Lord Mayor Opens the PPL

Inside the hidden Plymouth library you didn't even know about

By William Telford Business Editor Plymouth Herald ©

Plymouth has a new library – even though it’s more than 200 years old.

That’s because the Plymouth Proprietary Library (PPL) has moved to a new base and is now officially open and wants you to drop in to what has been something of a city secret for two centuries.

The library was founded in 1810, making it among the oldest of its kind in the country, and is home to more than 20,000 books, from some of the oldest and rarest in Devon right through to modern bestselling novels.

But most people don’t know anything about the library and have never been inside it. That’s because as a charitable private subscription library its has been the preserve of a few members and was previously tucked away in a building on North Hill.

Now that’s all about to change. It’s shifted from its old home to the former doctors’ surgery it bought in St Barnabas Terrace, Stoke, and its trustees want more people to join and non-members to attend lectures, social events, maybe even small concerts.

Father Gregory Capenter, PPL president, said: “The library was not well known in North Hill, but now we are reopening a traditional library when others are closing - it’s a new chapter.”

Anyone can join the PPL, with subscriptions costing £60 a year or £30 for anyone aged under 25. Members can then take out two new books and five old ones at any time.

It has a huge fiction section, based in The Long Room, with a specialist crime section. Up to 30 new titles are added every two months.

The library also boasts Devon’s premier biography section, a room full of local history tomes and lots of poetry, including the entire 1,000 book collection of Devon poet Simon Curtis, left to the PPL on his death.

There are also some very rare and historical volumes, which can’t be allowed out of the building, including a book of Catholic Prayers which dates from 1716 and is believed to be unique.

Trustees are also inviting people to swell the 60-strong membership and to also join the book club, poetry group, attend talks and call in for coffee mornings.

“We are trying to encourage readers, both in this area and the whole of Plymouth,” said Sue Bartlett, honorary librarian. “We want to increase the collections and start a maritime studies section. Our book buying committee meets every month to look at what’s been published and if there are local authors we try to pick up on them.”

PPL was founded by the same Victorian philanthropists who went on to create Plymouth Athenaeum. The idea was to enable ordinary people to be able to learn and improve themselves via lectures and research.

Both organisations were housed in buildings designed by the famous Plymouth architect John Foulston – and both were destroyed in the World War Two blitz of Plymouth.

The PPL moved to a building it bought in North Hill, but sold it three years ago and leased it back. It then bought the former surgery, on the site that was once a church, and employed a specialist library removal firm to shift the books.

The PPL has upgraded the building, creating a kitchen, and used the original oak shelving from its former home at the new St Barnabas Terrace location.

The building was officially opened by Lord Mayor of Plymouth Sam Davey, who said: “I congratulate the trustees in their endeavour to grow this venerable institution.”