Please note the Library is not open on Christmas Eve. The reading room closes at 19.30 on Thursday 19th of December 2019 and reopens on Thursday 2 January 2020 at 10.00.

Please note that from October 2019 Lambeth Palace Library will be closed on Fridays.

 The Library is open from 10am to 5pm on Tuesdays and Wednesday  and from 10am to 7.30pm on Thursdays. Last document orders are at 4.30pm (including Thursday evenings). If you intend to arrive at the Library after 4.30pm on Thursday please order your material 48hrs in advance. This can be done either in the reading room or by emailing archives@churchofengland.org [4]. Please note that the Library is closed on Mondays. 

Christmas and Easter closure

The Library is closed on public holidays, for 10 days at Christmas beginning on Christmas Eve, for ten days at Easter beginning on Good Friday, and exceptionally at other times.

Obtaining a ticket

Access to the Library's collections is freely available to the public and appointments are not necessary. However, on their first visit users must obtain a library ticket. Tickets are valid for two years and allow access to all classes of material with the exception of some restricted material.

In order to be issued with a ticket, readers should bring the following: one piece of photo ID and one proof of address. Church of England clergy with entry in the current Crockford's Clerical Directory do not need to bring evidence of address.

Readers should present one piece of ID from each of the following lists:

Photo ID

• Passport
• Driving licence
• Police/customs/Home Office/warrant card
• Forces ID card
• Expired Lambeth Palace Library card

Proof of address

• Recent (less than 3 months old) utility bill (Gas, Electricity, Telephone, Water)
• Recent (less than 3 months old) bank/building society statement (no online/bank branch print-offs)
• Credit card statement
• Council tax bill/council rent book, state pension book
• Benefit/family credit book
• Passports (where the address has been officially entered by the issuing authority)
• Driving licence (where the address has been officially entered by the issuing authority)
  

Please note that if an item appears on both lists it can only be used once.

Restricted material is identified as such in the online catalogues. For this material, surrogates (e.g. colour microfilm) are usually produced. Readers wishing to consult the originals should contact the Library in advance, in writing or by email, to request permission, explaining the nature of the research and why access to original material is necessary.

Members of staff of the National Church Institutions should bring their staff pass, which will be valid for all classes of material with the exception of restricted material such as illuminated manuscripts.

Lambeth Palace Library is the historic library and record office of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the principal repository of the documentary history of the Church of England. Its collections have been freely available for research since 1610.

The records held here date from the 9th century to the present day, and their broad scope reflects the office of Archbishop as head of the Province of Canterbury, his national and international roles in leading the Church of England and the Anglican Communion worldwide, and the wealth and power of Archbishops in past centuries which enabled them to collect books and manuscripts of the highest quality and significance.

James I described the Library as ‘a monument of fame' in his kingdom. Peter the Great, who visited in 1698, is recorded as saying that nothing in England astonished him as much as Lambeth Palace Library; he had never thought there were so many books in all the world.

See also the source guide to Library Records [9].

In 1996 Lambeth Palace Library took into its care all the early collections of Sion College, the historic library of the City of London clergy, which comprise manuscripts, pre-1850 printed books, and pamphlets. Its collection complements that of Lambeth with a key focus on the Church, but a rich diversity of other subject material.

The Record Centre and Lambeth Palace Library are moving to a new building to form a joint repository.

The reading room will be closed while the collections are being moved. The 30th of April 2020 will be the last day that CERC's reading room will be open. The New Library is expected to open in early 2021. We are sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Please note that the Record Centre is situated in Bermondsey; see the bottom of the page for contact details. 

The Church of England Record Centre holds the archive of the central bodies of the Church of England: the Church Commissioners, Archbishops’ Council, National Society and Church of England Pensions Board, as well as the records of their predecessor bodies.

The core collections date from 1704, following the creation of Queen Anne’s Bounty. The material reflects the evolving organisation of the Church of England and the multitude of roles the Church played in the social, religious and economic history of England and Wales, as well covering colonial history and the Anglican Church abroad.

The collections also include copies of the records of the contents of over 1,500 individual churches compiled by the NADFAS Church Recorders; archival material including notebooks and papers of Canon Clarke and of Gordon Barnes; and extensive photographic collections. CERC also holds detailed care files on 16,000 parish churches, many containing guidebooks, postcards and photographs.

If you would like to consult material, this is possible by appointment. Please contact us to book a table in the Reading Room at the Record Centre.

Opening Hours:

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10am-4pm, except public holidays. Details of Easter and Christmas closure will be published on this page.

To book an appointment:

- please give at least 2 working days' notice

- check the references of the items you wish to see

email these to us at archives@churchofengland.org [4] putting 'Advance Order (CERC)' in the subject line.

We will then confirm your booking. If you are unable to make your appointment, please let us know.

On your first visit, you must register for a reader's ticket. You can also use this card to access Lambeth Palace Library.

To obtain the ticket you need to bring 2 forms of ID - one piece of photo ID and one proof of address from each of these lists:

Photo ID

Passport; Driving licence; Police/Customs/Home Office/Warrant Card; Forces ID card; Old Lambeth Palace Library/CERC reader's card.

Proof of Address

Recent Utility Bill (Gas, Electricity, Telephone, Water - less than 3 months old); Bank/Building Society Statement (printouts not accepted); Credit Card Statement; Council Tax Bill/Council Rent Book; State Pension Book Benefit/Family Credit Book; Passport (where the address has been officially entered by the issuing authority); Driving Licence with address; TV licence.

Any item appearing on both lists can only be used once.

[Staff of the National Church Institutions: you do not need to register for a reader's ticket but bring your staff pass.]

To reduce the delay of registration, you may wish to provide us with information in advance. Please send us (by email):

• a passport-style digital photograph of yourself
• title/forename/surname
• your postal address (which must match the address on the ID you bring on your first visit)
• telephone number
• email address

Please note that you are still required to bring the two forms of ID mentioned above on your first visit.

Disability access provision: please contact the Record Centre in advance.

E-mail: archives@churchofengland.org
[12]

Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 1030

Post: The Church of England Record Centre, 15 Galleywall Road, South Bermondsey, London, SE16 3PB.

Details of job vacancies at LPL and CERC will appear here.