The Anglo Saxon and Norman Legacy
After the Romans withdrew, Gloucester′s fortunes rapidly declined and its population abandoned the once magnificent Roman buildings. By the end of the fifth century the town was in ruins and in the sixth century it was overrun by the invading Anglo Saxons.
The Anglo Saxons re-settled Gloucester and created a new town from the Roman ruins and used its street pattern to create a new urban community. Much of the layout of central Gloucester is from this period and the city′s oldest standing structure is the Anglo Saxon nave wall of St. Oswald′s Priory.
Gloucester′s strategic, attractive location ensured that it would grow in importance and by the end of the ninth century it was booming again. After the Norman Conquest a large castle was built where Gloucester Prison now stands and St. Peters Abbey was founded in 1089 on the site of the present-day Cathedral.
In 1085 William the Conqueror held a Great Court in Gloucester where he commissioned the Doomsday Book. St Peter′s Abbey, of which the crypt and the magnificent nave and arcades of Gloucester Cathedral still survive, was consecrated in 1100.