Bamburgh Library

The Bamburgh Library was created by several members of the Sharp family between ca. 1660 and 1792, and continued to be added to into the late 19th century by the Lord Crewe’s Charity.

Until 1792, the Sharp library was divided between Durham, Rothbury and Bamburgh. After the death of Thomas II Sharp, Curate of Bamburgh, in 1772 his older brother John III, one of the Lord Crewe’s trustees, organised the purchase Thomas II’s books for the charity to establish a public library at Bamburgh Castle. The sale was completed in 1779. Upon the death of John III in 1792, his collection was transferred from Durham and Rothbury to the castle and merged with the library of Thomas II. It was not until 1797 that a catalogue was published and the library was opened to the the public. There are two borrowers’ registers.

The contents of the library were moved to Durham in two stages. The Bamburgh Select class arrived at Durham University in 1938; the rest of the collection came in 1958.

The collection has a particular strength in 17th and 18th-century political and religious controversy and theological works. There is a good representative sample of natural philosophy (including extensive runs of Philosophical Transactions and Journal des Sçavans), common law, English literature, and some French and Italian literature. Many works are tracts and pamphlets detailing current affairs, some of which the Sharps would have used in their professional lives as clergymen and politicians.

Individual items of interest include early printed works by William Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde, and Richard Pynson, early Flemish and French material, first editions of some of Robert Boyle’s treatises, and a small collection of Armenian religious works printed in Amsterdam.

There are approximately 8,500 titles, including 16 incunabula (6 English), 320 foreign 16th century, 330 STC and 2,461 Wing items.

The Bamburgh Library, originally known as the Sharp Library, was a subscription library formed of the collections of three generations of the Sharp family: 

• 1. John I (1644-1714), Archbishop of York
• 2. John II (1677-1727), M.P. for Ripon, (eldest son of John I)
• 3. Thomas I (1693-1758), Archdeacon of Northumberland and Canon of Durham (younger son of John I)
• 4. John III (1723-92), also Archdeacon of Northumberland and Canon of Durham, (eldest son of Thomas I)
• 5. Thomas II (1725-72), Perpetual Curate of Bamburgh (younger son of Thomas I)

The current shelfmark sequence was created in the mid-nineteenth century, while the collection was still housed in the library room in the Keep of Bamburgh Castle. This sequence was retained while the collection was housed in the “Clock Tower” and after the transfer to Durham University.

Open for consultation.

The Library was deposited at Durham by the trustees of Lord Crewe’s Charity. The Select class was transferred to Durham in 1938, and in 1958 was deposited with the remainder in the University Library, except for the music which was placed in Durham Cathedral Library where it is still consultable.

The books are catalogued in Discover

Access was formerly through annotated copies of Catalogue of the Library at Bamburgh Castle (2 v., London, 1859). The 1859 published catalogue supersedes the older similarly titled catalogue (Durham, 1795?) with Supplement (Berwick, 1834?). This, however, has useful lists of foreign language items. Bamburgh MS A13 (1837-1838) is a catalogue of tracts in the collection, arranged in three sections, Religious, Political, and Miscellaneous, with indexes of sermons and charges, and of names and subjects.

Durham Cathedral Library: music from the Bamburgh Library.

York Minster Library: a small collection of volumes associated with Granville Sharp and other members of the Sharp family, donated by Catherine Bowlt Sharp (1770-1843).

Gloucestershire Archives: Sharp family archives, part of the Lloyd-Baker of Hardwicke Hall archives, which contain a few printed materials.

Northumberland Archives: Lord Crewe’s Charity archives, including material relating to the management of the Sharp Library at Bamburgh Castle.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.

Bamburgh Manuscripts: includes records of the Bamburgh Library from the 18th century onwards, including borrowers’ registers from 1797 to the early 20th century.

Bishop Cosin's Library: Granville Sharp presented some of his books to the Library (mainly shelved at Cosin I.7.)