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.
Gloucester Cathedral
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.
King Edward’s Gate
Here are some pics of the exterior, which itself is impressive.
Statues/sculptures over door.
Interesting support structure.
Statue (builder?)
Cloister Garth (courtyard surrounded by cloisters)
Looking up at the tower from the courtyard.
Spooky tower shot.
Interesting sculpted accent.
Supports sculpted as if riveted.
LOVE the detail. (click on pic)
As grand as the place is on the outside, it’s even more amazing inside.
Fan-vaulted Cloister
Stunning, intricate cloister ceiling.
Cool walkway.Interesting arches.
Lovely stained glass.
More lovely stained glass.
Harry Potter movies were filmed partly at Gloucester.
Stained Glass Collage (click on pic for bigger image)
Really big window.
Closer look at sculpture below window.
Ceiling Detail
It’s a big place.
That’s what I call architectural detail.
More sculpture.
Painted ceiling (the whole room was painted like that).
Hubby admiring some of the monuments/tombs/memorials.
Very interesting arches.
Collage of memorials. (click on pic for larger view)
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.
