Gloucester Cathedral

The city of Gloucester is located around 160 kilometers from London. It is home to one of England’s most famous churches, which was also a filming location for scenes from Harry Potter: Gloucester Cathedral.

It’s not far to the cathedral from one of the large paid visitor parking lots on the edge of the old town. Crossing a small square, I quickly reach Gloucester Cathedral, which is already impressive from the outside. 123 meters long, 42 meters wide and with a 68-meter-high tower – that’s how it stood in front of me and I was excited to see what awaited me inside the building.

A look back

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible today to take a complete look back at the very old history. Too much information has been lost over the years for a variety of reasons.

However, it is known that a nunnery was founded in Gloucester in the 7th century. In 1022, the Benedictines moved into the existing abbey. Under the leadership of Abbot Serlo, the construction of a new church began after 1072.

William the Conqueror is said to have visited the building site several times, so it is not surprising that he and his sons donated land to the abbey. This made it possible for the then bishop to lay the foundation stone for a new, larger Norman church in 1089. However, it is not known whether he had a completely new church built or whether he continued to build the church that had already been started.

In 1100, the church consecrated the still unfinished building. At this time, only the choir with the gallery, the crypt, the crossing and the first bays of the nave had been completed. If you look at the church building, you will notice that the structure of the wall then changes. This is probably due to a fire, but it is not possible to be more precise.

The nave was finally completed around 1160. However, the first structural changes can already be seen. The gallery was replaced by a triforium and there are “new” round pillars in the choir.

In 1190, a fire destroyed the roof truss. A new vault had to be created. A delicate Gothic vault was created, which forms a visual contrast to the mighty Norman pillars.

Gloucester Cathedral has undergone many alterations, restorations and conversions over the course of its history. In the 14th century, for example, the north aisle was renewed and the south transept redesigned. This was followed by alterations to the choir and north transept. The newly created east window in the choir is particularly striking. It is around 25 meters high and 12 meters wide and is said to be the largest stained glass window in England. It depicts the Coronation of the Virgin Mary.

Is Gloucester Cathedral worth a visit?

After looking at the impressive building from the outside, we went into the church. In the entrance area, you first pass a ticket counter. It’s a little strange, as no tickets are sold here, but a donation of 5 pounds per person is “requested”. As the church is of course also open to believers who come here to pray or attend services, you certainly can’t charge admission. However, I didn’t see anyone who simply walked past the cash desk or paid less.

I was also very impressed by the interior of the church. It seems huge and although we didn’t stand for ages reading signs in every place, we spent almost 1.5 hours in the church. There really is a lot to discover.

I present some of my highlights here.

Cloister

We enter the cloister, which I think is one of the most impressive cloisters I have ever seen.

The southern section dates from 1357, the eastern section was built between 1351 and 1377 and the other two sections from 1381 to 1412. I find the vaults particularly beautiful. The late Gothic fan vaults are finely structured and stretch across the corridor like a net. It’s admirable how delicately the master builders worked here.

In the 19th century, some of the windows in the cloister were decorated with Pre-Raphaelite stained glass. The art style was typical for this period in England and was based on art in Italy.

Originally, the cloister was built as a place for the monks to stay and served as a living, working and meditation space. In the southern part of the cloister there is a series of 20 niche-like rooms where the monks set up their desks for studying.

The oldest preserved lavatory in the country is located in the northern cloister. As people had to wash their hands before meals in the monastery, the lavatory was probably located near the dining area. The lead pipes for the water supply were removed when Henry VIII ordered the closure of all monasteries. Today, all you can see here is a stone channel that used to collect the water.

I noticed something in particular during my tour. On the south side of the cloister, some of the windows are beautifully decorated. You can see a total of 12 panels and roundels with heraldic motifs from the Tudor period.

Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel was built between 1472 and 1499. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is unique in its design and decoration.

The vaulted roof and the beautiful stained glass windows are impressive. These were created by the Arts and Crafts designer Christopher Whall in the early 1900s. In front of the altar are wooden railings that were commissioned in 1617 by William Laud, who was Dean of Gloucester until 1621.

What vaults!

I love taking a look at the design of the ceiling in all kinds of buildings. In Gloucester Cathedral, the vaults are so different and varied that I had a stiff neck by the time we had finished our tour.

