UK Continued: Gloucester

Early Americans may have been courageous travelers, but they were sure unimaginative when it came to naming places. I’ve been to Gloucester, Massachusetts and Gloucester, Vurginia. Now I can say I’ve been to Gloucester in South West England, too. It’s near the River Severn — when we lived in Maryland, we were close to the Severn River — and has a really big cathedral.

How big?

I couldn’t fit the whole thing into a frame.

Building of the cathedral began in 1089, but “Gloucester has been a place of Christian worship continuously for over 1300 years, since Osric, an Anglo-Saxon prince, founded a religious house here in 678-9 AD.” (If you’d like to learn more of the history, visit the cathedral’s Web site.)

It was VERY cool.

Here are some pics of the exterior, which itself is impressive.

BotW_to_Hove 109 — Statues/sculptures over door.

BotW_to_Hove 111 — Interesting support structure.

BotW_to_Hove 130 — Cloister Garth (courtyard surrounded by cloisters)

BotW_to_Hove 149 — Looking up at the tower from the courtyard.

BotW_to_Hove 153 — Interesting sculpted accent.

BotW_to_Hove 218 — Supports sculpted as if riveted.

garth_spires — LOVE the detail. (click on pic)

As grand as the place is on the outside, it’s even more amazing inside.

BotW_to_Hove 118 — Stunning, intricate cloister ceiling.

BotW_to_Hove 142 — Lovely stained glass.

BotW_to_Hove 123 — More lovely stained glass.

Harry Potter movies were filmed partly at Gloucester.

Stained Glass Collage (click on pic for bigger image)

BotW_to_Hove 166 — Closer look at sculpture below window.

BotW_to_Hove 177 — That’s what I call architectural detail.

BotW_to_Hove 192 — Painted ceiling (the whole room was painted like that).

BotW_to_Hove 197 — Hubby admiring some of the monuments/tombs/memorials.

BotW_to_Hove 201 — Very interesting arches.

shrines — Collage of memorials. (click on pic for larger view)

shrines2 — More memorials. (click on pic for larger view)

I am no historian. Sorry. You can take a virtual tour if you like.

And that was our visit to Gloucester Cathedral.

We roamed around, admiring its splendour for hours. I saw this road sign after leaving the cathedral grounds. It was near where we’d parked.

You can see all of my Gloucester pics on Flickr.

Can you understand how seeing a bunch of these amazing buildings in the span of a few days can get sort of overwhelming? And give one a sore neck?

5 Replies to “UK Continued: Gloucester”

The effort required to build such buildings must have been phenomenal. Not just in effort but expense as well. And, for some, construction times measured in centuries. I don’t know how it was justified.

Wonderful photos, thank you for sharing them.

Kathy says:

October 17, 2014 at 11:31 pm

Richard, standing there looking up at such amazing, intricate ceilings high overhead, one can’t help but wonder how it was done. Without modern machines.

Thanks for reading. I’m glad you enjoyed the pics.

What an amazing and beautiful structure. And I just love the spooky tower pic with that flock of scary lookin’ birds taking flight… No doubt they are unnaturally large ravens or hell-bound vultures. Ooo, maybe they’re unusually small dragons, gargoyles come to life. Perfect for October.

Raindog, I think it was ravens, but your gargoyle comment made me giggle. Thanks for the kind words.

Churches have always had some of the most ornate and intricate architecture and details in history.

Was it because back then they had the most money? Were favored by the king? Or had the labor? Who knows, but they sure are pretty to look at.

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