Gloucester Cathedral: A Medieval Benedictine Abbey and Church of England Cathedral
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- British, English, Norman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page12 sections
History
Gloucester Cathedral, in Gloucester, United Kingdom, originated as an Anglo-Saxon minster founded around 679 by Osric, king of the Hwicce, and its surviving building has a Norman core with later Gothic additions. The Hwicce were an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the Severn valley, broadly covering parts of present-day Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. The foundation was initially a female religious community, and Osric’s relative Kyneburg became its first abbess after consecration by Bosel, bishop of Worcester.
From minster to Benedictine abbey
The nuns appear to have dispersed after about 767 during a period of civil unrest. Beornwulf of Mercia is said to have rebuilt the church and endowed it with secular priests. In 1022, Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, introduced the Benedictine rule and rededicated the abbey to St Peter. Benedictines followed the Rule of St Benedict, which centred on communal worship, disciplined monastic life, and obedience to an abbot or abbess.
A fire destroyed the monastic buildings in the early eleventh century. Ealdred, bishop of Worcester, rebuilt the church around 1058 on a site slightly farther from its predecessor and nearer Gloucester. In 1072 William I appointed Serlo as the first Norman abbot. Serlo found the monastery almost defunct, with only two monks and eight novices, and began to establish a new church.
A major fire in 1088 damaged the institution, but royal support and benefactions allowed rebuilding to continue. The foundation stone of the new abbey church was laid in 1089, reportedly by Robert de Losinga, bishop of Hereford. Work on the nave, apse, crypt, and chapter house advanced rapidly, and the church was consecrated in 1100. The exact relationship between Serlo’s earlier work and the campaign begun in 1089 remains uncertain.
Royal connections and medieval rebuilding
William I held his Christmas court at Gloucester in 1085, and discussions in the chapter house led to the order for the compilation of Domesday Book, the great survey of landholding in England. The king’s patronage, together with support from benefactors such as Walter de Lacy and his wife, transformed the abbey’s finances and supported its building programme.
The abbey retained close royal associations. Henry III was crowned there in October 1216 after the death of his father, King John. The nine-year-old king was crowned in the presence of his mother, Isabella, whose bracelet was reputedly used in place of a crown.
Another fire in 1222 damaged the timber roof and several monastic buildings. The resulting rebuilding campaign included a stone vault for the nave in the Early English Gothic style, the beginning of the central tower, reconstruction of the collapsed south tower, and rebuilding of the refectory. The nave vault was completed in 1243.
Edward II was buried at the abbey in 1327 after his death at nearby Berkeley Castle. His elaborate shrine attracted pilgrims and brought new financial resources to the institution, although the precise source of the resulting revenues was disputed. The increased income supported extensive rebuilding and decoration. The south aisle was rebuilt between 1318 and 1329, the south transept between 1329 and 1337, the north transept between 1368 and 1373, and the choir between 1350 and 1377.
Walter Frocester, who wrote a history of the monastery, became its first mitred abbot in 1381. The abbey commissioned his Historia Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae, an unusual example of a religious foundation commissioning its own institutional history.
From abbey to cathedral
Gloucester Abbey remained a Benedictine foundation within the diocese of Worcester until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry VIII dissolved it in 1540 and created the Diocese of Gloucester. On 3 September 1541, the former abbey church became the cathedral of the new diocese, with John Wakeman, the last abbot of Tewkesbury, as its first bishop. The diocese covered most of Gloucestershire and smaller parts of Herefordshire and Wiltshire.
Gloucester and its cathedral were strongly Royalist during the English Civil War, yet escaped major damage. Plans for complete demolition during the Commonwealth were not carried out. After the dean and chapter had been abolished between 1649 and 1660, they were restored under Charles II.
Restoration and modern developments
The cathedral underwent major repairs and alterations during the eighteenth century, including work directed by Martin Benson, bishop of Gloucester, between 1735 and 1752. Extensive Victorian restoration followed between 1873 and 1890, and again in 1897, principally under George Gilbert Scott after earlier work by Frederick S. Waller and Thomas Fulljames.
During the Second World War, a recess in the crypt housed the Coronation Chair, which was moved from Westminster Abbey in August 1939 for protection. A thirteenth-century bog-oak effigy of Robert Curthose was placed on the chair, while sandbags protected it and major monuments, including Edward II’s tomb. The Great East Window was dismantled and stored.
Major roofing and other restoration work was completed in 1968, followed by the completion of tower restoration in 1994. The cathedral marked its nine-hundredth anniversary in 1989, and the nine-hundredth anniversary of the consecration of St Peter’s Abbey was commemorated in 2000. In 2015 Rachel Treweek became the first woman appointed to a diocesan bishopric in the history of the Church of England when she was installed as bishop of Gloucester.
In 2016 the cathedral joined the Church of England’s Shrinking the Footprint campaign. A roof-mounted solar array installed that year reduced energy costs by about 25 percent, and Gloucester Cathedral was reported as the oldest cathedral in the United Kingdom with such an installation.
Music and worship
Music has long formed part of the cathedral’s religious life. Medieval worship was sung by monks and boys, while the present cathedral choir was established by Henry VIII in 1539. Gloucester also participates in the Three Choirs Festival, which is hosted in rotation by Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford cathedrals.
The first recorded organ was built by Thomas Harris in 1666. It was modified in 1847, completely rebuilt by Henry “Father” Willis in 1888 and 1889, reconstructed by Harrison & Harrison in 1920, redesigned by Hill, Norman and Beard in 1971, and substantially worked on by Nicholson & Co. in 1999 and 2010.
