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

Gloucester Cathedral (Part Two)

Text and Photos from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,

unless otherwise accredited.

Gloucester Cathedral (Stained Glass Windows)

Taken from Wikimedia Commons

Author: andy dolman

Picture taken May 2007

Burials in the Cathedral include:

Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror
Edward II of England, seventh Plantagenet King of England (1307–1327).
John Wakeman, last Abbot of Tewkesbury and first Bishop of Gloucester (1541–1550).
James Brooks Bishop of Gloucester (1554–1558).
Richard Cheyney, Bishop of Gloucester (1562–1579).
John Bullingham, Bishop of Gloucester (1581–1598).
William Nicholson Bishop of Gloucester (1660–1672).
Martin Benson, Bishop of Gloucester (1734–1752).
Richard Pate, landowner and Member of Parliament for Gloucester.
Thomas Machen, mercer and mayor of Gloucester three times. One time Member of Parliament for the city.
Dorothea Beale, Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, educational reformer and suffragist.

Gloucester Cathedral (Facade)

From Wikimedia Commons

Author: andy dolman

Picture taken February 2008

Gloucester Cathedral in late afternoon sunlight

From Wikimedia Commons

Author: Roger May

Picture taken December 2003

Harry Potter Films

The Cathedral has been used, since 2000, as a location for filming the first, second and sixth Harry Potter films, which has generated revenue and publicity, but caused some controversy amongst those who suggest that the theme of the films was unsuitable for a Church.

Doctor Who

In 2008, the Cathedral was used by BBC Wales as a location for the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Academic use

University of Gloucestershire

Degree ceremonies of the University of Gloucestershire take place at the cathedral.

University of the West of England

Degree ceremonies for students studying at the University of the West of England, through Hartpury College, take place at the Cathedral every July and November.

The King's School

The Cathedral is also used during school term-time as the venue for regular school assemblies, known as Morning Chapel. by The King's School, Gloucester, which is deeply historically- and physically-connected to the Cathedral, and for events by the High School for Girls (Denmark Road, Gloucester), the Crypt Grammar School for Boys and Ribston Hall High School.

Gloucester Cathedral Cloisters on a Sunny afternoon

From Wikimedia Commons

Author: Rob Coldwell

Picture taken July 2006

Gloucester Cathedral (Ceiling)

From Wikimedia Commons

Author: andy dolman

Picture taken 2008

PART THREE FOLLOWS

Gloucester Cathedral (Part One)

Text and Photos from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia,

unless otherwise accredited.

Gloucester Cathedral Tower, at Sunset

Picture taken from Gloucester Cathedral Web-Site at

http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/

(Photos of Gloucester Cathedral are taken by 

Angelo Hornak, Richard Cann, Chris Smith, 

Esther Platten, Gloucester Cathedral and Gilmere Ltd)

Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the North of the city near the river. It originated in 678 A.D. or 679 A.D. with the foundation of an Abbey dedicated to Saint Peter (dissolved by King Henry VIII).

The foundations of the present Church were laid by Abbot Serlo (1072–1104). Walter Gloucester (died 1412), the Abbey's historian, became its first mitred Abbot in 1381. Until 1541, Gloucester lay in the See of Worcester, but a separate See was then constituted, with John Wakeman, last Abbot of Tewkesbury, as its first Bishop. The diocese covers the greater part of Gloucestershire, with small parts of Herefordshire and Wiltshire. The Cathedral has a stained glass window containing the earliest images of golf. This dates from 1350, over 300 years earlier than the earliest image of golf from Scotland. There is also a carved image of people playing a ball game, believed by some to be one of the earliest images of mediaeval football.

Construction and architecture

The Cathedral, built as the Abbey Church, consists of a Norman nucleus (Walter de Lacy is buried there), with additions in every style of Gothic architecture. It is 420 feet (130 m) long, and 144 feet (44 m) wide, with a fine central tower (15th-Century) rising to a height of 225 ft (69 m) and topped by four delicate pinnacles, a famous landmark. The nave is Norman, with an Early English roof; the crypt, under the choir, aisles and chapels, is Norman, as is the chapter house. The crypt is one of the four apsidal cathedral crypts in England, the others being at Worcester, Winchester and Canterbury.

Front view of Gloucester Cathedral

(Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity)

Foundation work began on the Church in 1089. 

Picture from Wikimedia Commons

Author: Saffron Blaze

The South Porch is in the Perpendicular Style, with a fan-vaulted roof, as also is the North Transept, the South Transept being Transitional Decorated Gothic. The Choir has Perpendicular tracery over Norman work, with an apsidal chapel on each side: the Choir Vaulting is particularly rich. The Late-Decorated East window is partly filled with surviving mediaeval stained glass. Between the apsidal chapels, is a cross Lady Chapel, and North of the nave are the cloisters, the carrels, or stalls, for the monks' study and writing, lying to the South. The cloisters at Gloucester are the earliest surviving fan vaults, having been designed between 1351 and 1377 by Thomas de Cambridge.

The most notable monument is the canopied shrine of King Edward II of England, who was murdered at nearby Berkeley Castle. The building and sanctuary were enriched by the visits of pilgrims to this shrine. In a side-chapel is a monument in coloured bog oak of Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror and a great benefactor of the Abbey, who is interred there. Monuments of Bishop Warburton and Dr Edward Jenner are also worthy of note.

Between 1873 and 1890, and in 1897, the Cathedral was extensively restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Misericords

The Cathedral has forty-six 14th-Century misericords and twelve 19th-Century replacements by George Gilbert Scott. Both types have a wide range of subject matter: mythology, everyday occurrences, religious symbolism and folklore.

Gloucester Cathedral (South Cloister)

These cloisters, with fan vaulted roof, were used extensively 

in the Harry Potter film series 

Author of this Photo is William Avery

Picture taken May 2007

The Three Choirs Festival

An annual music festival, the Three Choirs Festival, is hosted, in rotation,  in this Cathedral and those of Worcester and Hereford. The Three Choirs Festival is the oldest annual music festival in the world. More information on the Festival can be found at Three Choirs Festival.

PART TWO FOLLOWS