[DISCOVER] Gloucester: The Hidden City

[Robin90]

Gloucester: The Hidden City

Gloucester has more than 2000 years of history.   You can see reminders of it all over the city, often hidden away in the most unlikely places.   There are far too many to cover in a short article like this, so I would advise that you get a guided tour from a Civic Trust guide (starts from St Michael’s Tower at the Cross in the middle of Gloucester)

Gloucester was founded in AD 97 as a Roman colonia by the Emperor Nerva.  This meant it was a retirement colony for legionaries.   You can see remains of Roman walls in various places, including in some of the shops in the city.

Gloucester was also rebuilt and fortified by Aelthelflaed, the Lady of Mercia, daughter of Alfred the Great and Britain’s warrior queen, to hold off Viking raids.   She was buried in St Oswald’s Priory near the Cathedral in 918 AD

You can see the influence of Aethelflaed in the narrow lanes running into Westgate Street.  They were designed to allow soldiers to quickly get to the walls when under attack and were narrow enough to be easily defended if the enemy were to break into the town.

In 679 land in Gloucester was given to King Osric of the Hwicee to build a religious house.  This was replaced when the Normans arrived.  The man who built St Michael’s Mount in Normandy was commissioned and built the Abbey which was commissioned in 1100 AD.

Since then, the Cathedral has seen a rich and varied history.  It has the tomb of a murdered king of England and the writer of the American national anthem.  It also hosted the coronation of the boy King, Henry 3rd who was just nine years old at the time.

More recently the Cathedral has been used for several films and TV programmes including Harry Potter.   It has also had a makeover with a new square and gardens.

Also worth a look is the New Inn.   One of four original Inns built to serve the pilgrims to the Cathedral, it has many original features including covered galleries.

Half a mile from the city centre you will find Gloucester Docks.   Today these house restaurants, shops and marinas.   It has a large Mall called “Gloucester Quays”.  It’s a very pleasant place to stop and drink a beer or a coffee and watch the world go by.

As well as these “headline” tourist sites there are many other interesting places to see around the city.  And just outside there is some beautiful countryside to see.   You can also see the famous “Severn Bore” which creates a surfing wave which can carry surfers for up to 14 miles up the river.

Or you might like to see some of the festivals and events that take place here each year.   September 4th is “Gloucester Day” when we celebrate the raising of the siege of Gloucester.   You will find re-enactors all over the city.   It commemorates the city holding out against tens of thousands of the Kings troops.  The siege is also said to be the origin of the “Humpty Dumpty” rhyme.

[Mary996]

@J-Renato0 Oh no.

But then again it does depend on the motivation of the horse coach drivers and their training methods. If cruel I defo do not want to see. But if the horse is self-motivated and proud as so often they can be as a result of intrinsic training, not forcing, then it is a joy. The horses in some  places in Hungary are the trainers of the youngsters and of the new comers. My horse was like that as a lead mare. Very kind and tactful with herd members. I wish I had a link to show you the trainer in Hungary. Teams of 6 to 8 working together xx

[J-Renato0]

@Mary996 

Man and horse have had a relationship of mutual aid for thousands of years. Horses can be as tame and docile as dogs. Some people don't understand that. They think that human beings only exploit horses.
In Brazil there are very good horse whisperer as well.

[Mary996]

Wonderful @J-Renato0 . I love hearing about horse whisperers and good experiences being offered for horses. Agreed about their co-operative nature.

[Jason1558]

There tend to be not many people who can certainly write not so simple posts that artistically.

[Robin90]

They did ban it J.  Then after a year, it came back completely unofficially.   It's operated by a secret committee.  They had to buy the cheeses through several different routes to avoid raising suspicions...   But after a while, nobody worried about it anymore.   It didn't happen last year because of Covid... and probably not this year because we are still limited to gatherings of no more than 30.   But I reckon it will be back in 2022.

By the way, so far no one has died from cheese rolling.... but there have been a lot of injuries....

[Helen427]

Here's a little more history about Gloucester and it's Cathedral dating back to very early, 1216, for those who may be interested.

Dream Church of the Ages - Gloucester Cathedral

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19280121.2.114

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[Jason1558]

I want you to thank for your time of this wonderful read!

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[Robin90]

This is the Parliament building in Gloucester.  Curious how small it is.   I don't know how many were allowed in to talk with the king....

[Alexandra316]

@Robin90 really interesting: thanks for the read! I didn't know anything about Gloucester, but it looks like a lovely place.