National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales on Penglais Hill is one of the six legal deposit libraries in the United Kingdom — which means a copy of every book, journal and newspaper published in Britain must be deposited here by law. The collection runs to over 6 million books, 1.5 million photographs, millions of maps, and an archive of manuscripts stretching back to medieval Wales. It is also freely open to the public for exhibitions, events and reading room access.
The Collection
The Library holds some of the most significant manuscripts in the Welsh language. The Black Book of Carmarthen (Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin) is the earliest surviving manuscript written entirely in Welsh, compiled by a single scribe around 1250. It contains poems about the heroes of Dark Age Britain and the legend of Myrddin — the figure who became Merlin in later Arthurian tradition. The manuscript is named for the colour of its binding and its origin at Carmarthen Priory.
The Book of Taliesin is a 14th-century manuscript containing poems attributed to Taliesin, the 6th-century court poet — some of the oldest poetry in any European language. The Library also holds the Hengwrt Chaucer, one of the two earliest surviving manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, assembled in Wales by a Merionethshire antiquary in the early 15th century.
Together these form part of what scholars call the Four Ancient Books of Wales — a collection of medieval Welsh literature that has no equivalent in any other small nation. Holding three of the four in Aberystwyth gives the National Library a significance in the history of Welsh literature that extends well beyond its regional setting.
Beyond manuscripts, the Library holds the national collection of Welsh newspapers and periodicals from the earliest printing presses to the present, the Great Sessions records (the legal archive of Wales from 1542 to 1830), a major photographic archive and the most comprehensive map collection of Wales in existence.
History
The National Library was established by Royal Charter in 1907, after a long campaign that began in the 1870s to create a national cultural institution for Wales. It opened on Penglais Hill in 1916 — the same hill as Aberystwyth University, whose own founding in 1872 by public subscription had demonstrated that Wales could build its own institutions without English patronage.
The founding collection was assembled primarily through Sir John Williams, a Welsh physician to Queen Victoria who donated his personal library of rare Welsh manuscripts — including the Black Book of Carmarthen — and campaigned for the institution throughout his career. The building on Penglais Hill was designed in a classical style and expanded over the 20th century as the legal deposit collection grew.
Aberystwyth was chosen as the location over Cardiff in part because it was perceived as a more genuinely Welsh-speaking community — a decision that reflected the cultural politics of the early 20th century and that has shaped the character of the Library and the town ever since. The Library, along with the university, the UNESCO City of Literature designation and the Books Council of Wales, gives Aberystwyth a concentration of Welsh literary and cultural institutions with no equivalent anywhere else.
Visiting
The Library is open Monday to Friday, with Saturday opening for part of the day. Exhibitions are free and open without prior registration. Events — lectures, screenings, concerts — are listed on the Library’s website and are frequently free or low-cost. The reading rooms are open to registered readers; registration is straightforward and free, and gives access to the full collection.
The building is on Penglais Hill, a 15-minute uphill walk from the town centre or a short drive. The view from the entrance steps back over the town and Cardigan Bay is one of the better views in Aberystwyth. The Arts Centre is immediately adjacent and easy to combine in the same half-day visit.
Check current exhibitions and events at library.wales before visiting — the programme changes regularly and the exhibitions are consistently well-produced.
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