gloucester til the end

The nice thing about my little southwestern trip was that the only journeys I had to book in advance were York-Worcester and Penzance-York.  Everything else in between was within close enough distances that I could buy tickets at the station and just hop on the next train when I felt like it.

So I arrived into Gloucester around 2.  I was surprised to find that Gloucester itself was pretty run-down.  But it didn't matter because I was on a mission to cross another cathedral off my list, and the cathedral was much nicer than the city around it.

What most of modern-day Gloucester looks like.

Via Sacra, towards the cathedral.

L'approche.

At first glance from the eastern approach, Gloucester

Cathedral appears an unending series of unfolding towers.

Some views.

 If there were such a thing as a fairy-tale cathedral...

 I think Gloucester would be it.

 

Central tower.

A funeral was going on in the quire, so I was

ushered into the magnificent cloisters first.

Which was fine.

Does this look familiar to you ?

If not, here's a hint...

Tom M. Riddle.

 Alohomora.

 {Yes I realize what a nerd I am.}

 The earliest surviving fan vaults in England {14th C.}

 Some cloister graves for good measure...

 The saddest grave inscription I've ever read.

Also Elizabeth.

Last look into cloister courtyard.

And into the nave north aisle.

Symbolic of my life.

A tour of the tombs of Gloucester...

From Victorian melodrama...

To medieval knights.
{One Robert, Duke of Normandy, d. 1134.
Eldest son of William le Conqueror.
Also benefactor of Gloucester Abbey.}

Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool.

"JOHN BOWER had nyne Sones & Seauen
Daughters by his Wife ANN BOWER."

Grave of Thomas Machen, Alderman of this City of Gloucester
and thrice Mayor of the same, d. 1614.  Also his wife...

7 Sonnes...

And 6 Davghters.


Un squelette.


There is a also a royal burial at Gloucester.
King Edward II, 1284-1327.


Angels at his head depict the king as saintly.
Though he was most certainly not.
His reign was pretty much a mess, and ended when he was deposed by his wife Isabella "the She-wolf" of France, who probably had him murdered.


This is the earliest use of alabaster on a royal tomb effigy.
Would have been seriously gilded and painted in its day.


Spotted Richard II's white hart badge up on a column nearby.

But this one gets Best Tomb Award For Gloucester Cathedral.


A memorial to Elizabeth Smith Williams,
who died in childbirth in 1622, aged 17.


The inscription, in Latin, translates to...

"Husband, you carved in marble here your wife ;
Thus you'd ensure her immortality .
But Christ thy hope and trust was, all my life ;
So God forbids that I should mortal be ."

Tragique.

Burn candles and stare at a ghost.

Lady Chapel sg.

East End.

Threadbare cathedral flags & first peek at

The Gloucester Great East Window.

This amazing expanse of glass dates to the 1350s.

At that time, it was the largest window in the world.

 The Virgin Mary & Christ
(gloucestercathedral.org.uk)


St. Thomas & St. John the Evangelist
(gloucestercathedral.org.uk)

It is really an incredible window--and so bright.

Fun fact: it also contains the earliest image of a golfer in art !
(flickr)

Quire.

Nave.

Back outside.

Cathedral school.

Leaving the precincts.

 

College Green.

A building I liked.

And some leaning medieval houses at the precincts edge.

Suffolk pink in Gloucestershire.

A lovely passage I happened upon.

And luckily so, because it's where you find the
House of the Tailor of Gloucester !

{Of Beatrix Potter fame.}

A lovely grey afternoon in Gloucester, and on to Bristol !
xx