The Radnorshire Society Archive and Library

Library and Archive Reopening

All being well, the library will re-open on Tuesday 8th September from 10:00AM to 12:30PM and similarly on subsequent Tuesdays. We can probably only accommodate a maximum of two people in each room, and all visits have to be pre-booked without exception. If you want to reserve a place, please email me at: brianm870307@gmail.com, letting me know the purpose of your visit and where you would like to be seated. If you want to look at anything in particular, I can try to find it for you if you let me know in advance.

The library has been deep-cleaned, and the water pressure for the wash basin taps has been restored. New rules (see Covid-19 Library Rules) have been introduced to keep us all safe, and you will need to register your attendance in the spreadsheet on the desktop PC.

Brian Matthews, Librarian

The Radnorshire Society Library, Dolmynach House, Bridge St, Rhayader, LD6 5AG.

Librarian contact: librarian@radnorshiresociety.org

The Society’s archive and library are housed at Dolmynach House in Rhayader. The archive and library are open on Tuesdays, from 10:00am to 12:30pm. Arrangements to visit at other times should be made to either the Hon. Librarian or the Honorary Secretary.

The Archive and Library has settled into Dolmynach House and its collections are available to scholars, casual researchers as well as the simply curious, the collections of the Society are now substantially catalogued  and continue to expand.  The collection is well stored, ensuring that they are properly preserved for future generations.

Dolmynach House is a late-Victorian house, which was lived in by three generations of the same family. The furniture and decoration, as well as the family’s personal belongings have been preserved almost untouched for future generations to see. See http://dolmynach.org.uk for further information about the house.

Click to search the Photographic Archive.

Click to search the Document Archive.

Donating Books and other documents to The Radnorshire Society

The Radnorshire Society library welcomes offers of donations, especially books, photographs, and other documents relating to Radnorshire and its’ surrounding areas. Such donations are most welcome and contribute significantly to the research value of the collection. Potential donors should, in the first instance, contact the Librarian.

Book and Periodical Collection

The Society’s library holds a significant collection of books and periodicals related to the history or Radnorshire. There are also many other books which relate to the history and archaeology of Wales , as well as Great Britain in general. The aim is that the catalogue of works will be available online.

For more information about the archive, with examples of its contents and to search its contents, click here.

In the library, there are nearly 700 books, which range from the 17th to the 21st Century, as well as periodicals, maps, photographs, glass (magic-lantern) slides, and postcards. Besides having all of the Radnorshire Society Transactions from 1931, there are also copies of the Journals from other organisations in the surrounding area.

An initial searchable summary of the printed books and local history periodicals held in the Library is shown below, this is to be expanded as cataloguing is completed. This is not intended to be a full bibliographical catalogue and for a more extended description of particular items, reference must be made to the database held at the Library, its older card indices and hand-lists maintained in the Library. Such a procedure is essential in the case of periodicals, some sets of which are incomplete, and it is beyond the scope of this list to give precise holdings.

Search the Library

You may select items from the catalogue below by typing your search terms in the Author and/or Title boxes.  To search across all columns use the Search Box.