The style used in the cathedral is typical of the English style of Gothic architecture. The Perpendicular Style was mainly used in the period from 1330 to 1520. It is characterized by the dominant straight lines of the barwork used to divide the high windows and walls.
Fan vaults are also typical. In a fan vault, the surface is covered by an almost impenetrable network of different ribs and a multitude of keystones. The diagonal ribs run to the next pillar but one. This type of vault can be seen particularly well in the east wing of the cloister. This is the earliest fully developed fan vault in England.

Fancy a virtual tour?

You can take a virtual tour here.

Gloucester Cathedral is full of surprises

During the tour, I kept noticing small and large details that make Gloucester Cathedral unique. It starts with the beautiful blue windows that light up a chapel in a unique glow and ends with the sword that played an important role in Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.

A tomb

King Edward II has been buried in Gloucester Cathedral since 1327. His tomb, which has a richly decorated limestone canopy, can be discovered on a tour of the cathedral’s north ambulatory.

Clocks and bells

The cathedral’s clocks and bells are also very special. The current clock dates back to 1898 and was created by Dent and Co, who also made the clock on Big Ben in London. There is no clock face on the cathedral, but an Art Nouveau clock face from 1903 hangs in one of the transepts.

The bells were re-hung in 1978. The two oldest bells date from before 1420, so they are older than the current tower. Then there is the Great Peter bell. It is one of the largest medieval bells in the country and weighs almost 3 tons. Two days a week (Sunday 13.30 and Tuesday 19.30) the bells are rung by hand for practice purposes.

Otherwise, the carillon can be heard daily at 9 am, 1 pm and 5 pm (4 pm at weekends). Since 2013, the bells have been playing their melodies computer-controlled. Usually 2 melodies are played, with the first song being fixed.

• Sunday “Eastersong”, a well-known hymn from the year 1623
• Monday “Chorus novae Jerusalem”. A melody that was already played in 1525.
• Tuesday, Mr. Jeffries’ melody. A melody from the eighteenth century.
• Wednesday, Dr. Hayes’ melody. William Hayes was a chorister at the Cathedral and later directed the Gloucester Three Choirs Festivals.
• Thursday Dr. Stephens’ Melody. John Stephens was a chorister at Gloucester and later became organist at Salisbury Cathedral.
• Friday “Christe redemptor omnium”. An old plainsong melody that was already played on the medieval carillon machine.
• Saturday the melody of Mr. Malchair. John Baptist Malchair performed regularly at the Three Choirs Festival between 1759 and 1775.

The second tune is one of over a hundred tunes including hymns, Christmas and Easter carols, plainsong, folk tunes etc. S

It can also be modern

Gloucester Cathedral recently became the oldest building in the world to have solar panels installed. The solar cells on the roof of the cathedral can generate up to 25,000 kilowatts of energy.

Harry Potter in Gloucester Cathedral

In three Harry Potter films, the filmmakers used the cathedral as a backdrop. This brought a lot of money into the church’s coffers and still attracts visitors who follow in Potter’s footsteps today. But not everyone was happy with this decision. They felt that the content of the film was incompatible with the religious significance of the church.

Of course, I also looked around and discovered places that can be seen in the films. In the movie, the cloisters represent the extensive corridors of Hogwarts.

For example, the south cloister can be seen in the movie “Philosopher’s Stone”, in which Percy leads the first-year students to the common room. If you look down the corridor to the west, you will discover the door that serves as the entrance to the common room, closed by the image of the Fat Lady.

In the northern cloister there is an area with a striking, 8-arch long bulge, on the back wall of which an elongated stone channel can be seen (the lavatory). This place can be seen very nicely in the movie “The Philosopher’s Stone”, when Harry and Ron come around the corner in search of Hermione and find that the troll has already left the cellars. Harry then pulls Ron behind one of the pillars. In the movie “Half-Blood Prince”, Harry overhears Draco and Severus at this point after they have left the Slughorns party.

The film crew also shot scenes from “Chamber of Secrets” here, such as the entrance to Myrtle’s loo.

If you take a closer look at the Potter films, you will discover one or two scenes that were filmed here.

But it wasn’t just Potter films that were shot in Gloucester Cathedral. The cathedral was also the location for films such as The Hollow Crown, Wolf Hall, Father Brown, Mary Queen of Scots and The Spanish Princess.

Visitor information:

Addresse:

12 College Green
Gloucester GL1 2LX

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