Gloucester, cathedral and Docks

Gloucester is the county town of Gloucestershire, in the west of England, set on the River Severn, Britain's longest river, between the Cotswold hills and the Forest of Dean. Founded by the Romans, it has about 130,000 inhabitants and one of England's most beautiful cathedrals, where a murdered king is buried and whose fan-vaulted cloisters have become world-famous as the corridors of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. Its Victorian docks, linked to the sea by a canal, form Britain's most inland port. Beatrix Potter set one of her best-loved stories here, and not far away, every spring, England's craziest race takes place: chasing a whole cheese down a very steep hill.

Trains from London Paddington take about two hours, and Bristol is about forty minutes away.

From the Romans to Edward II

Around AD 97 the Romans founded a colonia for army veterans here, called Glevum, at the point where the Severn could be crossed on the way to Wales. Traces of Roman walls and floors can still be seen in some parts of the centre and in the city museum. In 679 an abbey dedicated to St Peter was founded, and in the Middle Ages Gloucester became an important town, often visited by kings. In 1216 the boy king Henry III was crowned here: he is the only king of England since the Norman Conquest to have been crowned outside Westminster.

In 1327 King Edward II, deposed by his wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer, was killed at nearby Berkeley Castle. No other great church wanted his body, but the Abbot of Gloucester buried him in his abbey. The tomb soon became a place of pilgrimage, and the pilgrims' offerings paid for the splendid rebuilding of the church in the new Perpendicular Gothic style, which was born here. During the Civil War of the 17th century Gloucester withstood a long siege by the king's troops, a decisive episode in the conflict.

The cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral combines a massive Norman nave, with enormous cylindrical columns, with a choir and transepts clad in the 14th century in the refined stone tracery of Perpendicular Gothic, an entirely English style of vertical lines and huge windows. Behind the altar is the Great East Window, made around 1350, for a long time the largest medieval window in England, roughly the size of a tennis court. Beside the choir is the tomb of Edward II, with an alabaster effigy of the king beneath an elaborate canopy.

The cathedral's jewel is its cloisters, with the oldest surviving fan vaulting, carved in the second half of the 14th century: an invention of Gloucester's builders that later spread all over England. These corridors were used as the corridors of Hogwarts school in several Harry Potter films. The cathedral offers guided tower tours, with views over the whole Severn valley.

The docks and the canal

In 1827 the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal opened, about twenty-six kilometres long, allowing ships to reach Gloucester while avoiding the most dangerous stretch of the Severn. Around the harbour basin large red-brick Victorian warehouses were built for grain, timber and other goods. Today Gloucester Docks is one of the best-preserved Victorian dock areas in England, with moored boats, restaurants, apartments and the Gloucester Waterways Museum, which tells the story of canals and barges. Next door, the Gloucester Quays shopping centre has outlet stores and, in December, a large Victorian Christmas market.

What to see in Gloucester

• The Tailor of Gloucester: in College Court, the alley leading to the cathedral, stands the house Beatrix Potter drew in her story The Tailor of Gloucester, about a poor, sick tailor helped by mice to finish the mayor's waistcoat. It now houses a small museum and shop devoted to the author.
• Blackfriars: one of the best-preserved medieval Dominican friaries in England, with a splendid 13th-century timber roof.
• Llanthony Secunda Priory: the ruins of a large Augustinian priory next to the canal, recently restored.
• The Museum of Gloucester, with Roman finds, a decorated Celtic mirror and the story of the city.
• The four main streets, Northgate, Southgate, Eastgate and Westgate, which still follow the line of the Roman roads and meet at the point called The Cross.

A day in Gloucester

A possible itinerary: the morning at the cathedral, with the cloisters and the Great East Window, then a stop at the Tailor of Gloucester's house in College Court. Walk along the four Roman streets to Blackfriars. After lunch head to the Docks for the waterways museum and a coffee among the boats. In the afternoon take a boat trip on the canal or go to Cheltenham, a few minutes away.

Cheese, the Severn and rugby

Every year, on the last Monday in May, at Cooper's Hill, a few kilometres south-east of the city, the cheese-rolling race takes place: a round of Double Gloucester, the local cheese, is sent rolling down the very steep hill, and dozens of competitors throw themselves after it, tumbling and falling all the way to the bottom. The first to arrive wins the cheese. The tradition is centuries old and draws spectators from around the world.

At its mouth the Severn has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, and on certain days of the year the tide surges up the river in a wave called the Severn Bore, which surfers ride for kilometres. The city is also a rugby capital: Gloucester Rugby plays at Kingsholm, one of the most passionate grounds in English rugby.

Around Gloucester

• Cheltenham, about fifteen minutes away, an elegant Georgian spa town famous for horse racing.
• The Cotswolds, with golden stone villages such as Painswick, Bibury and Stow-on-the-Wold.
• The Forest of Dean, an ancient royal forest with trails, historic mines and sculptures among the trees.
• Tewkesbury, with its great Norman abbey, and Berkeley Castle, where Edward II was killed.
• Slimbridge, the large wetland reserve founded by the naturalist Peter Scott on the Severn estuary.

Living in Gloucester

Gloucester's economy is based on services, healthcare, engineering and small businesses, and it benefits from being close to Cheltenham and Bristol. Homes cost less than in the Cotswolds and Cheltenham, and the countryside is minutes away. The centre is going through a period of regeneration around the Docks and the bus station, but some areas have low incomes.

Getting there and getting around

• By train: from London Paddington about two hours, sometimes changing at Swindon; direct services to Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham and Cheltenham.
• By air: Bristol Airport and Birmingham Airport are about an hour and a quarter away.
• In the city: the centre, the cathedral and the Docks are walkable.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, and for other cities British cities.

Tips for your visit

• How long: one day for the cathedral, the centre and the Docks; more for Cheltenham, the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean.
• When to go: May to September; late May for the cheese-rolling; December for the Christmas market at the Docks.
• A tip: visit the cathedral cloisters early in the morning, when the light filters through the vaults and there are few people.

Gloucester on the map

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