THERE are probably a few scholars over the years who have been ticked off by their alma mater for defacing their desks, but not so many who have been caught carving their initials into a stone pillar in the classroom.

There are at least a couple of reasons for this. One being the average modern schoolboy is unlikely to have anything allowed about his person capable of gouging into stone.

A mobile phone might do many things but it won’t do that. And two, there are about as many stone pillars in classrooms these days as there are inkwells.

However, in 1748 it was different and as a bored R Clark gazed out across College Green from his classroom high in the rafters of Worcester Cathedral, he passed a winter’s day by leaving his mark.

Thus R. Clark, Feb 1, 1748, in stylish Gothic script, is still visible more than 250 years later carved into one of the pillars of the cathedral library.

It is not, by a long way, the oldest item there, but it does bring a folksy touch to what is otherwise an almost overwhelming mass of academia. Books, books and more books, fill the cabinets and line the walls of what is one of the most important cathedral libraries in Britain. Only Durham has more mediaeval manuscripts.

The famed 17th century diarist Samuel Pepys found some of the ancient illustrations so beguiling, he couldn’t stop himself cutting them out and taking them with him. Naughty Pepys. In the House of God, too.

R Clark came to be sitting there in the 1740s not because he was doing research but because between 1700 and 1866, all the books were removed to the Cathedral’s Chapter House and the library turned into classrooms for pupils at the King’s School.

At the end of that period the library was re-instated and all the books, together with the huge bookcases that had been specially made for them in the Chapter House, were carried back to their original home.

Since this involved completely dismantling the bookcases and carrying everything up a narrow, spiral stone staircase with the best part of 100 steps, it must have been the removal job from hell. Although that may not be an appropriate description given the venue.

The library has been in its present location since at least the 14th century and now has individual items.

The earliest documents are three leaves of a book now known as Offa’s Bible, which date back to the 8th century, but the gems of the collection are the Albus and the Worcester Antiphonar.

The Albus is the register of the monastery and cathedral at Worcester from 1301 to 1444.

As cathedral librarian David Morrison put it: “ This was a blow by blow account of day to day life,”

The volume was painstakingly restored in the 1990s during a three-year project which, when you think about it, seems quite good value at less than £6,000.

The Antiphonar is the collection of music and words for services of the monastery and cathedral from 1230 to 1234.

The historical significance of the library, which attracts visitors from all over the world, is that in days of old the cathedral was a seat of learning.

All monasteries had libraries, usually in the cloisters, which is where the one in Worcester Cathedral was originally.

The alcoves in the stone walls of the cloisters can still be seen and are now used to store the old bells.

Here, monks would have stood at writing desks, usually transcribing on to vellum or parchment.

One aspect of page design that does catch the modern eye is the width of the margins on the documents.This was so notes could be added later, although some slightly wayward monks appear to have used the space to doodle in as they went about their laborious task.

Mr Morrison said: “No one minded you writing in books in those days.”

Due to the obvious fragility of the books and documents they have to be kept in carefully monitored temperature conditions.

No easy task seeing as air conditioning can’t be installed in the full library because of the antiquity of the roof timbers, which have already survived an attack by death watch beetle some decades ago.

To overcome this problem, a special store room was built at one end in 2004 to house the most important and fragile documents.

Costing £25,000 it was paid for by a Heritage Lottery grant and has resulted in a sealed area where modern technology ensures the correct temperature and humidity.

Despite its obvious appearance of age and venerability, Worcester Cathederal library is an on-going project. Modern documents are added all the time.

There are details of wedding and funeral services, income and expenditure accounts and all the paper trails of life in the 21st century.

They are on paper, too. Not on faceless computer screens. Which makes a refreshing change. It’s also something that young R Clark back in 1748 would recognise.