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We're working From Home!We can't welcome you in person now, but we're still Working From Home! For #MuseumFromHome & to let you visit from your screen, there's a new From Home page - do take a look! You can still 'Contact Us' too. X

Chetham’s Library has been in continuous use as a public library for over 350 years. It is housed in a beautiful sandstone building dating from 1421 which was built to accommodate the priests of Manchester’s Collegiate Church.

The entire collection at Chetham’s Library has been designated as one of national and international importance. You can find out about our collections here and in our catalogues. Chetham’s Library is currently closed to readers visiting in person, following government advice that working from home is preferred where possible. Staff are still working, however, and if you’d like to see what aspects of the Library you can explore from your screen, please start with our From Home page. We can be contacted on the email addresses on our Contact Us page : do feel free to be in touch and we’ll do our best to help with the resources to hand.

The Library is also an accredited museum, attracting visitors from all over the world.

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Visiting the library

Chetham's Library currently closed to visitors

In common with Libraries across the country, Chetham’s Library is currently closed to visitors and readers. Library staff are still working from home; please use the email addresses under ‘Contact Us’. Please visit our blog and social media from time to time; we will endeavour to keep posting things of interest!

Tours suspended

Need to get in touch? Please contact us here.

What's On

  1. 12 Jun
    12:30pm

    Humphrey Chetham Club Lunch

    Full details
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Blog

  1. Bodies In The Library: A display of anatomy books

    Humphrey Chetham’s vision for his library was that it would offer resources to the professional...

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  2. Lady Day indoors

    Wednesday, 25 March is and was the date traditionally know as ‘Lady Day’, the Feast...

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  3. Not In front of The Children: Fairy Tales in Chetham’s Library

    We’ve often heard Chetham’s Library described as a magic, fairy-tale place. Children, and many adults,...

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Humphrey Chetham

Humphrey Chetham (1580–1653), the most successful gentleman merchant of seventeenth-century Lancashire, was born in Crumpsall Hall, near Manchester, and later lived at Clayton Hall near Droylsden. His fortune was...

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