Guided Tours at Chetham’s Library

Throughout the summer Chetham’s Library are running guided tours where you’ll have the chance to explore the medieval passages, high panelled reading rooms and hear about the demonic folklore of a particular desk in the library. Led by an expert guide, you’ll get a thoroughly fascinating insight into the world’s oldest public library in the English-Speaking world.

As you leave the busy surrounds of the Corn Exchange, Printworks and Exchange Square you can feel yourself entering into a different time as well as a place where the quiet and peaceful rooms feel steeped in history. Let yourself be transported into this older world and away from the clutter of the city centre. As you move around the space noise will be kept to a minimum, allowing the building’s character to take centre stage. It makes for a perfectly serene setting to explore some of the staircases, stone passages and cobbled courtyards which usually aren’t open to the public.

The collection of texts, archive and artefacts found in the library tell stories that stretch back centuries. Illustrating with words how we’ve developed as humans, as a society and as an ever changing nation to reach the point we’re at today. Having an expert guide you through this overwhelming wealth of knowledge is a great way to experience the collections without getting lost in it.

Each tour lasts around 60 to 75 minutes and happen almost everyday throughout the summer. There are late morning and early afternoon tours, giving you flexibility as to when you attend. It is recommend to book in advance, however it is also possible to just turn up. Chetham’s Library is one of Manchester’s most well known hidden gems that is often over looked. Which is a shame because it’s well worth seeing the rooms that have inspired Marx, Engels and the alchemist John Dee up close and in person, as the character and personality of the building itself is something you can only really appreciate once you’re in it.