Hereford Cathedral - Crypt and Library

Crypt and Library

Though the crypt is small, it is of special interest, as the solitary example of a crypt in an English cathedral built after the Norman period until we come to Truro Cathedral – for the crypt of St. Paul's is only a reconstruction. To its use as a charnel house it owes the name of Golgotha.

The library contains mainly old books in manuscript chained to their places, some of them fine specimens of ancient handwriting, containing beautiful illustrations in gold and colour. Two of the most valuable are a unique copy of the ancient Hereford antiphonary of the 13th century, in good preservation, and a copy of the Gospels at least a thousand years old, in Anglo-Saxon characters. Another treasure is an ancient reliquary of oak, bequeathed to the cathedral by Canon Russell, who is said to have obtained it from a Roman Catholic family in whose possession it had long been. It is covered with copper plates overlaid with Limoges enamel representing the murder and entombment of St. Thomas of Canterbury.