Chained Library, Hereford

Connected to Hereford Cathedral is a chained library. In the days when books were far rarer and more valuable than today, it behoved institutions and their librarians to chain the books to the shelves, allowing perusal but not ‘borrowing’. Thanks to the old Deans’ fixation on security, we have an interesting collection of ancient books at the heart of one of our finest cathedrals.

Today, thanks to cheap printing and excess wealth, books are common and few would regard a bookshop as a prime target for theft. Yet I wonder if the Bible is more chained and locked today as it has been since the days of great Master Tyndale. Though we have copies aplenty, I wonder how many of us read it outside of church events, and how many preachers like me just use it as a hunting ground for sermons. There may be no chains of brass or fetters or iron keeping closed its pages, but the hearts of the spiritually dying who possess many copies but read too few of its words.

   D