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Books are brushed

Two Newark libraries will be celebrating important anniversaries this month.

Newark Public Library will be commemorating ten years in its modern building in Beaumond Gardens while the library in Newark parish church clocks up a somewhat greater anniversary when it celebrates no fewer than 300 years of existence in the town.

The modern glass library in Beaumond Gardens opened its doors to the public on May 12 1988 after 105 years in its former home the old Gilstrap building on Castlegate.

When plans were first announced for the new building there was a degree of local opposition and some people likened the radical all-glass design to nothing so much as a large greenhouse.

In the ten years since it opened however the public have voted with their feet raising membership from about 5 0 at the old Gilstrap to nearly 25 0 today.

An automatic counter at the entrance shows that the new building receives about 500 visitors a day. Architecturally too the building has received praise being chosen for a Royal Institute of British Architects' regional award in 1991.

Newark's other library which celebrates its birthday in May - Bishop White's Library in the parish church - is probably less well known to the public but has a long and distinguished history.

It has existed in the town for 300 years the original collection of books having been bequeathed by Thomas White Bishop of Peterborough who died in May 1698.

White was born in 1628 at Aldington in Kent but is thought to have received his education as a scholar at Newark's Magnus Grammar School.

Later after graduating from St. John's College Cambridge and holding a variety of ecclesiastical positions around the country he returned to Newark in 1660 to become vicar of the town.

He stayed for four years until June 1666 when he was made rector of Allhallows in London. In 1679 he moved to Leicestershire as rector at Bottesford and in 1683 was made chaplain to Lady (later Queen) Anne being also installed as archdeacon of Nottingham in the same year.

In 1685 he was elected Bishop of Peterborough and a year later with two other bishops was appointed to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the diocese of London.

His star was certainly in the ascendant yet only three years later White was to find himself at the centre of a religious controversy which was to prove his eventual downfall.

In 1689 White became one of seven bishops (led by the Archbishop of Canterbury) who petitioned against King James II's order to read his 'Declaration of Indulgence' and on June 8 was committed to the Tower of London.

At the trial a week later all seven defendants were acquitted although White continued to speak out against what he saw as the injustice of William of Orange's assumption of the English throne following James II's departure.

White's outspoken opinions landed him in further trouble when he refused to take the Oath of Allegiance to William and Mary and he found himself suspended and deprived of his see on February 1 1690 The remainder of his life was spent in retirement in which state he died in May 1698.

Although it had been many years since White lived in Newark he never forgot the town and its associations with his childhood and early youth.

Under a provision in his will White set up a charity by which 20 poor families in Newark would receive alms each year distributed by the vicar from the church porch.

Its work continues to this day although it is now included in Newark's combined Municipal Charities. White's other great gift to the town was his library which after 300 years remains complete and undisturbed in the parish church.

It is recognised by scholars for its importance as one of the few surviving working bishop's libraries from the 17th Century.

It is a complete collection of the reference works acquired by White throughout his life and upon which he would draw to compose his sermons or otherwise minister to his flock.

Over the years of course White's original bequest has been greatly extended to a point where today the library comprises about 1 300 volumes and many additional documents relating to the history of the parish church.

Not surprisingly most of the original books given by White in the 17th Century are theological texts and many are now quite rare and sought after.

Particular treasures include an edition of the works of Jean Gerson printed at Strasbourg in 1501 and a Sarum Missal printed by Pynson in 1520 of which only eight copies are known still to exist.

Rarer still are 17 other titles or editions of which no other copy is known rendering Bishop White's library one of the most noteworthy church libraries still existing in this country.

Bishop White's library is now located in a special room in the parish church directly over the south porch and continues to respect the stringent - though entirely appropriate - conditions laid down in the Bishop's will.

White stipulated that the room in which the books were kept should be swept out once a month with the books themselves being "brushed and rubbed" once a quarter.

No book was to be removed from the room and the entire collection was to be checked over each year in the presence of the vicar churchwardens and the Corporation.

The vicar was to be held personally responsible for the replacement of any book which was found to be missing.

That the collection should have remained intact and undisturbed for 300 years of course is due also to the unfailing diligence of a string of honorary librarians who have overseen its care and maintenance over the years.

Worthy of special note in this capacity is Mr Oswald Allen a retired headteacher from Newark who held the position for 41 years from the late Forties.

Alongside the careful ministrations of the church's librarian should also be mentioned the work of a new group known as the Friends of Bishop White's Library whose aim is to raise funds to help ensure its continued survival.

Most recently their efforts have enabled the church to engage conservation specialists from the Nottinghamshire Archives Office to assess and carry out necessary conservation work.

It is not surprising that after 300 years some of the volumes are in need of a little additional maintenance beyond the brushing and rubbing prescribed by Bishop White in 1698.

ABOVE: Verger's assistant Mr Bill Lee with the books of Bishop White's library.

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