Libraries Winter Hours 2025
The Christmas vacation and inter-semester break are almost here. To try to help you plan-ahead, our revised opening hours can be found below. These include some additional opening hours during the revision period, as…
Latest posts
Taken from a medieval source, this carol transcribed by Thomas Wright has many of the hallmarks of the seasonal songs we still sing today:…
Date Thursday December 11, 2025
Category University Collections
We’ve all heard of “The Holly and the Ivy”, but what about “The Ivy and the Holly”? Pay closer attention to the version of this popular…
Date Wednesday December 10, 2025
Category University Collections
This medieval song takes us into a flourishing springtime garden, to hear the Christmas story. Our narrator leads us through lush greenery…
Date Tuesday December 9, 2025
Category University Collections
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December 8th – Whole ‘quires’ of angels sing
Philosopher and admirer of Descartes, Henry More, provides us with today’s carol. Published under More’s pseudonym “Francisus Palaeopolitanus”, it appears towards the end of his snappily titled (take a breath):…
December 7th – Singing like a bird
Perusing popular lyrics of bygone decades suggests that, unlike the carols with which we are more familiar today, many traditional carols eschewed wintery scenes and snow for verdant abundance and tropical colour. The…
December 6th – Worchepe thee seynt Nicolas
Although we now recognise good ole’ St Nick as the jolly rotund fellow in red, who brings gifts to nice children on the 25th of December, it was the 6th of December which was traditionally celebrated as the Feast of St…