Gladstone's Library

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A unique residential library in North Wales with beautiful Reading Rooms, Food for Thought restaurant, accommodation and more. Read, write, rest!

29/10/2026

We are delighted to announce our first speaker for our Hearth Festival...

Tristan Hughes!

Tristan Hughes was born in northern Ontario and brought up in Wales, on Ynys Mon. A novelist and short story writer, he is the author of five novels, including Hummingbird, which won the Edward Stanford Award for Fiction with a Sense of Place and the Wales Book of Year People’s Choice Award, and Boundary Waters, which was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. He is currently a Reader in Creative Writing at Cardiff University.

In his talk, Tristan will talk about the origins of his novel Boundary Waters, and some of the mazy paths that led him to write an historical novel about voyageurs and fur traders set in the Canadian wilderness.

Hearth will take place on the 30th January 2027, and tickets are £110. There are also a limited number of half day tickets available for purchase.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit our website (link is in our bio!).

Parthian Books

28/10/2026

🎄 Enjoy a festive Christmas Lunch from Tuesday 1st December to Sunday 20th December (12pm – 2:30pm) at Gladstone's Library!

For more information and to book, please visit our website (link is in the first comment, and our bio) or call 01244 532350 🎁

26/10/2026

It's been quite rainy here in North Wales, but we've been lucky enough to see a rainbow or two! This picture was taken before our roof restoration, have you noticed the difference? 🌈 🔎

To celebrate the completion of our historic roof restoration, enjoy 15% off your 2026 stay! Includes all new bookings placed before the 19th December 2026, for stays for the rest of 2026. Use code CELEB15 at checkout to claim your discount.

For full terms and conditions and to make a booking, please visit our website (link is in our bio!).

25/10/2026

Join Revd Dr Malcolm Guite for 'Imagination bodies forth: Christ and the Poetic Imagination' at St Deiniol’s Church, Hawarden on Wednesday 11 November at 7.30pm.

The Hellins Lecture is an occasional theological lecture in memory of the late Canon E J W Hellins DD. This year, the Diocese of St Asaph are delighted to welcome the Revd Dr Malcolm Guite, renowned poet and Life Fellow and a former Chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge.

Malcolm Guite is acclaimed for his books of religious poetry, particularly his sonnets, which often engage with Christian themes, the Psalms, nature, and the liturgical calendar. He has authored acclaimed collections like Sounding the Seasons, The Singing Bowl, and David’s Crown, and is praised for making faith-infused poetry accessible and inspiring.

Visit the link in our comments to reserve your spot!

Please note: this event is not held at or hosted by Gladstone's Library.

23/10/2026

This month, we have had Y5 students from local primary schools visiting Gladstone's Library to learn all about Victorian Local Leaders!

In these sessions, students learned about William and Catherine Gladstone, as well as some of the lesser-known members of the Gladstone Family, such as Helen Gladstone and Mary Drew.

They also had the chance to design their own bookplate, and they were invited to view some of our collections, including the smallest book in the Library!

Our Engagement and Learning Programme has been funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to develop and deliver a new two-year engagement programme for young people aged 14 to 24 from September 2025 to August 2027.

If you would like to learn more about our Engagement and Learning programme, please visit our Website (link is in our bio!).

✉️ If you work with or support young people and would like to get involved, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]!

22/10/2026

📢 Hearth is returning for 2027! 📢

On the 30th January 2027 our coziest festival returns, and with a new look for the new year!🔥📖

Four speakers, four talks, one fireplace, closing with a panel that brings all four speakers together to answer questions, delve deeper and see where the conversation takes us. We listen together, talk together, and eat together.

🎟️ Tickets are £110, and includes:

- All four talks
- A two-course lunch in our Food for Thought Restaurant
- An evening panel with all four speakers
- A two-course dinner in our Food for Thought Restaurant
- Refreshments throughout the day.

💭 There are also a limited number of morning and afternoon tickets available.

To purchase tickets (and for a sneak peek of our line-up!) visit our website, link in bio!

16/10/2026

At Gladstone's Library, we recognise the importance of allowing young people to access historical items, and have the opportunity to safely handle our unique collections. 🔍️ 📖

To achieve this, our Engagement and Learning Officer, Alice works alongside our Head of Collections, Isobel and Archivist, Sophia. They work hard to carefully select items from our collections which will enrich the sessions, and bring the history to life.

They also take part in showcasing these items to young people and educate our budding historians on how to handle them safely!

The Library’s collections played a key role in the first year of the project and were used in 40% of sessions. This meant young people actively engaged with 148 items from our Printed Collections and 122 from our Archives.

Our Engagement and Learning Programme has been funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to develop and deliver a new two-year engagement programme for young people aged 14 to 24 from September 2025 to August 2027.

If you would like to learn more about our Engagement and Learning programme, please visit our Website (link is in our bio!).

✉️ If you work with or support young people and would like to get involved, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]!

15/10/2026

To celebrate the completion of our historic roof restoration, enjoy 15% off your 2026 stay! Includes all new bookings placed before the 19th December 2026, for stays for the rest of 2026. Use code CELEB15 at checkout to claim your discount.

For full terms and conditions and to make a booking, please visit our website (link is in our bio!).

14/10/2026

📢 Tickets for our M.R. James Festival, Talking Terror, have almost sold out! 📢

James’s ghostly tales were written to be read aloud to a gathering of friends, perhaps on a cold November night… so where better for us to gather than the gothic Gladstone’s Library for a festival packed full of discussion, performance and twinkling candlelight? 🕯️ 🌙

Join us to celebrate the master of the English ghost story, M.R. James, in this two-day festival! Full Weekend tickets include:
🎙️ All panels, performances, and the podcast recording
🛌 1 night accomodation
🍴 Meals during your stay

🎟️ We also have limited tickets still available for our podcast recording and evening performance with Nunkie Theatre.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit our website (link is in our bio!)

Address

Gladstone's Library, Church Lane
Hawarden
CH53DF

Telephone

+44 (0) 1244 532350

Website

https://linktr.ee/gladlib, http://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/

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