In books there exists a kind of magic… between the aging covers on library shelves where they live, contained in tiny, abstract marks on sheets of paper, are voices from the past. Voices that reach into the future, into our own hearts and minds, to tell us what they knew, what they’d learned, what they’d seen, what they’d felt. Is that not magic?
Our libraries provide a home to these books, but some libraries have more than books as just residents… take Marsh’s library, for example. The library is located behind Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. It is Ireland’s oldest public library and for the most part, the inside remains untouched. It’s also one of the very few 18th century buildings left in Dublin that is still used for its original purpose. Many people relate the interior look of the library to Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, and the resemblance is enough to add even more of a thrill to your visit… however not as much as the thrill of potentially sighting a ghost!
Legend has it that at midnight, the ghost of an old man has been spotted rummaging through the bookcases. That old man is believed to be none other than Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, the library’s founder. He was Archbishop of Dublin from 1694 and in 1707, he founded his library on the grounds of The House of St. Sepulchre, which was the Archbishop’s house. What would the Archbishop be looking for even after death, you might ask? The reason involves a family member, his favourite niece, Grace, whom he had reared from a child…
Grace was nineteen years old when she fell in love with a sea captain. Marsh did not approve and made his opposition to the relationship known. Grace and the sea captain ran away and eloped, but not before she left a note for her uncle explaining her disappearance and asking for forgiveness. Not wanting the Archbishop to find it in time to stop her, she placed it in one of the thousands of books in the library. But Archbishop Marsh never found the note, and returns to the library frequently, on an endless search for it. Walking from the first gallery through to the second, some say you can feel the temperature drop. Some say the chill comes from the north facing wall also, but let’s not pretend the thought wouldn’t cross your mind that this chill is indeed due to a ghostly spirit!
Another ghostly story to be told: many are well aware that the bodies of Jonathan Swift and his girlfriend Stella are buried next door in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Copies were made of their skulls and Stella’s can be found in one of the cages at the back of the library. Jonathan’s is next door in St. Patrick’s, but some people say that Swift’s ghost comes to Marsh’s library to visit Stella!
Whether or not Marsh’s is haunted, there are many elements inside the library that lend an eerie vibe. The cages in the back, for example. Meant to be reading cages, they do give off an almost troublesome vibe similar enough to a jail cell, but they were not necessarily used for criminals… or known criminals, anyway! Chained libraries were common from the Middle Ages as a means of keeping expensive books safe. In Marsh’s Library, they locked the readers into cages to stop them from stealing the books. At the back of the library, you can see three of these cages for yourself — they are not used any longer but are still there! It wouldn’t be that every reader had to take their books inside the cages, but only those who appeared to be suspicious… so yes, library visitors were sometimes judged solely on their appearance and mannerisms. Others were left alone to read on the benches within the first and second galleries, monitored by the librarian.
Besides the transparent visitors, Marsh’s has had many famous visitors too. Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift and James Joyce have all put their signatures in the visitor book. Stoker was a regular reader in Marsh’s, visiting frequently during his studies at Trinity College. There are even detailed records of what he studied on his visits: religion, witchcraft and travel in Eastern Europe. While some of the library’s visitors went on to leave tremendous impacts in Irish literature and history, the library itself played a small role in Irish history as well! An entire shelf of books was severely wounded during the 1916 rising, so in some regard, we could say the books here at Marsh’s Library took a bullet for Ireland…
During the week of the 1916 Rising, the library found itself on the front lines of conflict, caught between the rebels in Jacob’s Biscuit Factory and a British army machine gun post in St. Patrick’s Park nearby. On Sunday, April 30th, 1916 , a rather careless army gunner struck the reading room of Marsh’s with bullets, damaging the roof and windows and a few books from part of an original collection donated by Marsh’s first librarian, the Huguenot refugee Dr Elias Bouhéreau, one of which you can see to the left. Each of the four books was hit in the spine with an entry hole of 1.5cm, widening — throughout the 400-odd pages of each volume — towards an exit wound five to six times larger! The books were deliberately left unrepaired to remain a chilling lesson in the realities of war. In the words of Jason McElligott, the library’s director, “the trajectory of bullets through such dense pagination provides a hint of the effect on frail human flesh and bone”… and it makes you wonder, if the above photo gives any indication as to how the two would compare. how much worse a bullet would be if actually taken by yourself!
Marsh’s Library is practically hidden behind the cemetery of St. Patrick’s — maybe a little too well hidden. Considering the treasure it represents, both literary and architectural, it is criminally under-appreciated by both tourists and Dubliners alike. Inside the library you can also pick up a booklet during your visit, illustrated by local artist John Rooney, which serves as an alternative guide with ghost stories and other entertaining facts. For example, some of the books here were apparently preserved with urine! And while some of these facts and stories may be exaggerated for mere entertainment purposes… it’s way more fun to believe them.
How to Visit: Joint tickets to both Marsh’s Library and St. Patrick’s Cathedral are available here for €11 and I highly recommend a visit to both places, but individual tickets are of course available as well. A single ticket to Marsh’s is only €5 full price and under 18s are free of charge. They are open Tuesday to Friday from 9.30am to 5pm and Saturdays from 10am to 5pm and it is well worth a visit! Marsh’s Library is one of the hidden — actually, hidden — gems of Dublin!
