Gloucester Cathedral (Part Three)

Non-Italic Text and Photos from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,

unless otherwise accredited.

Italic Text and Photos from Gloucester Cathedral Web-Site at http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk

(Unless otherwise accredited, Photos of Gloucester Cathedral are taken by 

Angelo Hornak, Richard Cann, Chris Smith, Esther Platten, Gloucester Cathedral and Gilmere Ltd)

Gloucester Cathedral (Great East Window)

From Gloucester Cathedral Web-Site at

http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk

Photo © John Jones of Skycell

This has been a place of Christian worship continuously for over 1300 years, since Osric, an Anglo-Saxon prince, founded a religious house here in 678-679 A.D. Little is known for certain about the communities which worshipped here, or the buildings they used over the next 400 years, although it is believed that the Benedictine Rule was introduced here early in the 11th-Century.

Gloucester Cathedral Interior. 

The Lady Chapel looking towards the Choir. 

From Wikimedia Commons. 

Author: Mattana

Photo taken January 2008. 

The interior of Gloucester Cathedral conveys an impression 

of a "cage" of stone and glass, typical of "Perpendicular" architecture. 

Elaborate Decorated style tracery is no longer in evidence, 

and the lines on both walls and windows 

have become sharper and less flamboyant.

A record of the building fabric is made before and during stonework conservation, detailing the information that repair works uncover about building history and early building techniques. For a selection of archaeological reports concerning this, see www.bgas.org.uk/gcar.

Gloucester Cathedral Stained Glass

showing the Coronation of Henry III in 1216.

From Gloucester Cathedral Web-Site at

http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk

THE NORMAN ABBEY

At the time of the Norman Conquest, in 1066, the monastery was not thriving and in 1072 King William I appointed Serlo, a monk from Mont St Michel in Normandy, to be its Abbot. An energetic, charismatic and devout man, Serlo built up the wealth of the monastery to the point where, in 1089, he was able to start building the magnificent Abbey Church which so impresses the visitor today.

THE MIDDLE AGES

A wealthy and powerful institution, with extensive landholdings in Gloucestershire and South Wales, the Abbey of St Peter (as it was known) had significant royal associations.

In 1216, Henry III, who had succeeded to the throne at the age of only nine, was crowned here. Major building works in the 13th-Century included a first Lady Chapel and new Tower and refectory.

Gloucester Cathedral (Lady Chapel)

Built at the end of the 15th-Century.

From Gloucester Cathedral Web-Site at

http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk

Most importantly for the subsequent history of this place, in 1327, King Edward II, who had died in Berkeley Castle (in suspicious and, traditionally, gruesome circumstances) was buried here. A shrine-like monument was erected over the tomb of the dead King. Royal patronage and popular devotion led to funds flowing into the Abbey, and these enabled the magnificent remodelling of the East End to be carried out in the very latest “Perpendicular” style.

In the 15th-Century, further building work included the remodelling of the West End, the building of the South Porch and of the present Tower and, finally, towards the end of the century, the present Lady Chapel.

PART FOUR FOLLOWS