Francis Trigge was an Elizabethan Puritan clergyman. He was born
in 1547 and died in 1606. He was a licensed preacher and his
sermons were published in his lifetime. He was concerned for the
people of the countryside of Grantham and Lincolnshire where common
land was being enclosed by the rich landlords.
He founded the library "for the increase of learning" in the
clergy and people of the soke of Grantham and the county of
Lincolnshire. His library was to be kept in the porch room at St.
Wulfram's and the books were to be chained to desks and read in the
library. He gave £100 for the books to be purchased.
The porch room was lived in during the 14th century by one of
the Vicars of Grantham and has a fireplace, a piscina and an oriel
window which gave the priest a good view of the altar in the
church. Overall charge of the library was given to the Alderman of
Grantham assisted by the two vicars and the schoolmaster from the
then Edward VI Grammar School
The library was the first public reference library in England,
founded in 1598 and still in its original setting.
The chains were hand-forged and made in Grantham. The rods were
made in 1884 when the desks were replaced by the present shelves.
However, the frames for the shelves were made from the original
desks.
The books, in many cases, still have their original patterned
bindings and some 80 still have their chains. The subject matter
reflects the paramount interest of the time - post Reformation -
when there was much discussion over the way forward for the Church.
There are histories of the church, commentaries on the Bible,
collections of sermons, works of the early and medieval
Fathers.
However, there are also law books, medical books, histories,
classical texts and natural history. The majority were printed in
the 16th century, however there are about 10 which are incunabulae
and also one or two which are unique or extremely rare.