St Wulfram’s, Grantham, is an impressive church, a wide Gothic building with a tower that climbs harmoniously upwards, topped by a spire of vertiginous elegance. Ruskin reportedly swooned on seeing it. But it has been written about widely elsewhere, so we’ll focus instead on a curiosity within: a small chained library dating from 1598 – the first library in England outside of an institution such as a college.
Perched atop the South porch, reached by a tight, steep spiral staircase (as all good medieval architectural curiosities should be) it was set up by Francis Trigge, Rector of Welbourne (also in Lincolnshire) for the use of clergy and inhabitants of Grantham. His aim, for which he donated ‘one hundred poundes or thereaboutes’ was ‘the better encreasinge of learnings and knowledge in divinitie & other liberall sciences’.
There were 228 titles in 1608, and 356 now. Most were originally chained via the fore-edge of the covers (which accounts for them being now shelved spine to the wall) – only 82 chains remain now, though the rods to which they attach are late Victorian, as are the shelves (though some are made from the original desks). It seems quantity might have played a role over quality in some of the initial acquisitions; they include a book recording 14th century Italian legal cases – of rare value now, but of doubtful use to a Grantham vicar then (or indeed now). There are, however, also theological works, and books on natural history and medicine. One tome was published in Venice in 1472, a mere couple of decades after Gutenberg had invented the printing press. There’s also a miniature – by which I mean about an inch long – book of the Life of Christ. Intriguing and atmospheric, and well worth the spiral stairs.
Mr Phoebus 