"
But in the fifteenth century a new library was built
over the eastern cloister. Bishop Nicholas of Bubwith,
in his will of 1424, bequeathed one thousand marks to
be faithfully applied and disposed for the construction and
new building of a certain library to be newly erected upon
the eastern space of the cloister, situate between the south
door of the church next the chamber of the escheator of
the church and the gate which leads directly from the
church by the cloister into the palace of the bishop.[1] The
work was begun by his executors, but certain signs of
break in the building suggest some delay in finishing it.
This room is probably the only cathedral library built over
a cloister which remains in its original completeness. It
is 165 feet by 12 feet; now only about two-thirds of it
are devoted to the library. When this room was first
fitted up as a library no one knows; but tradition fixes
the date at 1472. The present fittings were put in during
Bishop Creighton's time (1670-72).
[1] In the fifteenth century the bishops of Wells were good
friends of learning: Skirlaw gave books to University College,
Oxford; Bowet left a large library; Stafford gave books; Bekynton
was the companion of the most cultivated men of his time.
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