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The HISTORY of REDDITCH New Town

Redditch Library

in 1850 a Literary and Scientific Institute was opened in Redditch. The Library and Reading
Room were first housed in 4, Prospect Hill, on the second floor above the shop of William
Heming, printer, stationer and founder of the Redditch Indicator. The working man`s
ticket was issued at four shillings a year, or one shilling and sixpence per quarter, and
entitled admission to the

It was later felt that the Institute needed more space, so building began in Church Road
in 1885, when Lieut. Col. the Hon. George H. Windsor-Clive, MP laid the foundation stone.
The new Institute building cost £2,400 and this money was gained from voluntary
subscriptions and donations. In 1886 Earl Beauchamp opened the new premises for the
School of Art, the Institute and its library. The new building consisted of a library, reading
room, elementary, advanced and modelling rooms. There were also a master’s room and
caretaker’s apartments and offices

The Institute’s buildings and assets were passed over to the Redditch Urban District
Council in 1929 for the purpose of a public library. The library was extended in 1956.
The newly formed County of Hereford and Worcester administered the Library from 1974,
and the new Library was officially opened in Market Square in January 1976.

The building in
Church Road
housed the
Literary and
S c i e n t i f i c
I n s t i t u t e ,
R e d d i t c h
College’s Art
section and
from the early
1980s a training
restaurant. It
was put on the
market in 2003
and it is now
occupied by
offices of the
R e d d i t c h
Standard. As
the property
was covered by
The Library has always been a key element in both Education and an old covenant
NEW College
Leisure
gave a grant to
arts groups
following the sale. The funds released ensured the continuity of investment into the arts
each year, as a new charity was set up to manage the money, working in association with

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