The CCB Library

The Library is a shared resource of the Council for the Care of Churches and the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, which together comprise the Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the National Church Institutions. It has been described as the most important single collection in the UK of books and other material dedicated solely to ecclesiastical architecture, art, design and liturgy and is a unique research tool for readers interested in those areas.

The Library is located at Church House, Westminster and is usually open to external readers by appointment with the Honorary Librarian (Telephone 020 7898 1884 Tuesdays and Wednesdays).  It contains:

• 13,000 books and periodicals, covering topography, church and cathedral architecture and archaeology, architects, liturgy, church fittings and furnishings, stained glass, organs, bells and monuments, and including reference works such as Pevsner’s Buildings of England series and the Victoria County History
• Over 100 current periodicals, on ecclesiastical and heritage subjects
• Archive collections including photographic and manuscript material, such as the Wippell Mowbray war memorial photographs and Canon Clarke’s church notebooks
• Survey Files on about 16,000 parish churches, many containing guidebooks, postcards and photographs
• An extensive slide collection
• Copies of the records of the contents of over 1,000 individual churches compiled by the NADFAS Church Recorders

New Library Accommodation

We are pleased to inform regular and potential readers that the Library has now re-opened in Church House, Westminster, in a new location (which once housed the National Society Library).  Although most of the collections are available, there is temporarily restricted access to some of the periodicals which are currently being returned from storage.  However, external readers needing to arrange access to any of the collections or assistance with research enquiries may do so by letter, telephone (number as above) or e-mail  (enquiries.ccb@c-of-e.org.uk).

For up to date information about the Library, please continue to check the website.

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