ST
DEINIOL’S
RESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
Gladstone’s Legacy - A Bed and a Good Book
I
often have requests from travelers venturing to European shores for unique
places to stay
at a budget price, or for a special experience to
lodge in monasteries amongst the monks, college dormitories,
oddball hostels, haunted castles or ice igloos. I have spent long nights
studying
in libraries, perhaps drifting off into the occasional droopy eyed
nap, but never actually slept overnight as an accommodation. St Deinoil’s
Library in Hawarden in North Wales near the English border is such a
place, called
Britain’s
finest residential library.
William Gladstone
William
Ewart Gladstone was one of England’s most prominent politicians
of the Victorian age, born in Liverpool, educated at Eton and Christ
College, Oxford. A
successful merchant before becoming an MP, Gladstone developed a reputation
as a
powerful
orator, rising
through
a number
of positions in the government,
ultimately to Prime Minister. Gladstone was first an ally and
later a bitter rival of Benjamin Disraeli. The acrimony between the two
great
political figures of the 1800's was referred to as the "Great Parliamentary
Duel", not a literal one, but a public and personal mud fight. It
started in 1852 with Gladstone's forceful reply to Disraeli's first budget
speech.
After
the change of government following the vote against the budget, Gladstone
succeeded Disraeli as Chancellor. After an acrimonious
exchange of letters between the two over the furniture in the Chancellor's
Downing Street residence and the Chancellor's robes. which Disraeli refused
to hand over to Gladstone. Their mutual antipathy reached its zenith
during the 1870's with Gladstone's attacks on Disraeli's foreign policy.
In 1878 Disraeli described Gladstone as "a sophistical rhetorician
inebriated with exuberance of his on verbosity".
Gladstone
was devoutly religious and might have been a reverend if he’d
not been a politician. He was a voracious reader and amassed one of the
largest private collections of books in England. Gladstone had married
into a wealthy Welsh family and inherited his wife’s family home
at Castle Hawarden, where his book collection grew. Late in his life,
Gladstone thought he should share his library with the public, "to
bring together readers who had no books and books who had no readers”.
Gladstone’s vision was that his volumes on divinity and humanity
should be available to members of all Christian denominations, but he
also wished students from other faiths, or no faith, to have equal access.
These readers would need a place where they could stay and read with
time to think and write in a scholarly environment.
Gladstone's Library or St
Deiniol’s Library (pronounced Day-neol, sometimes Die-neol)
and named for the Welsh born saint, was begun in 1889, first consisting
of two large rooms with iron book cases known as the “Iron Library” with
seven smaller rooms as studies. After his death in 1898, a beautiful
permanent building designed by John Douglas was opened in 1902 as a national
memorial to William Gladstone, with the residential dormitory wing added
later. Gladstone’s original collection of 32,000 books first moved
by wheelbarrow from Hawarden Castle to the residential library has grown
to over 200,000 volumes. Once
described as “a temple of learning…a place for restful
meditation, for research, for mental and spiritual refreshment and stimulus – amid
charming natural surroundings”, St. Deiniol's Library remains today
as Gladstone envisioned - a quiet haven where writers, students, researchers,
book lovers, clergy and laymen of all denominations can work or rest
for a minimal charge. St Deiniol's especially attracts writers working
on their own books.
Lodging B&B at Gladstone's Library
The
30 rooms, singles, twins and doubles, are available for £70 for single ensuite Bed & Breakfast, £60
per night standard rate, discounted rate for students and special prices for multiple nights or long term study.
Modest comfortable accommodation for short or long term stays, with
a collegiate
and almost
monastic feel.
Meals are served in a cafeteria style restaurant with set times and a
common lounge with liquor cabinet on the honor system, for communing
with others seeking solace or scholarly pursuits, mostly theological
research. The library includes Gladstone’s historic collection
and many of his thousands of personal writings and correspondence, but
is kept up to date with current additions. Books from the library are
not allowed to be taken out, though a reading selection is available
outside to be borrowed for in room reading.
Getting There
St Deiniol's is located in the picturesque little village of Hawarden, only about 10 minutes drive from Chester and the M56 motorway. Meeting rooms and conference facilities can be rented for functions such as business meetings, training courses or seminars and a number of in-house educational or discussion courses are held throughout the year open to anyone wishing to attend. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Web Info
St Deiniol's
Library
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SEE ALSO:
RUTHIN CASTLE HOTEL - GHOSTS & BANQUETS
CASTLE
HOTEL CONWY - DAWSONS BAR
LLANGOLLEN
STEAM RAILWAY
ST DAVID’S BISHOP’S PALACE AND CATHEDRAL
