.

The Old School Room was similar but with dark ceiling beams & oak panelling that students in bygone times when it was a school, had carved their names in the oak. 

I saw one from 1780 & 1860. Preserved for posterity. 

This space was also well used & people were working away quietly at the various tables. 

The oak lined windowsills with views over the surrounding rooftops behind the library - glimpses of sky but not low enough to have distracted the students in times past. 

I love that the students left their names for posterity, probably blunting their compass points as they surreptitiously added their names without being caught by the school master. I wonder how many were in each class & if it was mixed education for both boys & girls? 

I worked in both public & academic libraries years ago & love these spaces with books & quiet spaces. It is something I have always enjoyed. 

I will definitely be back again, to browse the building & hopefully take another course or two. 

Thank you for stopping by, it is appreciated. 

Dee 📚📖📙📘🧑‍🏫📇