Cranston Lecture
The annual Cranston Lecture is the main source of income to provide for the continual professional restoration of the books and the upkeep of the library. It is usually held towards the end of October in St Mary’s Church, Chart Lane, Reigate. There is a display of books, including those that have been recently repaired.
The Cranston Lecture 2025 took place ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 21st 2025, and is now available online here: https://www.youtube.com/live/WAsQA9Tk7lY?si=zFyS_dtqc9mZOOe9
Speakers:
Andrea Thomas
Bountiful Benevolence: Recent Acquisitions By The Cranston Library
Hilary Ely
At Least In All 113 Volumes Great & Small: John Seyliard And His Gift to Reigate Publick Library
ANDREA THOMAS studied history at Somerville College, Oxford, and produced a doctoral thesis in Scottish history at the University of Edinburgh. She has worked as a schoolteacher and also maintains her research interests. She is the author of Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland, 1528-1542 (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2005) and Glory and Honour: The Renaissance in Scotland (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2013). She has been a trustee of the Cranston Library since 2003.
HILARY ELY studied Modern Languages at St Anne’s College Oxford, and is a Chartered Librarian. She worked in public libraries for 40 years, retiring in 2011. She has been a trustee of the Cranston Library since 1992, and Chairman of the trustees since 2008.
The Cranston Lecture 2024 took place on Tuesday 22nd October 2024:
https://www.youtube.com/live/4HE_SxVMqq4?si=7pU_R4yeQCK_CW6q
Speakers:
Andrea Thomas
May You Live In Interesting Times. The Scotland of Andrew Cranston c.1650-1708
Michael Beach
From Manuscript to Bookshelf. The lives and skills of the people who brought the books to Andrew Cranston’s shelves
Recent lectures have included:
2013
Giles Mandelbrote, A Tale of Two Libraries: Lambeth Palace and Sion College in the 17th century
Sean Hawkins: The Rev. John Newman Harrison (1815-1901): a Quest
2014
Hilary Ely, “…a Guinea with which was bought …”: Subscribers to Andrew Cranston’s Reigate Publick Library
Dr Keith Manley, Bodies in the Library: the Family Library of Agatha Christie
2015
Penelope Horsfall, William Penn, Quaker (1644-1718): a visitor to Surrey, especially Reigate
Michael Heneker, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” – a Legal Romp
2016
Christianna Thompson, The English Atlas of the Late Seventeenth Century
Dr Andrea Thomas, A Historical Calumny: George Buchanan’s ‘Detection of Mary Queen of Scots’
2017
Dr Andrea Thomas, Martin Luther and the Reformation after 500 Years
Sean Hawkins, Thomas Martin and Reigate’s Second Public Library
2018
Margaret Willes, John Evelyn’s Polyglot Bible
Hilary Ely, Gutenberg’s Revolution: manuscript to print on the shelves of the Cranston Library
2019
Penelope Horsfall, John, Lord Somers (1650-1716): Our Number One Trustee of 1708. Lawyer, Politician, Statesman. Lord Chancellor 1697-1700
Nick Cowlishaw, The Binding And Decoration Of Early Books
2020 – no lecture owing to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 – Click here for the recording Lecture presentation starts 20 minutes in.
Hilary Ely Early English Printing and the Cranston Collection
Dr Andrea Thomas Early Scottish Printing and the Cranston Collection
2022 – Click here for the recording Lecture presentation starts 5 minutes in.
Sean Hawkins The Knight Bible and the ‘Speckled Monster’
Andrea Thomas Pandemics in History
2023 – Click here for the recording.
>Hilary Ely Traces of Reigate’s parliamentary history in the Cranston Library
Owing to a technical problem, the first ten minutes and most of the slides are missing from the recording of the first paper. Click here for a copy of the slides, and here for a copy of the paper.
Andrea Thomas The Ogilby Atlases: an appeal.
Click here for a copy of the slides, and here for a copy of the paper.
To see a full list of all previous Cranston Lectures please click here.
~~~
If you would like to be included on our mailing or emailing list for the lectures, please click here or scan the QR code below to subscribe:
The Cranston Library, Reigate 