Whether you're a book lover, a history buff, or simply someone who appreciates remarkable design, the UK’s most beautiful libraries offer more than just shelves of books – they’re cultural landmarks and quiet sanctuaries to escape the world outside.
From ornate neo-Gothic reading rooms to sleek contemporary spaces, these libraries each tell their own story through stone, wood, glass, and, of course, words.
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Most beautiful libraries in the UK
The John Rylands Library, Manchester
It’s difficult to miss the neo-Gothic splendour of the John Rylands Library when walking along Deansgate. The main reading room features white marble statues of John and Enriqueta Rylands, with two large stained glass windows, reading alcoves and beautiful oriel windows.
Opened to the public in 1900, the library now houses the majority of the Special Collections of the University of Manchester Library, which includes a Gutenberg Bible and letters of notable figures, such as the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell and the scientist John Dalton.
The Leeds Library, Leeds
Founded in 1768 and located at its current home on Commercial Street since 1808, the Leeds Library is the oldest subscription library in the British Isles. You could walk past it and completely miss it from the outside – but inside, there is a stunning historical collection of books, as well as more than 140,000 modern works.
Head into the magnificent Georgian Main Room and head down to a labyrinthine basement below. Membership is available from £45 per year, but the library also runs regular tours.
Sir Duncan Rice Library, Aberdeen
The main academic library for the University of Aberdeen isn’t an ancient medieval monument to literature – unlike many of the older libraries featured here. Designed by Danish architects, the cube-shaped library opened in 2011 and juts out of the landscape in dramatic fashion. The seven-storey tower is clad in wavy stripes, but the inside is just as impressive. The central atrium spirals up like a vortex, moving position at each level.
Gladstone’s Library, Wales
Ever fancied sleeping overnight in a library? In north-east Wales at Gladstone’s, you can do just that. It was founder William Gladstone’s vision to create a residential wing, which was installed in 1906, following his death in 1898. The Grade I-listed building now houses historical reading rooms, 26 bedrooms, a guest lounge, café and restaurant – and is an ideal spot for anyone wanting to go on a writer’s retreat somewhere particularly bookish.
Duke Humfrey’s Library, Oxford
You can’t really have a list of beautiful British libraries and not include the Bodleian in Oxford. Duke Humfrey’s Library is the oldest reading room in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, bedecked with oak bookcases and built-in desks. Constructed in the 15th century, this is one of the oldest libraries in Europe – making it a perfect place to sit and take in 600 years of literary history. Thanks to its magnificent, medieval stylings, the library played the role of Hogwarts Library in the Harry Potter film franchise.
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Chetham’s Library, Manchester
Set in the grounds of Chetham’s School of Music, Chetham’s Library is the oldest library still in public use, having been in continuous use for over 350 years. It is housed in a sandstone building dating from 1421, which was initially used to house the priests of Manchester’s Collegiate Church.
Its history in the years since has been no less interesting – in fact, Chetham’s was the meeting place of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels when Marx visited Manchester in 1845. The research they undertook during these visits to the library led to their shared work, The Communist Manifesto. Chetham’s Library is open to readers by prior appointment, with tours also available.
Brotherton Library, Leeds
The Brotherton Library might have been built in the 1930s, but its Neoclassical design means you can’t help but feel as though you’ve stepped further back in time. It’s only the Art Deco fittings that give the game away – and, if anything, add to the aesthetic. The Brotherton’s round, domed reading room is the main draw for University of Leeds students.
The Long Library at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Kent
Nicknamed ‘the Big Room’ by Sissinghurst owners Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson, the library was once a stables and saddle room. It was transformed by the pair in the 1930s as part of their renovation and restoration of the tower and the buildings on the site in Kent (now managed by the National Trust). Both authors, Sackville-West and Nicolson prioritised the library – housing almost 4,000 books and using the space as a drawing room for entertaining guests, including Virginia Woolf and Winston Churchill.
The stone fireplace was built using fragments of the Elizabethan ruin in the garden, and the walls have been panelled in dark oak.
Muncaster Castle, Cumbria
With a celestial ceiling and a balcony level around the octagonal space, the library at Muncaster Castle is home to about 6,000 books and has been used as a wedding venue in recent years. It was built on the site of the old medieval kitchens and servants hall by the First Lord Muncaster in the 1780s.
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