Remains
Norman core and Gothic transformation
The cathedral stands in northern Gloucester near the River Severn. The building is approximately 420 feet, or 130 metres, long and 144 feet, or 44 metres, wide. Its architectural history combines Norman Romanesque construction with Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular Gothic work. The late-eleventh-century nave, crypt, and chapter house belong to the rebuilding begun in 1089, when the church was largely completed by 1100.
The nave remains a substantial Norman structure, with massive piers supporting the more delicate Early English stone vault completed in 1243. Western towers were added in the early twelfth century. The south tower collapsed during that century and was rebuilt by 1246. Around 1420 the western end was renewed and a south-west entrance hall was built. That hall now forms the principal entrance.
The apsidal crypt extends beneath the choir, side aisles, and chapels. Norman in character, it is one of only four medieval English cathedral crypts with apses, the others being at Worcester, Winchester, and Canterbury.
Transepts, choir, and central tower
Fourteenth-century rebuilding altered the transepts and choir while preserving substantial earlier fabric. New vaults, enlarged upper windows, and Decorated or Perpendicular tracery were introduced. The choir’s Norman walls were sheathed in Perpendicular tracery, and its vault contains a dense pattern of ribs, liernes, and bosses. A lierne is a subsidiary rib that links other ribs within a vault rather than running directly from its springing point to the central boss.
The central tower was begun in 1237 and acquired its fifteenth-century form between 1450 and 1457. It rises about 225 feet, or 69 metres, and is topped by four pinnacles. Its richly developed vault includes early examples of lierne vaulting.
The Great East Window was completed around 1347 to 1350. About 25 metres high and 12 metres wide, it was regarded at completion as the largest window in existence and remains among England’s largest medieval stained-glass windows. Part of its medieval glass survives, with the Coronation of the Virgin at its centre. It is also called the Crécy Window because nobles who fought at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 were among its donors.
One panel of the medieval glass is said to contain the earliest known image of golf, dating from about 1350 and predating the earliest known Scottish image by about 60 years. A misericord, a small hinged support beneath a folding choir seat, shows people playing a ball game interpreted as an early representation of medieval football.
Lady Chapel and cloisters
The Lady Chapel lies between the apsidal chapels. Rebuilt between 1472 and 1499, it is a rectangular late-Gothic structure with extensive tracery and a complex net-like vault.
The cloisters stand north of the cathedral. Monastic study and writing carrels run along their southern side. The south walk dates from 1357, the east walk from 1351 to 1377, and the remaining walks were completed between 1381 and 1412.
Gloucester’s cloisters contain the earliest surviving English fan vaults. Designed between 1351 and 1377 by Thomas de Cantebrugge, these vaults spread radiating ribs from their supports in repeated fan-shaped units enriched with elaborate tracery.
Monastic precinct and gateways
The chapter house and treasury originated in the eleventh century and were substantially reconstructed later. The treasury adjoins the cathedral on its north side, with the library above it, while the chapter house adjoins the treasury. The former monastic precinct includes remains of the infirmary, a reservoir in the north-west corner of the Great Cloister, a passage linking the cloister with the former infirmary, the precinct wall, and parts of the abbot’s lodgings. Some of these buildings are now incorporated into King’s School, Gloucester.
College Green lies south and west of the cathedral and forms the cathedral close. It developed over former monastic graveyards and was largely rebuilt in the eighteenth century, when many buildings were converted to domestic use. Miller’s Green lies north of the cathedral on the former monastic service court.
St Michael’s Gate, dating from the fourteenth century, gives entry to College Green. King Edward’s Gate dates from the sixteenth century and was substantially restored in the nineteenth century. St Mary’s Gateway is a scheduled monument dividing the close, while the fourteenth-century Inner Gateway formed the gatehouse of the monastic service court at Miller’s Green.
Monuments, furnishings, and memorials
The cathedral contains the canopied shrine and tomb of Edward II. A side chapel holds a coloured bog-oak monument to Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror and a major benefactor of the abbey, who was buried at Gloucester. Other monuments commemorate William Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, and Edward Jenner.
Forty-six fourteenth-century misericords survive, together with twelve nineteenth-century replacements made by or in the style of George Gilbert Scott. Their carvings include mythology, everyday activities, religious symbolism, and folklore.
The organ stands on the altar screen and was designed to sound into both the choir and the nave. Its seventeenth-century case survives complete and is described as the only surviving example of its kind from that century in England. The pipes displayed on its front remain functional, while the instrument itself has four manuals and pedals alongside later structural and tonal alterations.
The present clock was installed by Dent and Co. in 1898. It has no external dial. Instead, an Art Nouveau dial designed by Henry Wilson in 1903 is placed inside the north transept. The bells were rehung and increased to a ring of twelve in 1978. Two of the oldest date from before 1420 and therefore predate the present tower. Great Peter weighs slightly less than three tons, is the largest medieval bell in Britain, strikes the hour, and is also rung before major services.
A stained-glass window installed in 2014 was designed by Tom Denny in memory of Ivor Gurney, the poet and composer who had served as a cathedral chorister and organist. The memorial also commemorates participants in the First World War.
The cathedral complex includes numerous former monastic and domestic buildings, medieval gateways, walls, cloisters, service buildings, and memorial structures. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry war memorial stands on College Green. The former abbot’s lodge survives as Church House, now used as offices and a restaurant. Gloucester Cathedral is a Grade I listed building, and other highly graded listed buildings and protected historic elements survive across the wider complex, including the treasury, chapter house, cloisters, precinct wall, and medieval gateways.
