diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,5 +2,8 @@
 
 `http-directory` uses [PVP Versioning](https://pvp.haskell.org).
 
+## 0.1.1
+- add httpLastModified
+
 ## 0.1.0
 - initial release with httpDirectory, httpFileSize, and httpRedirect(s)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,3 +7,12 @@
 [![Build status](https://secure.travis-ci.org/juhp/http-directory.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/juhp/http-directory)
 
 A simple library for reading http directories.
+
+It uses http-client for http transport, and
+html-conduit and xml-conduit to parse the html for links.
+
+The library is intended for listing the files in http file directories,
+but since http directories are just html pages it can actually be used
+to list the links (href's) on any html webpage.
+
+See the haddock documentation for usage.
diff --git a/http-directory.cabal b/http-directory.cabal
--- a/http-directory.cabal
+++ b/http-directory.cabal
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 cabal-version:       1.18
 name:                http-directory
-version:             0.1.0
+version:             0.1.1
 synopsis:            http directory listing library
 description:
             Library for listing http directories of files (links).
-            Also it can check the size of files, and url redirects.
+            Also it can check the size and modtime of files,
+            and for url redirects.
 homepage:            https://github.com/juhp/http-directory
 bug-reports:         https://github.com/juhp/http-directory/issues
 license:             MIT
@@ -32,8 +33,10 @@
                        bytestring,
                        html-conduit,
                        http-client,
+                       http-date,
                        http-types,
                        text,
+                       time,
                        xml-conduit
   if impl(ghc<8.0)
       Build-depends: semigroups
diff --git a/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs b/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
--- a/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
+++ b/src/Network/HTTP/Directory.hs
@@ -6,17 +6,22 @@
 @
 import Network.HTTP.Directory
 import qualified Data.Text as T
+import Network.HTTP.Client (newManager)
+import Network.HTTP.Client.TLS (tlsManagerSettings)
 
 main = do
-  files <- httpDirectory "https://example.com/some/dir/"
+  mgr <- newManager tlsManagerSettings
+  files <- httpDirectory mgr "https://example.com/some/dir/"
   mapM_ T.putStrLn files
-  httpFileSize (head files) >>= print
+  httpFileSize mgr (head files) >>= print
+  httpLastModified mgr (head files) >>= print
 @
 -}
 
 module Network.HTTP.Directory
        ( httpDirectory,
          httpFileSize,
+         httpLastModified,
          httpRedirect,
          httpRedirects
        ) where
@@ -29,10 +34,12 @@
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as B
 import Data.Maybe
 import Data.Text (Text)
+import Data.Time.Clock (UTCTime)
 
 import Network.HTTP.Client (hrRedirects, httpLbs, httpNoBody, Manager, method,
                             parseRequest, responseBody, responseHeaders,
                             responseOpenHistory, responseStatus)
+import Network.HTTP.Date (httpDateToUTC, parseHTTPDate)
 import Network.HTTP.Types (hContentLength, hLocation, statusCode)
 
 import Text.HTML.DOM (parseLBS)
@@ -40,8 +47,11 @@
 
 -- | List the file links (hrefs) in an http directory
 --
--- Note if the directory (webpage) url is redirected you may need to use
--- 'httpRedirect' to determine the actual final url prefix for relative links
+-- Raises an error if the http request fails.
+--
+-- Note if the directory (webpage) url is redirected to a different path
+-- you may need to use 'httpRedirect' to determine
+-- the actual final url prefix for relative links
 -- (files).
 httpDirectory :: Manager -> String -> IO [Text]
 httpDirectory mgr url = do
@@ -55,7 +65,9 @@
         cursor = fromDocument doc
     return $ concatMap (attribute "href") $ cursor $// element "a"
 
--- | Try to get the filesize (Content-Length) of an http file
+-- | Try to get the filesize (Content-Length field) of an http file
+--
+-- Raises an error if the http request fails.
 httpFileSize :: Manager -> String -> IO (Maybe Integer)
 httpFileSize mgr url = do
   request <- parseRequest url
@@ -66,8 +78,22 @@
     let headers = responseHeaders response
     return $ read . B.unpack <$> lookup hContentLength headers
 
+-- | Try to get the modification time (Last-Modified field) of an http file
+--
+-- Raises an error if the http request fails.
+httpLastModified :: Manager -> String -> IO (Maybe UTCTime)
+httpLastModified mgr url = do
+  request <- parseRequest url
+  response <- httpNoBody (request {method = "HEAD"}) mgr
+  if statusCode (responseStatus response) /= 200
+    then error $ show $ responseStatus response
+    else do
+    let headers = responseHeaders response
+        mdate = lookup "Last-Modified" headers
+    return $ httpDateToUTC <$> maybe Nothing parseHTTPDate mdate
+
 -- | Returns the list of http redirects for an url in reverse order
--- (ie last redirect is first)
+-- (ie last redirect is listed first)
 httpRedirects :: Manager -> String -> IO [B.ByteString]
 httpRedirects mgr url = do
   request <- parseRequest url