News

New Curator and Librarian joins the team at Winchester Cathedral

Eleanor Swire has been appointed as the new Curator and Librarian at Winchester Cathedral, having officially started in the role this week. 

With a background in historic libraries and special collections, Eleanor brings a wealth of experience to the role and will be instrumental in the ongoing work of safeguarding and interpreting the Cathedral’s collections. 

Eleanor will be responsible for conserving and curating the Cathedral’s treasures, including those on display in the award-winning Kings and Scribes exhibition, such as the Winchester Bible, Bleau globes, medieval statuary and the bones of Saxon monarchs and bishops.  

Working closely with the learning, marketing and visitor experience teams, Eleanor will actively engage and interpret the collections as part of the creative strategy to increase and diversify audiences over the coming years, as well as further develop the inventory and establish collaborative relationships with academic institutions. 

Eleanor Swire said “I am thrilled to be joining Winchester Cathedral as the new Curator and Librarian. Having been fascinated with the past for as long as I can remember, I am passionate about preserving historic collections and making them accessible to as many people as possible. For the past five years, I have worked in the Pepys Library at Magdalene College, Cambridge, home to the collections of the seventeenth-century diarist, Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) – yet I have also worked respectively in a museum and archives centre, so have had a broad mix of experiences across the heritage sector. I am really looking forward to meeting all of the Cathedral staff and volunteers, and to joining the Cathedral community as a new member, very soon.”

Canon Roland Riem, Vice-Dean at Winchester Cathedral said “ We are delighted to welcome Eleanor to the team at Winchester Cathedral. She brings a wealth of experience to the role and has a real flair for heritage outreach, which will be a huge asset to us as we look to further our engagement around the conservation and curation of the Cathedral’s treasures.”