Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester is another one go those places that I’ve never been to. Which is one of the main reasons why I’m visiting all of the cathedrals in England as there are lots of places I haven’t been to. The only thing I knew about Gloucester was from the old nurse rhyme.

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester,
In a shower of rain;
He stepped in a puddle,
Right up to his middle,
And never went there again.

A friend came with me on this trip and it wasn’t raining, so no puddle mishaps for us. It’s just under 2 hours on the train from Paddington.

Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity to give it its full title, started its life in the late 7th century as the abbey church of St Peter. Building the cathedral as we know it today started in 1058 and continued off and on for just over 400 years. There was a major fire in 1222 and a significant updating to the ’modern’ style was performed. There was another significant restoration in the late Victorian period and in 2016, solar panels were installed.

There are a number of medieval funerary monuments including that of Edward II whose tomb became a site of pilgrimage. Also, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, Robert Curthose.

Today, pilgrims are more likely to want to visit the locations in the cathedral used in Dr Who and three of the Harry Potter films.

Here are some pictures of the cathedral.

Approximately, 300 yards from the cathedral is the church of St Mary de Lode. Parts of the current church date back to 1190. There were two Roman buildings on the site and, according to legend, it was the site of the first Christian church in what became England. We were shown around the church by its warden, learnt about its history and shown the Roman floor about 20 feet below the current floor of the church.

Here are a couple of photos of the church.