Library of St John the Beheaded

The Library of St John the Beheaded is a secret library of forbidden texts, owned by the Catholic church. It is hidden in St Giles' Rookery in London so that the Vatican may deny its existence. The books in the library have been hidden by the church for the protection of the public; a small number of patrons are allowed access to the library, but with very few exceptions the books are never allowed to leave. The library's catalogue includes dangerous occult literature, evidence of alien activity (including the diary of Redvers Fenn-Cooper) and lost works by famous authors including Plato and Shakespeare.

The Doctor has been a patron of the library since his first incarnation, when he visited it with Susan.

History
The unprecedented theft of a book from the library in 1887 led the church to enlist the aid of Sherlock Holmes, who soon discovered that book was last read by the Seventh Doctor. (All-Consuming Fire) In the twentieth century, Professor Travers was granted access to the library when researching possible previous invasion attempts by the Great Intelligence. Both the Professor's daughter Anne and Ashley Chapel use books from the library in 1999 to learn quantum mnemonics, the language of the Old Ones, and the Sixth Doctor also visits the library while investigating these events. (Millennial Rites)

The library may have been founded by (or at least with the assistance of) Irving Braxiatel, and it seems likely its contents eventually become part of the Braxiatel Collection.